Thanks to all You guys for all Your kind words.
And Brent, I finish Hard maple as follows:

Sand to 400 grit wet-or-dry and wet with water until the whiskers stop growing. Sand. Wet and dry. Sand. Wet and dry. You know the routine.
Next, mix up the color of stain You want with Brownells water-soluble dyes in ALCOHOL. I mix colors to match what I'm looking for, on a gun by gun basis. Drench the wood with it and let it dry. Use 0000 steel wool to even it out.
Next is the real secret.
Take boiled linseed oil and cut it with about 30% pure turpentine. Linseed oil is not a good stock finish by itself, but it soaks into the wood very deeply. Drench coat the stock and keep it dripping wet for 30 minuts. Let it set in the sun for about an hour, and wipe it down with a dust free cloth. Next let it stand in the sun for as long as it takes for you to not smell the turpentine very strongly. Usually about a week.
Now.... put on low gloss Tung oil. I have found that tung oil based finishes are very water resistant, and withstand hard use very well. They "look right" on old classic arms. Not "plastic" looking. The secret is that if You ever need to match Your finish as Your doing the work, or even a few years later, you can sand in the area you need to work on, and get through the tung oil. The linseed oil is in the wood, and the alcohol based stain will go right through it. Tung will penetrate very deeply into bare wood, but it wont go through cured linseed oil. If You put tung oil directy on the stain/wood without the linseed oil as a base, you'll never be able to get the stain to go through it again, after the first coat cures. And as we all know, that can be a pain.

As the coats of finish cure, you will "wet sand" the stock lightly with 600 grit wet-or-dry and linseed oil. If You cut into the "lighter wood" under the stain, just restain with your original stain. Works like a charm.
This is not a "slap it on fast finish" but as You can see in the photo, it's worth the work. I use the same technique when I work on walnut, just without the stain. Looks better than most modern finishes, and really lasts. It's the best way I've found to finish classic arms in 35 years of gunsmithing. Try it.

buchsenschmeid
Thanks for the post. Your finishing method is about what I do. I use a turp/linseed/spar varnish mix that I soak in to every crevise, screw hole and surface for an hour or more. Then an oil finish of one sort or another. Lately I have tried Permalyn which looks good - though maybe not quite as good unless someone like SDH does it - he must have a few trade secrets I haven't figured out yet.

But the stains are what I was after. I did the acid/torch method and really liked it on the second rifle but it was a bit too chocolate on the first. Not sure why the difference. Perhaps the two pieces of maple were different enough to cause that. The stain seems a bit more predictable anyway.

Thanks a bunch.
Brent

LOL - I could hear the tone of Chic's voice from here on that one!

And now you understand why Chic doesn't let Howard have a trigger

I have my first custom rifle nearing completion in Chic's capable hands. It is my intention that it be a hunting tool. Nicks and dings are badges of honor that add charachter. As Allen pointed out about his beat up .300 the true beauty of a custom gun comes through when you can sit by the fire and hold it and bring forth all the memories of great companions, country, and adventures. That is what gives a rifle it's soul.

Jeff


Jeff

All of the rifles posted here are beautiful specimens. Good wood selection, design, and workmanship in every case.



Jeff, I am big on custom rifles with "character". I know guys who literally own rooms full of fine custom rifles that have never been fired, let alone hunted with. And in the case of many of these rifles (due to rarity, etc.), it would indeed be the height of folly to use them in the field or even at the range.



On the other hand, I know guys with sometimes very modest collections of well-selected, well-executed custom rifles (wood and glass stocks), and these rifles were commissioned as hunting rifles, and are used accordingly. These are the custom rifles I most enjoy looking at. Even with my own now-small collection, the rifles I get out and enjoy looking at the most are the ones with some history.



Here's what Jim Carmichel wrote about his famous, much-used custom David Miller Company .338 Win. Mag. in the October 1997 issue of 'Outdoor Life':



"The years and miles have left their scars on my David Miller rifle - the blue is getting thin on some of the corners, and every hunting season I find more scratches on the stock. Miller has invited me to send the rig back for a touch-up, but I don't think so. There is honor in those dents and nicks - each with its own story to tell. When I grow too old to climb the hill and chase the plain, I want to touch those scars and hear the stories again."



That says it all for me!



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1903 Springfield .338 Mag







1903 Springfield .338 Mag

Yugo 24 Mauser 275 Rigby

Idared

Absolutely Gorgeous. I am not a real big fan of Schnabel forends, but everything else on both rifles looks fantastic.
Thank you so much for showing them to us. I bet that you have an even greater satisfaction than most when using these rifles and looking at them because they were made up by your brother. That's wonderful. I have 5 brothers myself and not a darned one turned out to be a gunmaker!! Some of us get all of the breaks.!!

Blue

Idared,

Gotta love a .338 on a Springfield action. Beautiful gun!

A 1952 Mannlicher-Schoenauer in 9.3x62 with a custom full stock, bolt stop peep and staightened bolt handle. Metal work by Griffin & Howe, stock by Henry Pohl (finish by me). It started out to be strictly utilitarian, but we got carried away as usual.

Kurt

That thing is just gorgeous. However, I notice that the drop in the stock is quite severe. Doesn't it kick like a mule?

Blue

It has the same drop as the original pre-1956 Mannlichers, Brnos and Mausers. I find it very comfortable, as ones body can stay in a more natural position. The 9.3x62 really doesn't kick much, even in this 7.5 lb rifle.

[url="http://www.hunt101.com/?p=56917&c=500&z=1"][/url]



Much modified DAkota #10 in .257 Roberts, for sale, PM me for price.

[url="http://www.hunt101.com/?p=56921&c=557&z=1"][/url]