A couple of years ago I picked up a used "Hawken" that had obviously been around awhile, probably since the 70s. I base that on the Russ Hamm lock and the gun's general appearance. The gun was well built, with tight inletting. The stock however had a few issues. The overall appearance was rough, still showing some rasp marks and the finish had been applied unevenly. The stain had a marked orange tint. There was too much wood in some areas and the cheek piece was twice as thick as it should have been. Still, the patina on the metal parts attracted me and since the problems were mostly cosmetic and the price was dirt cheap, I bought it.
Recently I came across a bottle of Radio Shack PCB Etchant Solution I had bought several years ago to bring out the pattern in a Damascus knife. It's appearance reminded me of my strong vinegaroon stock stain or really strong aqua fortis. The label said Ferric Chloride. Hmmmm...ferric. So I tried it on several pieces of maple, using it just like aqua fortis...put it on, let it dry, and blushed with a heat gun. It worked! The main difference was, unlike AF, there was virtually no red color in any of the four different curly maple samples I tried it on. The color was mostly brown. It was also significantly more sensitive to heat application an any AF or ferric nitrate I've used. It blushed very quickly and deeply. You can bring the wood to almost black quite easily so care is needed to not go too far. Light heat gave shades of brown and gold, more heat and the brown tends to go away leaving almost a gray. Anyway, it would appear to be another choice in stock staining. I've not tried diluting it (I used it full strength from the bottle) but that may be an option.
So I decided to re-do the orphan Hawken using the ferric chloride. Pics below before and after so you can judge the results for yourselves. Removed some excess wood, including the cheekpiece and some minor re-shaping. Big difference in appearance from what it looked like before. I left all the metal alone as it already had a nice patina from natural ageing/use.
Two pics of what it looked like before.
After application of the ferric chloride, before blushing.
After blushing. You can control the color, light/dark areas by varying the heat.
Finished product. I did a little rubbing back and bone black in select areas but most of the "antiquing" was done during the blushing by varying the heat.
