So I am looking for a type of wood for a future rifle stock and I am not sure what I should be looking for . I love how wood looks on my shotguns that are 100 years of age . That dark coloration that I have only seen in old guns . I love anything rustic and vintage looking rather aged naturally or built to appear so . Alot of custom rifles are built with Turkish Walnut while I think is a beautiful material . It doesnt fit my personal aesthetics. I come across what is called bog oak and it in my opinion fits my taste of that rustic look . But Its not sold in any size pieces that could be used for stock making from what I can find . What type of wood can be used in the construction of a heavy recoiling rifle but that can be aged in appearance for a more weathered look ?

What you are seeing is oxidized linseed oil or natural varnish. Combined with 100 years of dirt. It's not the wood that ages.
If you like the look of oak, with its grain and rays, then you want to use Ash, which is available in stock blank sizes. I build flint locks with Curly Ash. Get it now because it it soon will all be gone the way of the American Chestnut and Elm.
Emerald Ash borer you know.

I stumbled across a process called ebonizing wood . Which I think looks amazing and has the look I like . Finding a stock maker or gunsmith willing to do it would be another thing .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgV3nRpeKgQ

quote:

Originally posted by tk10ga:
I stumbled across a process called ebonizing wood . Which I think looks amazing and has the look I like . Finding a stock maker or gunsmith willing to do it would be another thing .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgV3nRpeKgQ

Ain't nothing but money.

quote:

Originally posted by butchlambert:

quote:

Originally posted by tk10ga:
I stumbled across a process called ebonizing wood . Which I think looks amazing and has the look I like . Finding a stock maker or gunsmith willing to do it would be another thing .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgV3nRpeKgQ

Ain't nothing but money.

True , I thought about If I cant find someone willing to do it . I could probably ebonize the stock myself. Looks like a pretty simple and straight forward process .

Bog oak is notorious for splitting. Don't use it for something where you will put more than, say, an hour's work or less.

My grandfather after being blinded in WWI was retrained as a woodturner. He made bowls, lamps, tobacco pots etc.. Many of the bog oak ones would split.

Any wood can be stained. But even so it'll look like a new stock because it is new. It won't have fifty years of dings, dents, rubs and etc..

But personally I wouldn't worry. Use it enough (and that's USE not ABUSE) and it will age soon enough.

Else used some fine, lightly oiled wire wool to take the newness sheen off.

DIY, doesn't look like rocket science.

This is a stereo cabinet I made about 25 years ago. It's mahogany and ebonized mahogany. I turned the wood black with a solution of white vinegar and steel wool. The finish is Tung oil. The black does fade a bit over time.

If all you want to do is turn wood black, or any shade you want, use Magic Maple stain; which is potassium Permanganate, heated with a heat gun.
We use it on curly maple stocks. It will turn colors before your eyes and you stop heating when you get the shade you want. Including dead black.

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Originally posted by richj:
This is a stereo cabinet I made about 25 years ago. It's mahogany and ebonized mahogany. I turned the wood black with a solution of white vinegar and steel wool. The finish is Tung oil. The black does fade a bit over time.

I am wondering what the texture difference is between wood that has been ebonized black and stained black . From what I can tell by pictures it appears ebonizing leaves the surface with a more textured appearance ? I think the video said walnut works best for the process .

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Originally posted by enfieldspares:
Bog oak is notorious for splitting. Don't use it for something where you will put more than, say, an hour's work or less.

My grandfather after being blinded in WWI was retrained as a woodturner. He made bowls, lamps, tobacco pots etc.. Many of the bog oak ones would split.

Any wood can be stained. But even so it'll look like a new stock because it is new. It won't have fifty years of dings, dents, rubs and etc..

But personally I wouldn't worry. Use it enough (and that's USE not ABUSE) and it will age soon enough.

Else used some fine, lightly oiled wire wool to take the newness sheen off.

That would explain why i havnt seen it used for much it seems and its not all that expensive .
Reminds me of the pistol grips they make out of mammoth tooth. They look amazing but are extremely brittle from my understanding .

