One More Try for Pix in Flickr

[George Hoskins]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/97304701@N04/9012154781/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/97304701@N04/9013340782/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/97304701@N04/9013340872/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/97304701@N04/9012122639/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/97304701@N04/9013340606/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/97304701@N04/9013340536/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/97304701@N04/9012122625/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/97304701@N04/9012154867/

 

[jdkerstetter]

Are you still concerned about the stain job or are there other questions? Can't tell how the gun will looked finished until there's some oil on it.

Take some gun oil and spray it on an area of the stock and see how it looks. This will give you an idea of your finished look. Just wipe it off after, it won't hurt anything later.

My question is, are you sure you were ready for stain? Is the archtecture of the gun where you want it? I only ask because your lower and upper forends appear to be flat in your photos. They should be round in cross-section....think "accorn" when shaping them. Radius from the barrel to a line about a third of the way down (a little more on the lower forstock) and then a gradual radius down to the bottom of the stock centerline. Could just be the photos though.

If further critique is wanted, there may be some here who are still willing to discuss it as there some other issues. I really applaud you on your wire inlay though. Enjoy, J.D.

 

[kaintuck]

YE-HAAW ON THAT WIRE INLAY!!! :hatsoff:

i ain't got the guts to try that yet....maybe i need to get tomtom to show me..... :hmm:

 

[George Hoskins]

Sorry JD I posted for some suggestions on the blotchy stain awhile back but had trouble putting up pix. The stock shape is not well shown in the photos and is actually a little more rounded than appears. I'm living with it anyway.The problem is the stain didn't take evenly. It's blocthy in places an too white in others. Can I lighten the dark and darken the litghtareas and how do I do it?

 

[kaintuck]

I looked at the pics again.....I say put another stain coat on....and then the sealer/finish...It looks ok to me?????????

I think it looks fine~darker is better to me, but then that's my idea~

 

[matt denison]

What you are calling "blotchy" is just the natural character of the wood. Softer grain absorbs more stain so is darker, harder grain won't suck up so much so it stays lighter. Not much you can do about it. Put coats of your favorite finish over it and enjoy it for what it is. You may like it a lot.

Remember, stain is not paint.

 

[George Hoskins]

Thanks for the compliment on the wire inlay , kaintuck, you should give it a try. Of all the skills I have had to learn to do this gun it was probably the easiest.I feel the finish is too blotchy (too much variation)and I am hoping to even it out some before the final finish goes on and I want irt a little to the red and not too dark. Cheers

 

[George Hoskins]

I'm suspecting you're right sir I may have to live with it. I was wondering tho if a judicious application of a well thinned sealer in the local area of the dark patches only would control the stain absorption and make it lighter. Any thought's on this? Cheers

 

[Col. Batguano]

get a hold of a couple of books on wood finishing.

What they said about blotching was correct. Pine, birch, and cherry are particularly bad offenders. there are a couple of ways to deal with it; a dilute coat of hide glue sprayed on the wood prior to finishing, or, a very dilute coat of lacquer again sprayed on. But, if you get it too thick, it will seal the entire piece, and NO stain will get through. How do you know when your solution is the proper viscosity? Each piece of wood is a little different. So you never really do. It's one of the most nail biting aspects of wood finishing.

 

[sean138]

I think the stain looks good. I have little to no experience as I have only built one so far but I think your stain went on good as far as I can tell. Make the next one with an even color!
Sean

 

[Bruce Bogart]

It appears to me that there is some decent curl in the butt but the forestock has little curl. What kind of stain did you use? If it was alcohol based you may be able to "wash" with denatured alcohol to lighten some, but I think once sealed and oiled that you may like what you see. Besides no two pieces of wood stain the same, heck even different areas of the same stick can come out different (as you've seen here).
Just my $.02 worth and it maybe over priced!

 

[George Hoskins]

Bogie I used Laurel Mtn Forge, Nut Brown 2 coats . Nothing else on it yet. I was thinking of trying to lighten some areas. Zonie had said to use brake cleaner so I'm waiting till he sees these pix and makes his pronouncement. HEY ZONIE, YOU THERE??? :wink:

 

[Zonie]

My commment about using brake cleaner was aimed at removing any oils that had got onto the wood.

It is not a method of lightening up wood that has become too dark.

 

[tenngun]

my nwg looks very simular.I bought a plain maple but it has a lot more curl the I expected( not complaining..could not aford walnut)The looks improved a lot the more I oiled it,also using laurle mt forge oil.Its your gun and you alone have to be happy with the looks, but your gun looks great to me.If you have a piece of waste wood from it you may try staining it then oiling it for a couple of weeks and see what you think of the color then.But thats a fine looking rifle and I for one love the natural color you got off your stain

 

[George Hoskins]

Sorry Zonie I mis-understood. Any thoughts on lightening the dark areas a tad? Cheers

 

[George Hoskins]

Thanks for your positive comments Tenn. I guess I've worked on this gun so long I had a vision in my mind's eye of what it was going to look like. Well it didn't meet my vision and seeing as how I may not be able to change the gun much I may have to change my vision. Cheers

 

[mikemeteor]

dont know anything about the MSDS for LMF stains, but LMF does make a stain reducer-thinner for lightening shades (before application).
you could try a wash/soak/scrub with that stuff.
can't hurt. :idunno:
At least it'll have the best combo of solvents for LMF stain in it.

LMF Stain reducer

 

[Zonie]

Sorry Zonie I mis-understood. Any thoughts on lightening the dark areas a tad? Cheers

Not at this stage unless you want to resand the dark blotchy areas and stain it again.

I'm probably wrong but it looks like the wood wasn't whiskered fully?
Whiskers will soak up large amounts of stain if they aren't first removed.

Sanding whiskers with dull/worn out sandpaper often won't remove them fully leaving their fuzzy little behinds in place where they can create mischief.

Then again, maybe you were right to begin with and the wood wasn't the greatest. Each piece of wood is different, even if they come from the same tree and if the wood has some soft areas in it, that could also take the stain in strange ways. :idunno:

 

[tenngun]

I whiskerd mine a total of 7 or 8 times, and still got results simular to his.If you look up french trade muskets on google one of the centermark tulles shown on one of the pages also looks simular. This was the first gun I used LMF stain on any gun,I do think an aqua fortis gives a more even stain but I find the color darker then I like

 

[geb324]

Green Horn
Hit it with 0000 steel wool and
apply your finish it looks great!!