Old unfinished stock, how to finish?

[bob243]

I got a new project from a friend, and am a bit unsure if there is anything special I need to do in this scenereo. I got a precarve lehigh stock in a grade 5 that is from what I understand to be about 26 years old. It is basically the way it came from pecatonica and was never touched, and was kept in a dry room along with the 36cal Douglas AA barrel. I drawfiled all the black coating off the barrel and fitted the breachplug and have it fitted into the stock. The wood is very nice to work with and sand. But because of its age has a darker tone to it (as does pretty much any wood youll find that has been sitting that long)

My question is, I am predicting that it is going to soak up stain like a sponge, and given the color of it, what would be a good way to finish this stock, and using what products? I generally use Danglers on the other few I have built (much from the help I got here) and am comfortable with it, but I am concerned the whole thing will come out black if i'm not careful.

 

[Headhunter]

I for sure would prep INSIDE the barrel channel, Cut your stain per directions so it will be a tad lighter, and do test sections in the barrel channel. Keep track of what stain formula goes where, until you get the look you are after.

Actual wood, safest place.

HH

 

[bioprof]

If you dilute the stain, you should be able to get it as light as you want. I'm not familiar with Dangler's stain, but if it is an alcohol based stain like I think it is, you should be able to dilute it with denatured alcohol.

Also, if you burnish the stock after sanding, it will help to seal the pores and keep it from getting too dark.

 

[Zonie]

I agree with bioprof;
One of the nice things about the alcohol stains is that they can be easily thinned by adding alcohol.

Cut in half (50% stain/50%alcohol) should give a stain that will not darken the wood much with each coat and because it is alcohol based stain you can use as many coats as is needed to get to the final color that is desired.

 

[ricklandes]

Because of the age of the stock I am wondering if it would be wise to degrease it of old finger prints and the like.

Zonie isn't this your idea with the lye and water as a degreasing agent...if so and you think it pertains maybe share it for this application...so as to not get old prints "under" the stain...

 

[Zonie]

Lye water will remove any oils that are on the wood and as I mentioned when talking about it before it will increase the contrast between the stripes and the adjacent wood. It will darken the wood as well but not enough to color the wood the rich brown color usually associated with Longrifles.