Ok, at the risk of negative comments, because several have already been made... If you don't like it, don't comment. No its not traditional or historically accurate, don't care. It's what I wanted to do, and if the technology had been present, I guarantee that some builders would have done this back in the early 1800s. Again, if it's not for you, move along to something that is for you. Tired of people trying to make themselves feel superior by putting other people down. Think I'm out of line, report this post and let the moderators sort it out.
Ferric nitrate over tannic acid, many coats of truoil. Camera flash doesn't really show it very well, but you can kind of see where the tannins soaked in and where they didn't. And for those that don't know, yes it is nickel plate. Click it for higher resolution. The end grain where the tannins really stayed in place are basically black, the toe of the stock and parts of the wrist. If you don't wipe the tannins off the surface, the whole thing will be essentially black. And because it is a metal, it should be fade resistant. All that said, not sure what will happen if you just oil it, the polymerizing finishes like truoil will hold things in place. Testing would be a good suggestion with both stain and finish coatings.
And yes, fingerprints are difficult to keep off these polished surfaces. Going to have to try and make a matte finish next time, I didn't like how some test pieces turned out as brushed or matte. The lock was very lightly polished, but already fairly shiny. The hammer is mostly just cleaned and plated. Both of these were case hardened to a very shallow depth, I'd didn't want to grind all of the hardness out by doing a lot of polishing. The scratches had to stay because of the surface hardening.
