I'm doing a couple stock refinishes for a friend. I've never wanted to stain mine so I've never used it. I can find several reccomendations via a search but I'm wondering about proper application. Mainly does the stain penetrate deeply enough that wet sanding won't cut thru it and end up blotchy looking. These stocks are for his Savage 22/20ga combo riles and not real prizes but I still want them to look good and it gives me a chance to try a new-to-me stock finish. Thanks, Rob.

while there are some folks that stain walnut I never never do.....unless there's some sapwood in it. The beauty of walnut will come thru without any stain at all.

Now if you're working on a birch stock and want it to look dark.....stain away friend.....

Vapodog
I agree, hence my questions. It's birch.

mix stain with oil so that when you wet sand, you are staining simultaneously. Can't hurt a birch stock though. Paint might be better.
Brent

I stain most walnut in that I try to get a alkanet root look to it, as did the old English rifles, but this does not cover up the grain...Today I use a water of alcolhol stain from the powders produced by Brownells....I will finish a stock completely then cut it back severaly with a scotch pad and a mix of rottenstone and oil...then stain,let dry for a few days then rottenstone and oil again followed by a small build up of red oil from Pilkington..

To stain wood from the start is only for a built up finish and even then its darn easy to cut through the finish, in fact near impossible not to for me anyway, and when you do it mucks up the whole thing...and its hard to match a that cut through spot, if you look at it in strong sunlight...

Unless you have done a lot of stock finishing, you are sure much better off going with the woods original color..but in the case of birch then you must stain it and put a built up finish on it and just be carefull about cutting back the finish, I use oil and very light application of white scotch pad for a built up finish...I don't like built up finishes although they certainly are the most water proof of finishes.

Yea, they're Birch, but these two rifles are for the use of a couple little kids about to cut their teeth on shooting. Thanks for the replys, I think I'll use Tru-Oil which is darker than the others I use or just stain and top coat. Aside from doing the guy a favor I also wanted to test Daly's ProFin, but I may do that on a piece of scrap walnut.

Ray has it right as usual... Seal the wood first then stain or else you will get a blotchy uneven result.

You have to be sure to sand off all the finish on the surface of the wood before you stain or the stain will make any left over surface finish darker and outstanding. I like a reddish tone myself- looks great on birch (well, that is to say as good as birch can look on a rifle...)

Not all rifles have to be stocked with marble cake turkish...

I've used Dixie Stock Stain on a couple of favorite guns. It's a rich red-brown mahogany color. Looks terrific on light woods like birch, cherry or maple. (For that matter, it'd look good on walnut. The natural dark brown would show through, just looking a bit redder toned.) What it really is (as Turner Kirkland told us in older Dixie catalogs) is Fiebing's Mahogany leather dye, available cheaper and in larger quantities from vendors like Tandy Leather. http://tandyleather.com/ It's a "spirit stain," aniline dye dissolved in alcohol.

There are tricks to staining birch,the mag Fine Woodworking,has done a number of articles on just that over the years.Go to their web site and see what you can track down.