Finishing a Kibler stock

[GAHUNTER60]

If you saw my post below, you will know that I cancelled my TVM Poorboy and bought a Kibler Colonial rifle in .54 caliber. I bought the gun "in the white,' in order to save the $200 (at $1750, the rifle is already $250 over my budget). I talked to both Katherine and Jim this morning, and the rifle will probably be in my hands and ready for finishing by Christmas. (The TVM was seven months out!)

Now, I plan to brown the barrel and metal parts with cold browning solution and then finish the stock. I've refinished several stocks in my day by layering on a mixture of stain and tung oil. I, of course, realize that this is a "modern" way of finishing a stock, but the wood I bought with the rifle is the standard maple stock, with only a small amount of curling. I therefore plan on using a pretty dark stain.

My question is, will this look alright? Which stain color should I use? I'm not ruling out the iron nitrate method that Kibler likes so much, but there are things about that I find unappealing, not the least of which is the look. Besides, if I get it sanded right, the tung oil and stain is pretty much ***** proof.

What do y'all think? Will it be too shiny?

 

[Pete G]

Try LMF Lancaster Brown stain with several coats of tung oil. Easy to do and looks authentic.

 

[ZUG]

When I stain a maple stock I don't "shoot" for a certain color I go with what the wood and stain gives me and if I don't like it I sand it down and try something else. I've used Permylin sealer for a sealer and finish and TruOil thinned along with other finishes. If the finish is too glossy for you then get some rottenstone mix with water or mineral oil and LIGHTLY buff the stock finish to get a satin look check often as you buff because the rottenstone does cut fast. I finish off the stock with a past wax.

 

[GAHUNTER60]

Try LMF Lancaster Brown stain with several coats of tung oil. Easy to do and looks authentic.

Thanks, I'll look into that.

 

[Dave Marsh]

I think you made the right choice by switching to Kibler. I would try the LMF with tung oil as well. LMF has several colors. LMF: Antique Wood Stain (laurelmountainforge.com)
Are you getting the patchbox? Good luck and I believe you will enjoy the adventure. I know I did.

 

[GAHUNTER60]

Yes, I did get the patch pox. I actually use the patch boxes on my percussion guns (jag, patch puller, extra caps and, if there is room, a few cleaning patches). I suppose I'll do the same with the flinter, however I might substitute extra flint for percussion caps!

 

[markh]

I used the Kibler iron nitrate solution followed by six coats of Formsby’s tung oil finish. I am pretty happy with it and I think it will be durable.

 

[Art Caputo]

While my Colonial rifle has the fancy(grade 2), the standard maple offering(grade 1) stocks I’ve seen did have some figure, and not featureless. I did use the Aquafortis/tannic acid treatment since my stock had quite a bit of contrasting, dark end grain. You could consider using Aquafortis to bring out any contrast, plus a darker stain to suit your tastes. I have seen a few Colonials using this approach that turned out quite nice. For the final finish I used TOTW’s Original Oil finish and was quite pleased. The combination of linseed oil to bring out the richness of the wood combined with pine distillate dryers produces a nice hard finish. The number of coats will determine the desired effect from a low luster hard rubbed look to a oil/varnished appearance..

 

[Flintandsteel]

Something like this?

 

[Art Caputo]

Yes. That’s very nicely done!

I finished this one a few months ago.

 

[Tn poor boy]

So tvm gave your down payment back to you

 

[Dixieshedhunter]

Hey partner. Go to youtube and watch Jim Kibler's excellent tutorial on using aqua fortis and heat. Anything less might be a waste of figure. It's possible to overstain with something else. But watch the process. Jim has a great youtube channel.

Pete Davis

 

[Dixieshedhunter]

HERE:




PD

 

[GAHUNTER60]

So tvm gave your down payment back to you

I explained in another post that TVM was supposed to email me my deposit amount this week, based on all the extras that I wanted. I never sent them the deposit, which means my order wasn not complete yet. Had I sent them the money and firmed it up, I would never have changed to the Kibler.

 

[Pete G]

I explained in another post that TVM was supposed to email me my deposit amount this week, based on all the extras that I wanted. I never sent them the deposit, which means my order wasn not complete yet. Had I sent them the money and firmed it up, I would never have changed to the Kibler.

You made the right choice .

 

[len]

I just did my Colonial stock today, 2 coats Iron Nitrate and so far one coat of Permalyn.
You can see the color change when heated with the heat gun, this is my first time using this method and I will use it again.

 

[GAHUNTER60]

I look forward to seeing the finished gun!

 

[hanshi]

Getting it that quickly beats waiting months; great choice.

 

[denster]

I just finished a Kibler SMR that had the standard grade maple. I was surprised how much figure it had. It was exactly what I wanted with no curl through the wrist to weaken it. I used Jim's aqua fortis two coats and the oil varnish he uses. Really turned out nice.

 

[Zonie]

I just finished a Kibler SMR that had the standard grade maple. I was surprised how much figure it had. It was exactly what I wanted with no curl through the wrist to weaken it. I used Jim's aqua fortis two coats and the oil varnish he uses. Really turned out nice.

For what it's worth, curly wood is no weaker than straight grained wood. The bands you see are areas where the wavy grain has met the surface. It isn't at all like the area between the growth rings a tree forms with each growing season.

Here's a sketch of what the grain in a curly board looks like.

The wavy lines you see in the "front surface" in the sketch are the edges of the growth rings. In a normal piece of wood that isn't "curly" they would be straight, going from end to end of the board.
Because the curly wood grain bends back and forth in this wavy pattern, when the board is machined, filed or sanded, some of the peaks of the wave gets removed. This, in effect, causes the "end grain" of the wood to show on the surface in bands that run perpendicular to the grain.

When the wood is stained, the end grain absorbs more of the stain than the areas that are running parallel with the surface right next to them. That makes the bands of end grain look darker than the adjacent surface creating the "stripes" people see when they look at a finished piece of curly wood.