Burning in tiger stripes

[bamamarine]

A co-worker told me he's found that it was fairly common to burn stripes in stocks to make them appear like curly maple. A quick internet search leads me to a lot of hear-say but no real proof that original builders burn in stripes with any sort of regularity. To me it seems like a lot of extra effort for what at the time was seen as a tool to be used. If a customer wanted and could afford something that looked like curly maple he'd order curly maple. Am I wrong or did builders really burn stripes into stocks?

 

[nchawkeye]

They did, here in the Piedmont of NC, around 1830-1860 in the area of Jamestown in Guilford County they mass produced rifles we now call Jamestown rifles...

Most were half stock, about .40 caliber and some have the fake stripes on them...Many of these rifles went west....

 

[gunmaker43]

Leman trade rifles are well known to have fake curl---But it was painted on with a ragged brush using a very dark stain. Not burnt. ....Tom

 

[mooman76]

I have an old piece that had it done. I don't know if it was done by the builder or the person that owned it some time later. It was a cheap made gun at the time sometimes referred to a hardware store gun. I am sure though that curly maple was most likely pricy back then just as it is now and guns were expensive to the buyers then.

 

[Birddog6]

I am sure at times some would do anything to make a sale, and that may include trying to burn fake a stripe on a stock. But I do not think it was a common practice to Burn stocks, nor have I found any evidence to indicate such. The most well known maker of Fauz striping of stocks was Leman, and he did it with a special brush & stain or ink if I remember correctly.

I helped some guys cook a bunch of Boston Butts one time to sell for Charity, and was asked to bring a couple rifles to show the guys helping. This is one of the rifles I took to show.







One of the ol gents there Insisted I had burnt this stock with rope or wire or something, cause he had heard it on a Documentary on the History Channel about burning these stripes on rifles & selling them to the Indians. He insisted NO WAY was this striping natural & just enhanced with stain. I HAD to have burned it.
So the next day, I went back & 8" of the cut off forestock of this rifle, still in the block & untouched except sanded. I stained it right in front of him. :idunno: Then rubbed it down briskly with a rag & wet it with some Tru-Oil. B.S. Now he says I Prebaked it with some chemical to make the stripes......

When some people make up their minds, there is no changing it, no matter what ya do. And after all, he did see it on TV...... :slap:

Keith Lisle

PS: Oh, and he said I bleached this walnut stock to give this "Starburst Effect", he called it. Now if I could get him to Tell Me how to do it, I could end up rich !!



PSS: Burning & branding designs in Hawk handles was well known & many historic pieces are displayed to show it.

 

[Vaino]

Most of the faux stripes on gun stocks were black ink which was painted on after the stock was sealed...otherwise the ink would "blot" into the wood. The finish coats were applied on top of the ink stripes.....Fred

 

[crockett]

bama- Turner Kirkland- the guy that started Dixie Gun Works- examined hundreds of original rifles with the fake stripes and never found any that had burn marks- all painted. So...never say never... but figure painting was the way to go. Like everything else in life there were some stocks that were painted more realistically than others. The Leman trade rifles had big ugly stripes and look fake. A paint brush was clipped so as to produce 4 or 5 "fingers" so one stroke of the brush painted 4 or 5 lines.
If you try your hand at this, I would recommend using a camel's hair brush and paint one stroke at a time. First put on a light stain to color the entire stock, then over this put on a resist- such as one coat of linseed oil- this keeps the darker stain/ink (used for the stripes) from bleeding into a fuzzy line. Paint on the stripe. If you over did it- you can quickly wipe it off (if you put on the resist). I would do faint stripes just to break up a plain grain and put a little life in it. I've had folks say- "Gee there is actually a little curl in this stock" not realizing they are looking at faint- fake stripes. Practice first on some scrap wood.
I set up a nice photograph of a curly stock (cover on one of my muzzle blasts magazines) and then used that as a model to paint the stripes.

 

[54ball]

They did, here in the Piedmont of NC, around 1830-1860 in the area of Jamestown in Guilford County they mass produced rifles we now call Jamestown rifles...

We had an original Jamestown show up on here not too long ago. The natural curl of the maple was so uniform it almost looked fake. Another factor is aged curly maple tends to washboard or ripple with the stripes. This gives the appearance that they were burned on.

 

[Scota4570]

Could it be that the toasting, over the forge, after nirtic acid application was the "burning". Maybe after the story was handed down the message got corrupted into the idea that individual stripes were burned in?

I have done the Sugi technique. The edges invartiably get burned. It does not come out even. Painting on stripes looks different, one dimensional. Nitric acid stain, toasting over a stove burner, dye stain, then finish seems to work perfectoy on decent wood. You get a 3-dimensional effect.

I contend that buying a decent stick to start with will be cheaper than fussing with questionable techniques and materials.

 

[nchawkeye]

Let me back up as I reread the first post...Some Jamestown rifles were artificially striped...Whether they were done chemically or burned, I don't know...

These were for the most part, cheap, mass produced rifles, some had a ton of inlays...Sure, some were made for wealthier individuals and well done but many were not...

 

[bamamarine]

Thanks for all the input. My co-worker must have seen the same History Channel show that Birddog's questioner saw. Like I said, everything he's (and I've) found about burning in stripes was, "I heard someone say they knew a guy that..." I think some ram rods had a swirl burnt into them to help match the rifle but, again, I've only heard people tell me that and I have no documented proof to point to.

Thanks again for the info.

Mike

 

[frogwalking]

I had thought the washboard effect was from the stock being finised with a scraper instead of our newfangled sandpaper. I had thought to do that to make my rifle to be more authentic. I have learned something today.

 

[54ball]

Charles,
They will washboard somewhat when you scrape due to the hardness of the wood in the stripes. When it drys like over 150 years or so the dark areas tend to shrink or contract more than the the lighter areas.

This may vary from tree to tree,rifle to rifle and even region to region. It may also be due to how green the wood was when the stock was carved or how much use or weather the rifle saw in it's service life.

A really old but smooth feeling rifle with strong curl may be the sign of a recent refinish, :hmm: hard to tell though because there are so many variables.