Did some stock staining test pieces today for my upcoming Woodbury rifle the curly ash stock. I have never stained ash before so this was all new to me. After looking at the ash stocked rifle threads on ALR and a bit of research on the internet I put on my white lab coat, bow tie and safety glasses and began to experiment. Since the barrel on this rifle is only 38” long, I had a nice 6” cutoff at the muzzle of the stock blank to work with. After slabbing the blank off into ¼” thick pieces, I then cut them in half and commenced to rasp and sand one side smooth enough to work with. What you are seeing in the accompanying photos are the results of 8 different experiments. We will work down the first column starting at the top left corner, we will call this sample number 1, and then progress to the top right and work our way down that column to the bottom with that sample being number 8. Hope this makes sense.
1. Base coat of Tanic acid with a top coat of nitric acid. Then scrubbed down with True Coat using a purple scotch bright pad.
2. Nitric acid, blushed and then scrubbed down with True Coat using a purple scotch bright pad. Note: This was some home brew nitric acid made by Joe Sharber in Montana.
3. LMF Nut brown
4. Magic Maple. I liked this finish but with the history for CrO₃ to turn green, at least on maple, it scared me so this option was a non starter.
5. Jim Kibler’s Iron Nitrate blushed and then scrubbed down with True Coat using a purple scotch bright pad.
6. Base coat of James Klein’s Orange toner then a top coat of Lancaster maple.
7. Base coat of LMF Ebony toner then scrubbed back. Next a coat of Lancaster maple then a coat of Honey maple. I did not like any of the results so I went ahead and applied a coat of James Klein’s orange toner just for grins.
8. Base coat of aqua fortis, blushed and then scrubbed back using a purple scotch bright pad. Next a coat of James Klein’s orange toner.
I had completed staining the first 7 test pieces and none of these gave me the results I was looking for. Some pieces were too light, too dark, muddy looking, not warm enough, not enough red tones etc. etc. etc. Then I decided to try aqua fortis and top coat it with James Klein’s orange toner. Volia, I had a winner. Contrast, warm tones, red tones, clarity and I got to use a traditional base coat of aqua fortis which is my preferred finish. Since this is an iron mounted Woodbury style rifle, I wanted a darker finish that I could age a bit. I need to add a couple more coats of oil over the finish to really make thing pop. I have included several photos of the sampling group hoping that different angles help bring out the colors. Keep in mind that sometimes photos don’t show the real colors.
R/David
