wood finish thoughts

[alex e.]

As I work on my latest French fusil I can't help but notice all the figure/ curl in this piece of European Walnut. It's a lower grade of wood but looks awesome.
Most likely this gun will be finished " as new".  On a lot of the EW I use as a first coat a very old can of Sherwin Williams stain/varnish in one.  It's ingredients read like an old,old varnish recipe. It gives a little highlight to carving, fills in some open pores,and the pigments even out the color usually encountered in lower grades of EW. EW IS very forgiving in that respect. Even minwax works well
It works but it doesn't give me the depth or warmth I'd like to see though.
I usually finish with a tung/varnish oil type finish,then  a couple coats of brix wax
Any thoughts?

[FALout]

I don't stain walnut.  When ready I just put on the finish.
I may age it using a bone black/paint, but I don't stain walnut normally.

[alex e.]

I use European Walnut for most my guns. Ive used all grades. It's different. And I'm pretty convinced it's not very uv resistant. I have a four year old fusil I use,made as new. The wood has darkened considerably.
Stains on black/American do little for color IMO, unless you want it very dark.

What type of finish might give the figure some depth and body like you see in a nice piece of maple?

[smart dog]

Hi Alex,
I also use English walnut for many projects.  It can range from rich red-brown to light gray-brown.  The richer colored wood needs nothing to enhance grain, color, and figure.  The grayer wood usually needs a little help.  I use Laurel Mountain Forges walnut stain that is thinned 50% with reducer or denatured alcohol.  That will warm up the color and help bring out figure.  I'll be posting photos soon of a gun stained that way.  I finish EW with Sutherland-Welles polymerized tung oil that is initially thinned 50% with mineral spirits to act as a sealer and then unthinned oil for top coats.  Recently, for top coats I began using Sutherland-Welles wiping varnish which is simply their tung oil mixed with polyurethane varnish.  It appears to be a very rugged finish and it can be made to look like a vintage linseed oil varnish.

dave

[Robert Wolfe]

I'm with Smart Dog, I use Laurel Mountain Walnut Stain (not the American Walnut Stain). I think you end up with a richer, warmer color - at least according my taste!

[Pukka Bundook]

I've tried different finishes, but always go back to raw linseed oil.  It works and is very forgiving.  Beautiful finish in time.

I used Laurel M forge finish on one and still don't like the looks compared to linseed, and I did it maybe 15 years ago, maybe 20.

[wmrike]

I am a fan of the tinted Pilkington oils, reddish brown for black walnut, and yellow-brown for English.  Both tints are subtle and work well to bring out figure. 

I think black walnut benefits more from some judicious coloring.  In addition to Pilkingtons, of late I have tried ruby shellac as a base and fill with nice results.  Haven't tried it on English yet.

[dogcatcher]

I am a finish junkie, I have tried them all, even made quite a few concoctions that worked as well as the commercial versions.  I have read quite a few books, and taken notes of comments from quite a few forums.  I know that it doesn't really exist except in the mind but I am still looking for that perfect easy and fast finish that is better than the last one.  I have read everything the 2 experts that I like the best, Bob Flexner and Russ Fairfield have written. 

I prefer the oil based finishes like Tru Oil, Pilkingtons, and Laurel Mountain, but they are just a mixture of some oil, varnish, thinner/mineral spirits.  The tinted ones, I can add drops of Feibings leather dye for that.  Or create my own using trans tint dyes.  That is what I do, I create weird unscientific concoctions to match what I want.  The veterinarian supply sells syringes that I use to measure the amounts of my concoctions.  I can make a gallon of finish for about what a quart of the real stuff costs.  If I only make it for immediate use, I don't lose any.  When I was using the commercial versions, I would land up throwing away about 1/4th of a container because of evaporation.

[alex e.]

Thank you all. You've given me  some good information to ponder.

[Dphariss]

This is a very pale piece of American grown European Walnut. Its finished with a shop heat modified Linseed oil that I have explained a number of times with some resin added in the form of a real LS oil varnish used in oil painting.
However, I believe the correct finish for a trade gun is a cheap brown or perhaps reddish vanish ON the wood that would mostly obscure any beauty in the wood. So I believe the properly made soft  LS oil varnish IN the wood will produce the nicer looking stock if applied properly. A similar oil can be made by mixing over the counter BLO with Birchwood-Casey Tru-oil 50-50 then thinning the first coat about 15% with real Gum Spirits Turprntine aged in a shallow dish for 2-3 days to add oxygen. Soak all into the wood it will take. Wipe then set in the sun to cure wiping or hand rubbing a time or two over the time in the sun as the heating brings finish back to the surface.

 

[dogcatcher]

DPharris, thanks for the information, I have spent the better part of the day reading old threads that you have answered.  I now have a new finish to try. 

Also a Welcome Home.  I was also in I Corp, from June 68 to October 68, then my Division, The First Cavalry, Airmobile moved south to III Corp. 

[Dphariss]

DPharris, thanks for the information, I have spent the better part of the day reading old threads that you have answered.  I now have a new finish to try. 

Also a Welcome Home.  I was also in I Corp, from June 68 to October 68, then my Division, The First Cavalry, Airmobile moved south to III Corp.

LS oil varnish often takes some research and some trial and error to use right and get good results. The old time gunsmiths were trained in its making and use. We are not so well informed. They made small batches at a time so as to not have storage life issues, or so I have been told.
Welcome home....
 1/61st Inf, 1Bde, 5th ID. We patrolled the DMZ from Con Thien (A-4) to the Laotian border, relieving the Marine units on the DMZ in 1968. I was there from August 70 to June 71. Most of my Infantry school platoon went to the First Cav.
Regards
Dan