I recently refinished an old WC Scott hammer gun because stock was busted. The stock was beautiful and I really hated having to remove old finish to clean wood where it would allow glue to bond. I had never had a stock look original after doing this. I ordered the Double Gun Journal stock refinishing kit I'd seen advertised. It is a red root oil finish. It was probably the easiest finish I have ever done and even though it took a month or more to complete the stock looks exactly like it did before I stripped the finish. I left most of the old minor handling marks in the stock and you can't tell it was refinished. Great product!!!

Oak is a very poor wood for a rifle stock. Look at the traditional english straight grained walnut and use a red oil traditional stain and finish. It takes a month or two to do it right but is worth the time.

I have been looking at all of these different possible recommendations .
I think What I will do if I decide on going this route is a ebonized walnut stock .

I have about 3 months to decide so I am in no hurry . I may buy some different walnut variants and see what each looks like ebonized .

Now I am wondering what turkish walnut would look like ebonized .

I have some 100 year old weather barn boards the one could clue together.

Don't have a clue what type of wood but if one wants a real aged look.

If you want ebony colored walnut, or any other wood, use Magic Maple stain; we use it on curly maple flint lock stocks. You apply it and then use a heat gun to make the color anything from light brown to black. Easy to do, cheap, and will do what you want. Get it from Dixie Gun Works.

I watched that ebonized video; he has taken a simple process that long rifle builders have been using for 300 years on curly Maple, and turned it into a complicated, labor intensive process.
Just use the Magic maple stain; it is heat activated. Basically one step. Any color from light brown to dead black, in seconds. Any wood.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
I watched that ebonized video; he has taken a simple process that long rifle builders have been using for 300 years on curly Maple, and turned it into a complicated, labor intensive process.
Just use the Magic maple stain; it is heat activated. Basically one step. Any color from light brown to dead black, in seconds. Any wood.

I will check it out .

It will not change the texture at all. If you want a textured wood, like oak (don't use oak), as I said, use Ash.

The ebonized part is as smooth as the plain wood.

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Originally posted by tk10ga:


I am wondering what the texture difference is between wood that has been ebonized black and stained black . From what I can tell by pictures it appears ebonizing leaves the surface with a more textured appearance ? I think the video said walnut works best for the process .

I'll PM you with a builder who makes new stocks look old all the time. I'm not sure if he will give away any secrets. Duplicating an old patina is an art form.

quote:

Originally posted by tk10ga:
So I am looking for a type of wood for a future rifle stock and I am not sure what I should be looking for . I love how wood looks on my shotguns that are 100 years of age . That dark coloration that I have only seen in old guns . I love anything rustic and vintage looking rather aged naturally or built to appear so . Alot of custom rifles are built with Turkish Walnut while I think is a beautiful material . It doesnt fit my personal aesthetics. I come across what is called bog oak and it in my opinion fits my taste of that rustic look . But Its not sold in any size pieces that could be used for stock making from what I can find . What type of wood can be used in the construction of a heavy recoiling rifle but that can be aged in appearance for a more weathered look ?

Some years back, it was common to make walnut look like all dark grained.....it wasn't popular to have red, brown, grey streaks in the wood as is seen on fancy stocks today.....so they bleached the wood to remove all the color and then stained it to make it "walnut....it's why it's called "walnut stain".....it wasn't intended to make birch (or other white wood) look like walnut!!!

You might want to find some scrap walnut and try it to see if that fits your liking.

for about 45 years on about 10 issues of Guns & Ammo they had a varmint bolt action in a blonde walnut stock. Always liked that stock.

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Some years back, it was common to make walnut look like all dark grained.....it wasn't popular to have red, brown, grey streaks in the wood as is seen on fancy stocks today.....so they bleached the wood to remove all the color and then stained it to make it "walnut....it's why it's called "walnut stain".....it wasn't intended to make birch (or other white wood) look like walnut!!!

I've never read, seen or heard of that as a common practice. How long ago was that done? I've seen fairly plain walnut on earlier British and European guns, but it wasn't bleached and stained. They simply chose relatively plain straight grain wood. Also seen some fance colored walnut, especially black streaks, in earlier British and custom guns. Can you provide a source for your statement?
Here are some examples of guns with lots of color and no bleach.

Of course it was common in mass produced gun to use relatively cheap plain black walnut that had no color or figure and stain them such as Winchester's red stain, but no indication there was a need to bleach them to remove varying colors.

