?? Feibings question ??

[bubba.50]

a question for the people who use this stuff. how much do ya cut it before use? I bought a couple bottles with intent to use for stock stain.

poured some in a jar & cut it 50/50 with 91% alcohol. gave it a trial run on a walkin' stick I was workin' on. after wipin' off the excess & rubbin' it back twice with a rag soaked in denatured alcohol it was still red as a brick. and this was on a dogwood stick which is about the hardest densest wood I know of.

so, just curious how most use it.

 

[Black Hand]

In reality, it does not make a very good stock stain. I've heard it fades over time...and, as you discovered, is a nuisance to use.

 

[Dwight Rutherford]

I use it on woodturnings, you can sand it back to get lighter colors. Colors don't seem to fade but then they are not subjected to the heavy usage a gun stock gets.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I've used it with very satisfactory results, but you may have a version with a lot of red in it. There are several different "browns". I don't cut it, unless I try it on a test area of the barrel channel, and find I don't like the color.

Not the best if you're trying to highlight curly maple, though.

LD

 

[Grenadier1758]

Feibings comes in several mixes. There is the alcohol based leather dye, the water based leather dye, a low VOC (Clifornia compliant) dye and several others.

I have found the water based here at some of the craft stores and only dark brown and black for colors.

What colors or mix of colors are used for the colonial maple type of stock stain?

Is it the water or the alcohol based dye that fades in the sun?

 

[jerrywh]

It will look different on every piece of wood you put it on. Dogwood is not hard. At least all the dogwood I ever had. It will change color as time goes by. It fades. There is no point in using the water base type. You must have bought mahogany.

 

[Zonie]

I've never heard of a mahogany shoe color.

If it is very red, it might be Ox-Blood, a red/brown color that used to be quite popular on leather.

 

[Herb]

I have used a lot of Fiebings dark brown oil leather dye on gun stocks for the last 20 years, always full strength. None of it has ever faded so far as I know.

 

[bubba.50]

I've never heard of a mahogany shoe color.

If it is very red, it might be Ox-Blood, a red/brown color that used to be quite popular on leather.

I like walnut brown with red undertones so, I bought two bottles from the local western store. one says "Mahogany" right on the label. the other is labeled "Medium Brown". the intention was to alternate coats 'til i get what I want like I used to do with Birchwood-Casey walnut & colonial red stains. but intense as this stuff seems to be each bottle would likely make a gallon of stain.

 

[bubba.50]

It will look different on every piece of wood you put it on. Dogwood is not hard. At least all the dogwood I ever had. It will change color as time goes by. It fades. There is no point in using the water base type. You must have bought mahogany.

I don't know what kind of dogwood you have in Oregon but, Virginia dogwood is hard as a weddin' pea-shooter or Chinese arithmetic and about as dense as a piece of petrified wood.

 

[gferlitsch]

I've been using Feibings dyes on wood bows for years and never had the color fade.

 

[rijerolmon]

Be very aware that no two pieces of wood (or leather) will dye the same color/tone due to base colors in the wood (leather). After drying the color will appear lighter and will go darker with finish applied, and often will shift in shade some. If I am looking for a particular color/shade, I use an eye dropper to measure, mix or dilute small amounts for test purposes. I have found that UV can fade certain colors over time however with normal usage, storage and care this has not been an issue.

 

[Artificer]

I have forgotten how many different makes/types of stock stains I have used since the early 1970’s on primarily walnut, but also maple and birch stocks.

Fiebings Alcohol based leather dyes are what woodworkers call “Spirit Stains” because of the alchohol in them. I have been using for over 43 years. The alcohol based dyes do not fade. Actually if anything, the stocks colored with these dyes and covered with Tru Oil stock finish have darkened a little bit after decades.

BTW, Dixie Gun Works “Antique Stain” is actually Fiebing’s leather dye that is sent to them without a label and Dixie pastes their own label onto the bottle. This is not bad stuff, but a bit TOO red for my taste.

I have tried the following Colours of Fiebing’s Alcohol Dyes over the years both alone and by mixing two or three colors together to get a custom color.

British Tan ”“ A VERY light brown with red in it and it also has a touch of Yellow. Too light for most stocks

Ox Blood ”“ Mostly Red with a hint of brown. NOT good by itself as it is TOO Red, but can be mixed with other colors.

Light Brown ”“ A bit darker than British Tan, but does not seem to have any Red in it.

Medium Brown ”“ BY FAR the one I use most often. It has enough Brown and some Red that looks great on Walnut and some other woods. I use it straight from the bottle on many stocks and on others I use a 1 to 1 mix by volume of dye to alcohol or even a 1 to 2 mix of dye to alcohol when I am trying to “sneak up” on a certain shade. If I had to rely on just one color of dye for gun stocks, this would be it.

Dark Brown ”“ TOO DARK for most gun stocks and if there is Red in it, the Red gets covered by the dark brown. I mix it one for one with Fiebing’s Cordovan to get a similar color to the Post WWII Oil Based stain the government Arsenals used on Walnut and Birch stocks to hide previous damage or try to disguise the Birch wood to make it look more like Walnut.

Mahogany and Cordovan ”“ Both are too dark and have too much red in them for most uses, except when you are trying to hide the kind of wood the stock is made from.

Gus

 

[Larry Akers]

I have used it in dark brown. I use it full strength.

 

[S.Kenton]

I've used it on a few rifle stocks and powder horns. I use at full strength.