18th century wood finishing paste

[Jdbeck]

 I been unhappy with the available fast drying oil finishes that feel like plastic, the waxes that don’t enhance the wood figure. I have always loved oil finishes but not the labor it takes to do it right. Understanding a period gunsmith shop had to produce a finish efficiently, and easily that was both reliable, durable and beautiful—it was time to look to the past.

Utilizing various international library sources with the aid of google translate my research began into 18th century woodworking finishes, from musical instruments to wood furniture I did not stay in the bounds of the gunstockers.

One of the areas I been researching is the different plants, resins, extracts, and oils used in combination for finishes. Often times when a mention to finish is made the terms are obscure such as “stack white” which I soon learned was lead carbonate…yes I skipped testing that ingredient. After lots of research I had a list of shellac recipes, varnishes, and oil based methods. I than experimented with various ingredients mentioned and explored the ratios of each and tested their effects. I soon found a reliable mix with the results I wanted. It enhances the depth of the wood curl, creates a smooth finish that feels like a hand rubbed oil finish, and is easily applied.
I used it in my recent Rifle build.

Would love your thoughts and opinions? I thought about possibly offering it for sale if there is interest.


One coat on an unsanded/unscapped surface lead to a smooth finish which beads water, with a satin sheen.

With only a few more coats a gloss finish is obtained. The finish can easily be repaired, as each layer bonds to the previous layer. The tint from the resins has a warming effect on the wood, that also enhances the grain figure.

[Carl Young]

Back in the early 70's an old man in his late 70s from Pennsylvania, who learned from an old man in Pennsylvania, gave me his secret recipe which was boiled linseed oil thinned with turpentine, then warmed and a small piece of paraffin dissolved in it. It was applied warm and several coats applied over a few days until you were satisfied. The first few coats were thinned more and later coats thinned less.

The finish on my first rifle looks the same now as it did 50 years ago, with a few drops rubbed on every few years.
Good luck with your research and keep us posted.

Carl

[2 shots]

hi carl, any chance you could post a picture of your rifle?? thank you. mike

[Eric Kettenburg]

Don't discount lead carbonate:  it was one of the common dryers used for the processing of linseed oil into a drying oil, and can easily be filtered out (I know the "white" is jarring but it leaves no residual pigmentation following boiling and straining).  Red lead oxide or any lead oxide can also be used, as well as simply using pieces of lead.  Frankly, if you drop a few round balls or lead shot into your boiled oil, if not bottled/sealed hot it will skim over and begin to gel much like modern tru-oil in about the same time frame because the lead will encourage continued polymerization even when cold and/or sealed.  Lead is a spectacular dryer and was commonly used historically.

Many finishes seem to have been somewhat regional - obviously, not merely in terms of gunstocking but relative to any woodworking trade - and the materials available via merchants in the major ports and inland population centers was (imho) fairly astounding.

[Scota4570]

What is the recipe?

I have used "slackum", is that what we are talking about? 

[JV Puleo]

Years ago, when I considered getting back into making muzzle loaders, I was a regular reader of Strad (i.e. Stradavarius) Magazine which my late father subscribed to. He was interested in the instruments because he was a musician. I read the articles aimed at contemporary makers for clues on the finishes they used. Their approach was often a good deal more scientific than anything I've seen in the antique gun world, perhaps because  the finish on a violin or viola may effect its tone. In any case, that was a long time ago and I've since lost any information I accumulated but I've always remembered it as a path makers of contemporary muzzle loaders ought to follow. I'm glad someone has.

[Eric Kettenburg]

Thanks for mentioning the violins.  The guys who attempt to recreate period violin and associated stringed instrument finishes are obsessive to a degree I don't believe I have seen in any other trade.

I will say that based upon the information that I have accumulated over 30+ years, including a great deal of genuinely scientific work, I do not believe that the way stringed instruments were finished really has much in the way of application to period gunstocking.  Yes, there is some crossover in the materials available and in the way oils (when used) were processed, but I think people at large generally far over-asscoaite stringed instruments with gunstocking solely because many instruments utilize curly maple or sycamore which looks very similar to the curly maple preferred for many American rifle stocks.  And of course the colors and finish on a 300+ year old stringed instrument generally is beyond fantastic.

Thus far, the sole area of crossover that I have found is of course amongst some of the later Lehigh/Northampton gunstockers, and even in this specific regional case, adaptations were clearly made considering that a firearm is made to be used in the outdoors vs. a violin or viola etc which is intended for indoor/protected use.  Anyway when the term "violin finish" is used relative to a later Lehigh, let's make sure we're clear in that it was not entirely finished as a violin of the period would have been finished.  The end result may look fairly similar, and some of the processes of finish manufacture may be somewhat similar, but it's not the same when speaking solely of the end result.  Two entitely different intended purposes, obviously.

Let's also keep in mind that probably 97-98% of all surviving American work (my estimation based upon my own experience - ymmv) has been refinished multiple times, so studying such finishes are great if you are attempting replicate such age, but not particularly relevant to what may have been an original finish.

[Frozen Run]

97-98% of all surviving American work (my estimation based upon my own experience - ymmv) has been refinished multiple times

What are some examples of the 2-3% that haven't been? Thank you.

[Ghillie]

I built my first muzzle loader in 1972.  I've built 14 to date.  A beginner compared to many of you.  My best finish is half turpentine and half linseed oil for a few coats, followed by linseed oil.  Then dissolve beeswax in turpentine till it is a paste.  Put some to your fingers and rub in.  After a few coats it builds up and is waterproof.  If you get a few scratches, just rub on a little more beeswax/turpentine mixture and you are back to the original finish.  I have one .32 caliber flintlock I built @ 1974 that is still in great shape and still waterproof and looks much older than it is.  Just saying give it a try, you may be surprised.