Minwax Antique Oil Finish with Birchwood Casey Walnut/Rusty Walnut (mixed) water base stain.

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I've seen fairly plain walnut on earlier British and European guns, but it wasn't bleached and stained. They simply chose relatively plain straight grain wood.

Yes, and with reason. For strength. The fetish like obsession for highly figured wood just didn't, then, exist.

Purdey, best Holland's, Boss guns can all be seen with factory original very plain but very straight through the grip and strong walnut.

Rub it down with drainO, I don't know how its used but know some smiths use it...I just finish a stock with Alkanet root and modified Linseed oil. It will age naturally..

I don't think I would care to use Drano. That is primarily lye, sodium hydroxide, a very caustic agent that will probably cause corrosion of metal in the future. It also attracts moisture. It being a very basic ph chemical can be neutralized with an acid, the process of which leaves a "salt"
which we do not want in a stock.

Lye is an old treatment for bleaching wood, but I just don't think it is best for a gunstock.

For decades, the bleach to use on wood was oxalic acid. It was the powered variety, not the liquid bleach sold by Home Depot that is said to contain oxalic acid. That stuff doesn't work worth a crap on gunstocks,

You mixed it with warm water, applied to bare wood and raised the grain...several times, then neutralize with weak baking soda solution.

The wood will be cleansed and slightly bleached..now it will take stain nicely..including alkenet root/linseed

This technique came directly from Holland and Holland in about 1965

Thanks for the reminder, Duane. I just finished sanding a stock and ready to start with the alkanet, but the wood wouldn't take the color. I had remembered reading that H&H used something to get alkanet to color, but damned if I could remember what it was. The oxalic acid worked like a charm.

JMHO - I'm no expert .....

The old classic look from Wesley Richards, H&H, Purdy etc. were incredible with that red tinge to the finish that made the lighter parts of the wood just glow.

https://www.google.com/imgres?...UwBQ&iact=mrc&uact=8

They used alkanet root mixed in linseed oil. That treatment still works and all you need is to mix in some Danish oil or carnauba wax (melted) and you get a waterproof finish.

I infused the alkanet root in BLO, mineral spirits and IPA and in the end I just mixed the lot. Makes no difference.



My humble results - 20+ coats sanded into the wood and final coat with 1000 grit!






The pictured do not do justice to the finish. The dull glow is so much better than the bright glossy finish you see in some high end guns.

My results can be improved by buffing the finish (provided you have enough carbauna wax in the mix). I liked this look and did not bother to buff it.

Naki, that’s the color most want to achieve.
I really like it!
Now, what about the checkering?
Will you re-apply the same stain over the checkering?

I realize the wood itself has a lot to say about the final color...but..I really like what you've done!

Ive seen some good work with a mixed LINSPEED and mineral spirits on top of Alkanet root..

I played with Lead Oxide simmered to a slow boil with Linseed oil, as recommended by a well known stocker, and it will sure darken a stock, and give it a dullish finish and when mixed with Alkanet root it turned out awesome. The use of lead in the finish might be dangerou8s to ones health, we didn't know that back then.

I also Used a stock finish that I liked a lot but backed off because it contained Tuenol, a carcinogen..I used a lot of bad stuff I guess, but Ive lived long enough to think maybe we over react as were just born to die, and some of the fear mongering may be an over reaction, who knows..I sure have lived a long and healthy life with the use of some bad stuff..ate a lot of white bread too.

Today I just paint the wood with Alkanet root, that came from Duane Wiebe in a round about way, and use a good finish on top of it and I like the results..Duane tells you how to use it on his web page and I followed his directions..It would be hard to improve on, and if any finish is to bright and shiney, just wet sand it back to a shene or a dull finish. I like the dull as it does not reflect light while hunting, but rest assured that bright flashy finish is the more waterproof, but not a hunters friend.

BTW the stock I saw that had the DrainO treatment was an attempt to match a very old Winchester rifle and the DrainO treatment made it look rough and it did match the stock on the old 1986, made it look original as all get out..I think it was swabbed on and washed off with soap right away as I recall..I wouldn't mess with that stuff, just added it to see who might have some information on it and some did. I asked Bill Dowtin about it and he said he had seen good work done with it...