Finished up most maple stocks are a little light in color for my tastes but I recently saw one that was absolutely beautiful...it's grain was kind of "flame", "quilty" looking but it was dark and rich looking ... amber would be close I guess...and it changed as you looked at it from different angles. The fellow who owned it had bought it used and told me the fellow who had made it had actually singed the wood and rubbed it out with fine steel wool to get the color and effect.....he said the technique was called "suigi" or at least that's was it sounded like. Anyone know anything about it or was he pulling my leg?

It's true. Trouble is that is it is very easy to burn the corners off. I personally like to use nitric acid and spirit dyes. You can also use a stain made form steel wool and nitric acid. Regular stains will not cut it on maple. Once you have it dark make some contrast with the steel wool.

Potassium permanganate crystals which are purple can be dissolved in water. It turns maple a nice amber color when it dries. Apply lightly to exposed end grain such as in the inside curve of pistol grips, bolt cuts etc. Suigi finishes are best used on Eastern maple (rock maple) but can be used on Western maple if great care is used. Process involves a roaring blow torch kept moving quite fast and use of sheet metal shields to protect sharp stock edges which are then stained to match. Old time stocker Hal Hartley used suigi extensively. You might try some of the water based stains available from Brownells. Test on sanded blocks until you are sure of what the results will be.

I tried analine dye (water dye )on a eastern maple stock on a Cooey 22,some areas were beautiful surgi, other blotched.If it had been one or the other it would have been a great success.Still it was better than factory top stain.

Go to www.woodfinishsupply.com and look for the METAL EXTRACT dye. These are dyes made from chemicals acting against different metals. The result is a coloring agent without solids which are prone to 'gathering' or clumping in maple. The reality is that curly maple has soft and hard spots. The soft wood sucks up the dye(any dye) and so you get splotches. Most of the stocks I make are curly Maple and after much trial and error, I have gone to the guitar makes to learn the methods. I cannot really describe the exact way to do this. I had to watch it done a few times. It`s basically like this:
Don`t sand the wood to 400 or 600 grit like you would think should be done. Use 240 to 320 max and make SURE you have all large machine scratches out. Use Benite wood sealer. 4 to 5 heavy coats. 1 day between coats. Sand VERY lightly with 600 grit to open the surface pores. Thin the dye in Lacquer thinner, 10 teaspoons to the quart. Wipe it on liberally, but IMMEDIATELY wipe it off. 1 day dry, and seal the stock with another coat of Benite. Next day wipe on more dye, and wipe off.
The idea is to seal the deep pores of the wood and leave the shallow ones open.
You will be surprised how nice the wood will look with the subtle tones it picks up from very thin dye mix.
I make stocks for a living and am about DONE using oils. OIL SUCKS, OK? Find all the strange concotions you want and mix them all up at the witchdoctors, and it still will not stop moisture from entering the wood. Go ahead and flame me, I don`t care. The hand rubbed oil looks nice. That`s all it does.
I use a two part polyurethane isocyanate cured automotive clearcoat. Yes, it is very glossy. It looks wet. No problem if you want a gun with a satin(or less) finish.
Shoot the stock with a medium coat, let it dry in the sun 4 hours, shoot it again. Hit it again the next day. Make SURE you get the edges and corners and wear spots well. Don`t worry about a drip or two, but try to avoid them. Let the stock dry 3 days to a week. Warm is good, hot is bad. The clearcoat will shrink into the open pores of the wood (now you know why it gets sealed good).
Wetsand the stock (you won`t hurt the wood using water because you have already bedded the whole interior of the stock with Accragel or whatever, so it`s sealed up tight as a bulls ass) with 400 grit. BE EASY on the corners and edges. They won`t be rough anyway so leave them alone for now. When you wetsand, use a small block so you don`t get wavy looking finish. Use a foam backing pad on curves. The sanded surface will clearly show bad areas when dry, as the unsanded spots will be shiny.
Now, once you get it smooth, sand the corners with 1500 grit. McGuires 1500 grit paper ONLY! Soak it in hot water for a half hour first. Used em` all, McGuires is the ONLY one to use.
Now go out and put 2 more coats of clear on the stock. Remember, you are not making a 1 inch thick finish, because you are sanding off a good portion of the clear in the smoothing process. Sand this 2 days later with 1500, staying away from corners again, sand the edges and corners just enough to break the shine.
Now, go to the auto paint shop and get the McGuires rubbing compound and use a power buffer(unless you LIKE sore muscles)to buff in the exact amount of shine you want.
With practice, you will find that you can buff in a flat finish, a satin, or with more buffing, you can make it look like it`s wet.
I do maple every day and have not found a perfect dye for it.
Another way that the geetar makers use is to get the stock seal up tight, and shoot the clear on with a translucent color (auto paint shops have it) in the clearcoat. ZERO clumping. Looks bitchen.
I can`t remember how to post pics or I`d toss some in of some dyed stocks. Few customers want natural wood nowadays.
Checkering is no big deal. Some folks just checker the stock, do all the clearcoat work, wait a month for the clear to harden, and chase the checkering lightly. Then use a toothbrush with rubbing compound to clean up and polish the checkering.

thanks that was very enlightening.

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Doug Humbarger
NRA Life member

Mike,

You write like you've finished a stock or two in your day....

I'm just wraping up a stock refinish on a Rem Mountain Rifle stock. Anyway, the finish I used is called Sea-Fin Teak Oil and is sold as a marine type finish. (ie. for use around water) Anyway, it's a hard drying oil and looks fabulous on that walnut stock. But is this the type of "oil finish" you refer to that "SUCK"? Or are those witchdoctor concoctions primairly of the danish oil variety? Not flaming, just curious.

You can read what I wrote on the Rem 700 stock post. Let me know what you think.

Mike knows his stuff, listen carefully guys.

Hey Mike I am visiting up your way in a couple of weeks. Do you have a gun business up there??

Scot