LMF MAPLE

[ffg]

I bought LMF maple stain to stain my english walnut stock.I tested it out in the channel,and it looks to orangeie to me,can i mix this stain with say a walnut, for a darker color with a hint of red, has anyone tried mixing these stains

 

[Little Wattsy]

I bought LMF maple stain to stain my english walnut stock.I tested it out in the channel,and it looks to orangeie to me,can i mix this stain with say a walnut, for a darker color with a hint of red, has anyone tried mixing these stains

Yes you can mix them....You gotta play with it a little though; mix, dilute, test, next......
Would like to see pictures when you are done!!

 

[Capt. Jas.]

This one was done with 3 parts Lancaster Maple and 1 part cherry. I then cut it with denatured alcohol by using 3 parts denatured to 1 part stain. It then needs to be backed off.

 

[Zonie]

Yes you can mix alcohol based stains but before you do that make real sure you really want to stain your Walnut stock in the first place.

Unfinished walnut looks like it is pretty light colored wood when it's dry.
A lot of folks look at their unfinished walnut and decide, "That's way lighter than I thought walnut is. I'm going to have to stain it to get the dark rich color that walnut is supposed to be."

They then buy a stain and apply it only to find that they have taken a beautiful piece of wood and turned it do dark that the grain and marbling that should show is now hidden or it has very little contrast.

All unfinished wood looks lighter than it will be when the finishing oils are applied. In other words, as soon as the linseed, tung or whatever oil gets on the wood it darkens a great deal. If it was stained it darkens even more.
Even Maple which is a light wood will darken some when it is wet and that look is what it will look like after oiling if it is left unstained.
With maple, that look is much lighter than the original guns which is the reason most folks stain or treat their maple stocks with aquafortis and heat.

Before you actually stain your walnut take it out into the bright sunlite with a wet wash cloth.
Wipe the water onto the surface of the wood and give it a good hard look.
That wet wood is what your stock will look like after applying the finishing oils.
As the water evaporates it will turn back to its lighter dry color so while your looking at it, keep it wet.

It may be that the unstained look is exactly what your after.

 

[paulvallandigham]

I agree with Zonie about this. I have seen- and refinished so many stocks that have been stained when they should have been left alone. Whenever I refinish a stock without staining it, the owner is in shock at how much nicer the wood looks when I am done. I had one man who asked me to refinish his factory stocked gun who did not recognize his rifle when I gave it to him. I had to show him the serial number for him to understand it was the same gun. I had simply removed the terrible factory stain and finish, and re-finished the wood with a handed rubbed oil finish.

 

[fitter]

Unstained English Walnut.

 

[Capt. Jas.]

Unstained English Walnut.

That would probably look much better if you had used a piece of wood that had some figure in it! :grin: :rotf:

 

[fitter]

Nah, should have covered that terrible wood with min-wax oil stain to cover it up :wink:

 

[ffg]

Did you use a tung oil on that stock, its real pretty

 

[fitter]

Both of those guns are finished with Chambers oil.
Capt Jas. is stained mine is not.

 

[JOHN F]

capt is that a trade gun NSW ?beautiful pieceeither way.. like the barrel stamps too

 

[fitter]

Blasphemy! :rotf:

 

[ffg]

Is chambers oil, jim chambers stock finish?

 

[fitter]

Yes. The oil itself isn't clear. It has a slight reddish tint.

 

[StewartLeach]

Strongly suggest you test any stain or finish on small areas inside the barrel channel before applying to visible areas. As others have noted, it is easy to go way too far with stains and finishes.