Must........control.......drool...........

[noahmercy]

My GPR kit arrived today! My first traditional frontstuffer, as well as my first DIY project. Oh yeah! :thumbsup: Upon opening the box, I was greeted by a very nice piece of walnut. Good straight grain in the wrist, and some nice figuring on the right side of the butt and both sides of the forearm. Now I get to brown the barrel and furniture and finish the stock. I searched the forum and found some excellent posts on browning, and I feel pretty comfortable going it solo. I've been following the recent postings on stock finishing and have learned a great deal. That being said, I have a question which may seem basic to y'all, but is kinda' niggling at me.

To whit: Do the same chemicals and procedures for finishing maple stocks apply to walnut? (And if not, what are the primary differences?) Also, a friend who built a Sharon kit back 20+ years ago said he used potassium permanganate to darken the stock on his. (I believe this chemical compound used to be called "purple crystals".) Any experience with this stuff?

Thanks, fellers!

 

[[email protected]]

N MERCY,
feller I see that ya did very well...
what caliber did ya choose?
AS far as potassium perm goes.....
well in my muzzleloading book ( it is a copy of an OLD text ) it explains how ya mix potassium permagnate with rust particules to make a mixtue used in barrel browning...it goes on to say that it can be used to stain your stock also......
that is the extent of my limited knowledge....
I know ther are may more knowledgeable people here than me.....they will give ya more insight....
just .....enjoy yer GPR....SHOOT ! SHOOT SHOOT!!!
HECKOFAGUN!

***** WV SCROUNGER ***

 

[[email protected]]

N MERCY,

forgot to say that potassium permagnate was called purple crystals...and there are websites selling it ....think its like $16+ shipping per pound.......you will only need a few ounces to do a stock.....
Websites selling it are under PYROTECHNIC SUPPLIES...
Hope this helps......
let us know how things turn out!!!!!
keep yer powder dry...
scrounger.

 

[Old40Rod]

My GPR .50 kit stock was also a thing of beauty but I found the walnut to be already quite dark... on the advice of a local gunsmith buddy of mine, I decided not to stain or color it... I hand rubbed about 30 coats of boiled linseed oil in (I had a very boring winter that year) and used a mix of boiled linseed oil and spar varnish as the final coat. I believe it was about 3 to 1 or 4 to 1 oil to spar, IIRC. It came out wonderfully :imo:, a nice glow, water proof, easy care, etc. The curl highlight is less pronounced than a nice curled maple stock, but it is nice. This is my main trail walk gun, so I wanted something that looked good but that I could wrack around without having to seek counseling or prayer afterwards...

 

[noahmercy]

Sorry, Scrounger, I should have mentioned it's a 54 cal. (I only wish they made a 58!) And luckily, my friend's still got some purple crystals, so I don't even have to go out and buy any to try it out.
Old40, I may try some of the stain in the barrel channel to see how it'll look. And I'm definitely going with the hand-rubbed boiled linseed oil finish. My buddy's Sharons are done that way and that soft, non-reflective finish is pleasing to my eyes. Plus, I appreciate the ease of touching it up.

 

[Birddog6]

If you put the crystals on the stock it will basically make the stock black & cover up all the grain & charactor or it.. I suggest you buy some Birchwoods Casey Walnut Tone Stain/Filler and use it. This will give it a nice rich walnut tone & enhance the grain twofold.
As for a finsih, I suggest Birchwood Casey's Tru-Oil and doi it just like they say, a drop at a time & rub til dry. This will waterproof it & if you lightly rub it when almost dry it will dull the finish. If you want a very dull finish, just lightly steel wool it with 0000 wool & acquire that after about 5-6 very light coats of finish. :results:
I have a .54 flintlock GPR & it has been a wonderful rifle for the $. :thumbsup:

 

[vradin]

If you want darker and want to keep the grain and enhance the figure, instead of covering the wood with that crystal stuff (turns it black) or stains - why not ammonia fume the walnut? There's enough tannins in walnut so you should be able to go from a couple of shades darker to almost chocolate brown. Either way, I'd test any method on a piece of scrap first.

The wood will darken the longer you leave it in a fuming tent, so it does need more attention than staining, but the effect can be outstandingly beautiful.

As birddog6 suggests- repeated oil and buffing will give a nice finish, although I prefer the non-metallic pads instead of steel wool.

Have fun with the kit.

 

[noahmercy]

Thanky for the tips, fellers. I think I'll try some stain as well as the purple crystals on a scrap like y'all advise. (Of course since I don't have a scrap of the wood used in this particular stock, I'll only be getting a rough approximation, but it'll be better than nothing.) As for the oil, I just found out my friend did use some four-ought steel wool on it to knock the sheen down to where he wanted it.
As to ammonia fuming the wood, I'll have to read up on it a bit as I'm not familiar with that process. But, hey, it might turn out to be just what the doctor ordered!

 

[alejohns]

I would not suggest potassium permagnate for use on your Walnut stock. The purple crystals were often used back in the 1950's and 60's and I know the book you mention that suggests them. Now days there are better treatments that will give the results you desire with a lot less work. This compound is poisonous, which by itself isn't so bad, but the color will tend to fade with sunlight exposure in time, something that the author of the book even talks about. In any event, I feel they had more application with maple stocks than walnut, they will stain the wood almost black and than you have to rub it to bring back the figure. It's a pretty look when you finish, but I'm not so sure what it would do to Walnut. I'd go ahead and try them on some scrap like you say, but when you finish I have a few suggestions that might be more to your liking. Whatever you decide remember that the potassium permagnate solution is just a stain, you'll still need to put a finish on the stock, whether oil, varnish, or one of the new high tech high gloss finishes that seem popular at the moment.

For just about all walnut stocks I've made I've used Pilkingtons finish. You can order it through Dixie and Brownells, it's not cheap, but a little goes a long way. Pilkingtons can be had in different colors so you can darken your Walnut stock if you choose. It's a true oil finish and the finish will be in the wood rather than on it. You can create either a gloss, semi-gloss, or satin finish. It will allow you to either have a partially filled grain finish or you can completely fill the grain in the wood, something that I usually strive for. Pilkingtons comes with excellent instructions that if followed to the letter will allow your average high school shop student to finish a gun stock as well as Purdey's finest products.