I have an old single barrel 12 bore with a horn tip that has faded to dingy grey. What's the best way to stain it back to black? Also, should I re-finish along with the stock? Thanks, Bob

Kiwi!!

jeffe

Thanks, Jeffe. Would then finish with thinned tru-oil, etc. with the rest of the forend? Bob

Bob,
take some toilet paper, because it's HARD to load up with kiwi (there's a joke there somewhere) and tape off the rest of the stock...

with just a BARE little bit on the tissue, rub it in, if you warm the horn (with a hair dryer, NOT a heat gun) just a little, it will take...

remember, kiwi is basically either carbon black or india ink, and wax...

keep rubbing...

then, when you are sick of that, take a clean old sock, and buff it,,, then put some finish on it.

jeffe

Thanks!

Bobc, Jeffe is on the money with the Kiwi. When we went to the marketplace in Dar where all the woodcarvers were, I saw lots of cans of Kiwi brown, I had wondered how all those carvings were such a uniform color!

lee440, I would imagine that using Kiwi shoe polish would work a lot better on open pored wood than on a horn forend. The horn is very dense and a closed cell. Any coloring that would show would only be on the surface and not in the horn. I would hazard a guess that it would rub off as fast as it rubbed on.

A leather die may work but I have not used either method. It would be interested if Jeffe has or this was just a guess.

I tried kiwi without the heat and it is darkening some, but it doesn't penetrate easily. I'll try Jeffe's method with the hair dryer and will see if it helps absorption. Bob

Chic,
leather stain looks weird, as it becomes totally uniform and looks like molded plastic...

jeffe

But does the shoe polish wear off? I would imagine that it would. Although I have never had the opportunity or need to try it.

Yep, like any other stain or surface prep... and the oil that dried out on the horn..

jeffe

bobc,
I was packing for a mule deer hunt, late mind you, and took a time out and tried an experiment.

I took a bit of horn and filed it, then sanded and polished it. then I applied black leather dy to one half the surface and black shoe polish to the other. I then rubbed the surface vigorously and the only thing remaining was the leather dye. The shoe polish was removed easily. I do not know how well the dye will stay with the application of any finish but it certainly held up to contact and it did not look bad at all. Just offering a real experience for you to consider. Good luch with your refurbishing.

Thanks, Chic. Wow this is like the Selsun Blue dandruff commercial! The shoe polish has darkened the horn, but not ebony black. I'll keep trying. Bob