[t.caster]

JDB, I am still playing with it and so far so good. But I need more than one or two applications and then exposure to handling and outside elements to make a judgement on it's longevity. I've only built 83 ML's, and so I have tried just about every oil finish & wax method on the market. I have mixed my own concoction of waxes that I currently use on rifles. Pretty much all the oil products work pretty well and I follow them with a wax. Waxes eventually rub off so they need new applications several times a year. Then of course after shooting and cleaning I always rub down the stock with gun oil or rig grease, so who knows if the waxes even adhere to that. That might be a discussion for another thread.

I commented on the initial results of JD Beck's paste wax finish in my previous post on "BECK FOWLER", and it looked very promising. I will continue to "play" with it on some of my other rifles and the next new build.

JD, you should send some to Mr. Kettenburg for review. 

Tom C

[Pukka Bundook]

The idea of a paste doesn't sound quite right to me.
It sounds like a quick finish, but not best for the wood.
what is required is an oil that penetrates deeply into the wood. Soaks into it, and the resulting finish is in the wood rather than on the surface.
Many knock a linseed finish, but I still believe it is one of the very best, and is forgiving of damage and very easily restored.
Sometimes called a London finish, and explained briefly in one of GT Garwoods books.  (Gough Thomas' Gun Book)

It's all I ever use, apart from one single 14 bore stock in Birdseye maple I refinished with French Polish. 

Eric K,
My cousin back home in the UK makes violins for a living. Fantastic pieces and personally delivers them around the world when finished.
He has studied finish and tone for years, and though records exist of the original Stradavari finish,  he has it figured pretty well and his tones are fantastic.
Having said that, he is not about to divulge his recipes to me !  LOL

[Jdbeck]

The paste clearly penetrates deep into the wood, the resins accelerate the polymerization, and the wax stays on top as a final coat. Finishing paste have been used for 100’s of years!

[Eric Kettenburg]

RCA 42 haas a lot of original finish remaining.  The John Moll which is #12 on the KRA 2010 Lehigh CD also has a lot of original finish remaining and the John Moll which is on the 2012 Pres Display disc (I think 2001 award) also despite a lot of forward restoration has a lot of original finish remaining on the buttstock.

Just off the top of my head. These (all 3 noted) are hard resin varnishes.  42 and the 2001 pres display John Moll are red tinted, the Moll more so than 42 but 42 still has a red tint in the varnish.  Both those pieces appear to have been stained first w aquafortis.  The 2010 disc Moll appears to be a hard copal varnish which is very yellow-gold and was probably applied over a simple ground or sealer, no stain.  It is a very hard unforgiving varnish, what is left of it, which is why I think it is a hard fossil copal varnish (not a soft dissolvable resin in other words).

The varnish on the first two mentioned is reddish, and very thin.  It was probably something simple like a red resin run hot into boiling oil, but not very much of it.

The ghost Petor Resor is surely all original finish too, and very light.  There are others but those are the more interesting ones off the top of my head.  I would say that most likely, the most common finish was a boiled linseed oil with hard drying agents and most likely no more expensive resins added other than perhaps simple conifer resins ("colophony" variants, of which there are many) to add some quick gloss, but no color.

[Jdbeck]

RCA 42 haas a lot of original finish remaining.  The John Moll which is #12 on the KRA 2010 Lehigh CD also has a lot of original finish remaining and the John Moll which is on the 2012 Pres Display disc (I think 2001 award) also despite a lot of forward restoration has a lot of original finish remaining on the buttstock.

Just off the top of my head. These (all 3 noted) are hard resin varnishes.  42 and the 2001 pres display John Moll are red tinted, the Moll more so than 42 but 42 still has a red tint in the varnish.  Both those pieces appear to have been stained first w aquafortis.  The 2010 disc Moll appears to be a hard copal varnish which is very yellow-gold and was probably applied over a simple ground or sealer, no stain.  It is a very hard unforgiving varnish, what is left of it, which is why I think it is a hard fossil copal varnish (not a soft dissolvable resin in other words).

The varnish on the first two mentioned is reddish, and very thin.  It was probably something simple like a red resin run hot into boiling oil, but not very much of it.

The ghost Petor Resor is surely all original finish too, and very light.  There are others but those are the more interesting ones off the top of my head.  I would say that most likely, the most common finish was a boiled linseed oil with hard drying agents and most likely no more expensive resins added other than perhaps simple conifer resins ("colophony" variants, of which there are many) to add some quick gloss, but no color.

Always enjoy hearing you experience and knowledge. Your rifles speak for themselves!

As Tom said I should send you some of this to play with? If you’re interested PM me your address. Feedback is always appreciated. I got a feeling from your work, you got a manic formula of your own!

[duca]

Great to hear JDBeck, I think you’re doing a great service to our Hobby! The rifle you posted looks spectacular!! I to have been experimenting with finishes. So many possibilities. Please keep us posted on future endeavors. O and keep those videos coming.

[Jdbeck]

Great to hear JDBeck, I think you’re doing a great service to our Hobby! The rifle you posted looks spectacular!! I to have been experimenting with finishes. So many possibilities. Please keep us posted on future endeavors. O and keep those videos coming.

Thanks I appreciate it! Maybe I’ll get working on another gun soon? There’s a bunch of videos of originals from PA museums on my Instagram/youtube. Hopefully I hit a few more spots soon to add more rifles!! I love seeing the originals.