Please allow me to introduce myself. Long time lurker, finally joined a few weeks ago. I don't currently have any ML but my father and I dreamed of building them. He used to refurb antique guns in the 60's. When I was a kid, most of my friends looked at the Sears catalog, I looked at Dixie's. Life seemed to always get in the way.
Anyway as I near retirement, I plan on building a Kibler SMR. I have been agonizing over wood choice. To me fancy maple doesn't seem right on a SMR. I have always loved unstained cherry furniture but will it be out of place on a SMR?
Somehow American Walnut keeps creeping back in my mind. How are folks finishing walnut? I've done a search here but a lot of these the pictures are not working. There's a post by Mitch Yates, aka tallbear , with pictures of walnut he's done with Nitrate of Iron or Aqua Fortis but the pics aren't showing up. I've seen some with just a finish but it seems to lack depth or any change in color. I've seen some that look like they've been stained with cough syrup. Looking for something correct for the period. I would really like to find some pics of walnut treated with AF, Please?
Anyway sorry for my rambling. Thank you for your time.
Walnut alway looks best unstained, except in very rare instances. I suspect that most were finished with a soft Linseed Oil varnish or Boiled linseed oil. This finish on Walnut especially will continue to beautify the stock over a period of a week or two as it fully cures. Something that in not nearly as apparent with modern solvent laden stuff that has little or no natural oil.
So far as fancy wood there are some “plain” rifles with very nice wood. One of the prettiest styled original SMR I have seen in pictures was in very curly Hickory. It would have been a beauty in ANY wood. But this is YOUR choice. However, MY choice for a slim rifle is hard maple its a much tougher wood than most/all walnut. The SMR is slim so strength is a consideration. AND if I worry about strength in the wrist I would want plank sawn not quarter sawn. With plain wood it makes no difference that the curl is not as as visible this is a 17 3/4 pound match rifle in plank sawn curly maple.
This is a Kibler SMR with standard wood.
SMR should not be over finished. It should have all the MACHINE marks removed by sanding or scraping. But a super smooth sanding is not correct. In fact if they are sharpened right careful scraping is OK. Just be sure to raise the grain well. Don’t put on too much finish. I make a varnish that I use that is heavily based on Eric Kettenburg’s formula but I give such a rifle a good soaking coat everywhere, in all inlets including the RR hole using a patch on a slotted jag. Let it soak for 10-15 minutes or maybe less, then wipe it all off and I run a dry patch in and out of the rod hole.
If you want you can “bone” or burnish the stock after staining ( I stain maple with Iron Nitrate) wet it with finish then burnish with a metal or hardwood bunisher. But make sure they are very well polished. This, I have on excellent authority will flatten and glue down “whiskers” from staining with a water based stain. i suspect this may have been more common back in the day than we think since it would be faster than repeated whiskering the stock. But do NOT burnish before staining or applying finish this may inhibit penetration.
This is a English Sporting rifle I stocked in what was a very pale piece of American grown European Walnut. The color on the stock is just from the Linseed oil varnish I applied.
This is in processing. I put a light coat on the buttstock to get a better idea of how to lay it out. But it was almost as white as maple without any finish.
