Hi, recently I purchased a new Krieghoff 'Hubertus' single-shot rifle. I'm not happy about the light stock. In order to make it darker I'm using an oil from Germany called 'Scherrell-Schaftol extra dark'. Is there anything I could mix into that oil to speed up the darkening process? The stock is walnut.

Or is there any high quality stock oil on the market which works very well regarding darkening?

http://www.kapstadt.de/schindlers-africa

If you can get Alkanet root, just let it infuse in Isopropile alcohol. I actually did 3 infusions - in IPO, Boiled linseed oil & mineral spirits.

If you look at my post on the Mannlicher Schoenauer restock project you can see details.

I finally mixed the infusions and found that I got great colour and quite a thin liquid that I could spread on the wood and it just soaked into the wood very quickly. Make sure to let the oil dry for a day or two between coats.

Remember that boiled linseed oil is not waterproof and so you will need to put a few final coats of Truoil. I prefer to thin the Truoil with mineral spirits 50-50.

The final finish is the classic old English red colour. The below pictures are of 5 coats with 240, 400 & 600 grit wet & dry paper. I have not started the Truoil finish yet.

Only use alkanet root if you want it red and not dark brown. If you use an alcohol based stain it will penetrate the existing finish and make it the color you want. Please do not use linseed oil; it is the worst stock finish there is when it comes to being water resistant. There are plenty of better choices out there. I use Laurel Mountain finish and stains. Oil based finish, but with modern driers and hardeners in it.