Stain Color

[Finnwolf]

Lookin' for some advice - has anyone had any experience with "Magic Maple Stain" from Wolftrap Armory, LTD ? The bottle has no ingredients, no instructions but does have POISON in large letters on it. I am worried that it might be one of those solutions that ends up turning green over time. I spent some cash on a pretty nice piece of wood and I'd hate to have that happen. I'm going for a medium brown to contrast the curl with a hint of red in it to complement aged brass furniture. I picked up a bottle of LMF Lancaster Brown at Dixon's Fair last weekend. Has anyone used either and can you post photos?
Finnwolf

 

[Zonie]

Years ago, I tried the Magic Maple Stain and was highly dissatisfied with what it did.
As I recall, it turned the stock almost black. I sanded off the results and restained the stock with BC Walnut and Colonial Brown (The Colonial Brown is no longer made by BC).

Being one that never throws things away, I still have over 1/2 a bottle left but I don't know what I would use it on.

I may have done something wrong, but I don't know what. It's pretty hard to screw up something that you brush on and let dry. ::

 

[Darkhorse]

Finnwolf,
I finished a rifle a couple of years ago with LMF Lancaster Maple. As far as I'm concerned I'll never use anything else again but LMF. It makes a deep stain that really shows off the grain of the wood.
I'm working on an Iron Mounted rifle right now and I'll probably go with either the LMF Nut Brown or mix some Nut Brown and Lancaster Maple until I get what I'm looking for.
When you finish your rifle don't forget to check into Jim Chambers traditional oil finish.
Again, as far as finishes go, I've found my finish. The chambers stuff looks real good and is easy to work with also.

 

[Finnwolf]

Thanks for the responses, Zonie and Darkhorse. Wayne Dunlap told me to cut Magic Maple with water 6-to-1, let it dry and then go over it with red leather dye. I've got a fair amount of scrap to try it out on but my worry is that it could go green later.
Since I have the scrap, I'll try it and the LMF Lancaster Maple and I've heard good things about Dangler's stain also.
Darkhorse, I've never used Chamber's finish but I'm looking for a satin type oil finish - no gloss. I was thinking of using tung oil because I once refinished a walnut stock with tung that I liked a lot. Do you have a photo of a rifle with Jim's finish that you can post?
Thanks,
Finn

 

[Flintandsteel]

Finn,
You saw the photo of my new Lehigh. With it, I finally found my finish.
First... don't use the magic maple. It IS and acid stain, it is very hard to control, and as far as my experience, very unpredictable. Depending on the wood, will get very dark,and possibly continue to darken with age. As is sits, it will continue to concentrate, the next time you use it, it will be even darker.
LMF makes a myriad of stain colors,and you can mix and match to get absolutely what ever effect you are looking for. As well, it is a spirit stain, which means it stays clear and doesn't muddy up the curl. Darkens the curl, just tints the base wood.

Second.... Use the Permalyn sealer, first as a sealer, then put on multiple coats, very thin, rub them in till almost dry with a piece of your wife's panty hose. Gives a nice low gloss sheen. I just love this finish.
Even though the originals actually used a hard drying varnish, which equates to very shiny, I like that low gloss glow. If you'd like, I can e-mail you some better photos so you can see for yourself.
+


:imo:

 

Finn, if you'd like to see what all of the different LMF stains look like on curly maple, rootnuke bought every color they had and tested each one. He went through a very large stain testing and all of the results are in this thread. It's good reading. He eventually ended up using his own aqua fortis stain after much trial and error... but you'll see all of the pics and talk of his process in that thread.

I had considered doing that... but the more I think about it, the more I think I'm just going to go with an LMF stain. I'm just going to be too afraid to screw up a good rifle with acid, and the LMF stains seem to do a wonderful job easily.

 

[fatboy]

I've used the LMF Nut Brown and will use their prod's again good stuff and top coated with Formbeys low sheen Tung oil. I got a bottle of Keith Casteal's stock fin at Dixons last weekend it's a oil but not sure what the total make up is but like the appearance . Another top coat option would be BC Truoil cut a small amount 50-50 with min spirits to seal after staining and then use strait to fin and hand rubb it out .If needed to nock the gloss down more use 4/0 steel wool to take the shine off

 

[AeroE]

I've used the LMF Nut Brown and will use their prod's again good stuff and top coated with Formbeys low sheen Tung oil. I got a bottle of Keith Casteal's stock fin at Dixons last weekend it's a oil but not sure what the total make up is but like the appearance . Another top coat option would be BC Truoil cut a small amount 50-50 with min spirits to seal after staining and then use strait to fin and hand rubb it out .If needed to nock the gloss down more use 4/0 steel wool to take the shine off

Try knocking the shine down with 4/0 soaked in Tru-Oil for the last coat - this produces a very nice intermediate finish without plastic gloss.

 

[LSU TIGER]

I've seen Magic Maple in Brownell's catalog, but never tried it. I made up a lifetime supply of aqua fortis a few years ago and I've barely put a dent in it. The beauty of acid stain is that the chemistry of the wood dictates the color as does the method used to neautralise the acid. I prefer to use a mild solution of lye, which gives a slight orange cast. A coat of dilute seedlac shellac followed by an oil finish gives a reddish brown color and the curl jumps out at you! The LMF stains are good, but I found that they tend to cloud the contrast of the curl.

 

neautralise the acid.

LSU a couple of questions for ya. first off what would happen if ya didn't neutralize the AF, and second, is seedlac the same as orange shellac. I made my AF using Birchwood-Casey browning solution as the reagent with barbed wire, and steel wool. Had almost a whole bottle (didn't like the results, and extra work) It gives me a deep brown in my tests, and I was hoping for a more reddish tone. I had heard someone else on the forum had tried it, and it's 95% nitric acid anyhow. Bill

 

[LSU TIGER]

Bill, if you don't neutralise the acid, the stock will darken to a shade from chocolate to black. You can use orange shellac, but seedlac is a dark red/brown color. I made my AF with 80% nitric acid added to a quart of water and then who knows how much steel wool, nails, and bits of cold rolled steel. I get a dark golden shade of brown. The finish will impart other shades to it. An oil finish with a red tinge should do the trick. Hope this helps.

 

I shoulda figured brown to black, thanks Tiger

 

[rabbit03]

Hi Finnwolf,

no experience with Magic whatever it is but I make my own. A picture of my stain result can be seen in the builder section and to the posts of the Vincent kit from TOTW.

I use nitric dilluted with water and then add metal shavings or just steel wool to the mixture untill it quits working. Do this in the open air and never breath the fumes as it will sear your lungs. If you like the color of my Vincent I posted contact me for more info, good luck

rabbit03