I purchased a rather light piece of french (english) walnut that has a few lines running through it. Not real distinctive, but a hell of a lot better than ordinary factory. What stain (brand and color) might you recommend to make it a bit darker without hiding the lines in the stock?

I just finished experimenting with the African Express finishing kit. The stain is in the finish. Its a very easy finish to apply. You can buy it at brownells I believe.

Remember any water based stain will raise the grain. I just did a stock using a wood dye I picked up at the woodworking store. It can be mixed with thinner, water or in my case alcohol. It comes as a liquid. Just add a couple drops to the alcohol. You can make the stain darker by adding more dye or just use as many coats as you want. Allowed me to blend in some off color wood. It soaked deep enough I didn't have any issues of cutting through it when I did my first filler coats of finish.

I used a mix of 2/3 special dark walnut and 1/3 red oak on the stock of this old mauser. Granted its not as good of wood as you describee but think it will bring out the grain very well. You can adjust the degree of darking by how long you leave the stain on before wiping it.

quote:

Originally posted by ramrod340:
Remember any water based stain will raise the grain. I just did a stock using a wood dye I picked up at the woodworking store. It can be mixed with thinner, water or in my case alcohol. It comes as a liquid. Just add a couple drops to the alcohol. You can make the stain darker by adding more dye or just use as many coats as you want. Allowed me to blend in some off color wood. It soaked deep enough I didn't have any issues of cutting through it when I did my first filler coats of finish.

Ditto on the alcohol stains. Works good on
lighter laminated stocks too.

Just remember to raise the grain BEFORE staining. If you don't the little hairy bastards will pop up the first time your hands sweat, or hunting in the rain. You wipe the stock down with a damp rag, and hold it over a medium hot stove burner, rolling it around quickly, to evaporate the water in about 20 seconds. Then scrub off the little hairs that pop up with 320 grit fresh paper. Do this three times. Then stain, fill the grain and finish. Steel wool will leave steel strands stuck in the grain-NG. Forget about the hardware store stain-the pigment hides the highlights of the wood. The dye stains in alcohol are good-start diluted, its easier to put on more than take it off.

PS- I like a mix of 3/4 walnut, 1/4 mahogany dye, to get that reddish classic look that used to come from red alkanet dye in linseed oil. Polyurethane is much more waterproof and durable than linseed-just rub the gloss off the final coat of poly with oooo steel wool, and then wax for a nice rubbed finish.