"Black" finish on maple

[jaxenro]

I was looking at pics last night of an old Purdey percussion rifle with a birdseye maple stock. The finish was almost black with most of the grain hidden yet enough of it came through as golden streaks and pools. The article stated this was how Purdey traditionally finished maple, which was a high priced deviation from their traditional walnut. Anyone seen this before and know anything about the finish, how they acheived it, etc.?

 

[Mike Brooks]

I don't know how Purdy did it, but I'd use a couple coats of aqua fortis.Apply the first and heat it till it blushes , then apply a second coat and blush it again. This should really leave it dark.

 

[jaxenro]

The key to the finish (to me) was the way the golden color of the maple grain showed through the black in spots. May have been a laquer finish for all I know

 

[Mike Brooks]

Finish and stain are two entirely diffent things. Stain colors the wood and finish protects the wood.

 

[jaxenro]

Mike, understood. If I could explain this, what it looked like to me is they took an unfinished, unsealed stock and painted it all over with black laquer. Then they block sanded off the paint which only sanded off the raised portions of the grain, leaving the remainder black. Then applied an ?oil? finish that left the cleared portions of the grain a nice mellow golden color appearing a streaks and whirls on a black background. Very striking yet very natural looking, as te birds-eye grain provided the pattern.

This make any sense?

 

[Ridge]

I have a fowler finished in the manner that Mike is speaking of. In spots where your hands/cheek come into contact with it a lot, it turns to a golden color.

 

...or do like I screwed up on my first gun, and heat the first (and only) coat of aqua fortis (with dissolved iron filings) too dark (read 'burned'). Then don't nuetralize it and rub in alot of linseed oil (one coat at a time). After a while it will turn black. Then you work it down a little with 0000 steel wool to reveal the 'golden' highlights...

 

[hhughh]

I have the AF from Track....directions don't include the washdown? Is there something different in their formula? Or just an oversight in the directions?

Hugh

 

[Twice boom]

My opinion is and it's only an opinion. The stock was stained and finished with what ever? by doing a sand in finish.. And probably , what they end up with was the rings ,and birds eye being harder did not take the stain as well as the rest of the stock.Then did a rub in oil finish to complete the job...

Least wise, that's the proses I would use if I had something similar to work with and wanted that look.

If it's important to someone ,I could do little reseach and see if I could come up with something out of one of my old books....

T.B.

 

[jaxenro]

It's not important, unless you enjoy research. Just thougt it was interesting and the comment was that Purdey always finished their maple stocks that way.

I might get a few birds-eye scraps and try a few things out.

 

[Twice boom]

I don't mind, besides I learn from my reasearches.. :wink:

I don't know how helpful this will be or even if anyone knows what Logwood,Vildigris and green copperas is..

Here's a formula out of an old book published in 1883 by Stelle and Harrison for coloring maple black...

'Boil half a pound of logwood chips in two quarts of water; add one ounce of Pearlash(?) and wash the works with it while hot.
Then, when dry, go over the works with the follow-ing: Boil half a pound of logwood in two quarts of water; add half a an ounce of vigdiris (? ) and green copperas (?) in which has been put a half a pound of rusty steel or iron filings..

I'll look elsewhere for somemore old recipe's

T.B.

 

[Zonie]

vigdiris might be Verdigris? If so, it is Copper Acetate.

Green copperas might be Copper Sulphate?

Pearlash is Potassium Carbonate.
(Source of info: Dixie Gunworks Catalog...has all sorts of neat info in the back).

Logwood is...logwood, often used as a dyeing agent.

As others have mentioned, just use Aquafortis and too much heat. That will make it darker than dark. Black even (don't ask how I know). :grin:

zonie

 

[John Archer]

William Brockway describes a process in "Recreating the Double Barrel Muzzle Loading Shotgun".....To bring out the figure in birdseye maple to it's fullest, the stain is applied in two stages, one to accentuate the grain, and one to color the wood. To increase the contrast in the grain, mix up a small amount of lamp black water color in a saucer of water and paint the stock with the resulting inky black mixture. Lamp black is a greasy pigment, consisting of finely ground carbon or soot, and has the particular attribute of clumping, or settling into all the minute pores and openings in the wood without actually dyeing the wood itself. Since the pores of the wood are more numerous where the grain is at an angle to the surface, as in the curls of highly figured maple, we can take advantage of the clumping tendency of lamp black to accentuate the tightly figured grain. As soon as the wood has absorbed as much of the stain as it is going to, the stock is wiped clean of the excess and set aside to dry. After the stock is thoroughly dry, it is sanded with fine sandpaper, which will remove all the lamp black lying on the surface, leaving only the pigment which is embedded in the wood. At this point, the stock will look like a gray and white photograph of the grain pattern in the wood, very contrasty and pronounced. The stock is then stained with the dye of your choice in several coats rubbing with steel wool between coats, until the desired depth of color and darkness of tone are obtained.

 

[DVanVorous]

...or do like I screwed up on my first gun, and heat the first (and only) coat of aqua fortis (with dissolved iron filings) too dark (read 'burned'). Then don't nuetralize it and rub in alot of linseed oil (one coat at a time). After a while it will turn black. Then you work it down a little with 0000 steel wool to reveal the 'golden' highlights...

Sounds *real* familiar... :redface:
My 1st Hawken is like that but the stripes (P+ curly maple) are that golden brown which really accent it and folks comment about how "old" it looks... :grin:

Keep yer powder dry,

D.