Keepin yer wire silver

[Dobson]

Mornin men, now the last project i completed was a jaegur (pics in the photo section) and when i stained it and applied an oil/varnish finish, the stuff i used wes a satin (as opposed to matt or gloss) hardening oil stuff called woodoc here in sunny south africa. The problem is when you cover over your silver wire inlays they all go yellow like brass. What am i doing wrong? yes the obvious answer is not to get it on the wire in the first place. But what do you guys do, paint the stock with a fine artists brush around the wire?
You could also just put it on and rub it back later with fine sand paper.Your thoughts please gents.
Regards
Dobson.

 

[paulvallandigham]

I believe that if you coat anything white, or metallic with any kind of finish- oil, varnish, shellac, acrylics, etc., you are going to find the dried finish discolors.

The only cure I know is to rub the finish into the wood and stretch it as far as possible, making a very thin layer ON THE WOOD. If you have some showing on the metal wire, its probably indicates that the coat is too thick, and you aren't stretching it out enough, or putting on thin enough.

Let the finish set up for 10 minutes, and while still tacky, you can lightly rub off any finish from the wire using a Q-tip, dipped in alcohol, and then squeezed dry between your fingers. Put a few drops of alcohol in a bottle cap, and use that cap to dip the Q-tip into it as you wipe the wired clean. If the Q-tip proves too wide, so that you are also taking finish off the surrounding wood, fashion a smaller " Lift " stick.

I have taken oil finish off metal parts with a pencil eraser after the oil has dried. I have also used a pen knife as a scraper to remove thick oil from metal, without scratching the metal much at all. Its all in the touch. A small bladed Screw driver could be used the same way.

 

[Birddog6]

IMHO, your finish needs to be rubbed into the wood. What you have is finish on the wood & it is too thick over the silver wire. Apply very thin coats of finish & rub them into the wood til it is almost dry. Let set for 12-24 hrs depending on the humidity (til dry) and recoat. When the wood won't take anymore finish, wax the stock & quit. I use 0000 steel wool after the first 1-3 coats of finish, then 1000 grit wet/dry paper (NAPA) between 4-5-6 coats & then a 1500 & then 2000 grit after I have enough on it, then wax it & it's done. This is a Bivins rifle I built a couple of years ago.

 

[LRB]

Beautiful work Birddog!

 

[Stophel]

On many fine German rifles with wirework and fine carving, I believe that the finish applied would be a boiled linseed oil finish (which is in the wood, not on the wood), and very lightly at that. Perhaps some were even just waxed and that's it. Many existing fine old guns are still in outstanding condition, and show little finish at all. I believe that the finish was kept minimal to avoid gumming up the appearance of the metalwork and the fine carving. Many of these were rarely used anyway, so durability of finish was not a concern.

Otherwise, a normal boiled linseed oil finish (real boiled linseed oil) would probably be best for a gun with wirework. The oil is put on in thin applications, with the excess all wiped off the surface, and allowed to dry in the sun for two or three days (again, REAL boiled linseed oil, not the store bought "boiled" oil). Repeated until the grain is nearly filled, at which point, it can be put on heavily and allowed to stand on the surface. After it is nearly dry, take burlap and cut it off the surface of the wood completely (this requires a LOT of elbow grease!). Allow it to finish drying and you have a boiled linseed oil finish, with nothing on the surface to cover up wirework or muddy up fine carving.

 

[Rolfkt]

Birddog, thats a beatiful rifle. Please could you post more pictures of it?


Rolfkt