Stain on maple stocked American muskets

[dave_person]

Hi Folks,
I am hoping someone can advise me. I am building a maple stocked American musket from the Revolutionary War. It will represent a colonial American restock of a British commercial musket from the F&I war. The premise is that a New Jersey militiaman had a local gunsmith restock parts from one of the commercial muskets purchased by New Jersey from Richard Wilson during the F&I war. The militiaman is having the gunsmith upgrade the old parts with a steel ramrod and brass muzzlecap. The stock is a nice piece of figured sugar maple logged by one of my friends in Vermont and dried for 10 years. It is an unbelievably dense and heavy stock blank. Anyway, I always do a lot of research for these projects and I visited quite a few museums that had examples of American-made muskets. In all of the examples, it appears the makers did not stain the maple, rather just finished the blond wood. The stocks I examined had some reddish-brown color but it may just be from age. Fowling guns made from maple were often stained to bring out the figure, but muskets maybe not. Can any of you site or recount examples of American-made maple stocked muskets that were stained by AF or other means to bring out the figure? Right now, my inclination is to just put an oil-varnish on the maple without stain but I would rather make the figure really show if it is historically correct. The key here is historical correctness. I want this gun to be historically bang on in appearance. That is my objective, not my or anybody else's personal taste.

dave

 

[Many Klatch]

Use AquaFortis. It's Nitric acid with steel or iron dissolved in it. Spread it onto the wood, let it soak in and dry. Heat the wood, the treated wood will darken. Kill the Acid with lots of water and baking soda. Finish with Linseed oil.

Lots of instructions on line and on YouTube.

 

[dave_person]

Hi Many Klatch,
Thanks but you don't get my question. I know all of what you provided many times over but it doesn't apply here. I have used AF and Ferric nitrate on maple stocks for almost 30 years but that is not what I am asking here.

dave

 

[54ball]

Dave,
In Duanes Handbook for Riflemen (1812) there is a segment about using Camphor Varnishes on the arms to reduce glare; almost like a camouflage, and as maintenance on these military arms. It mentions browning (not the metal finish we are familiar with) and greening the arm with these tinted varnish finishes.
M-1803s have been found with a brownish varnish. As you know Leghigh Rifles are commonly found with a reddish paint like varnish.

The Duane book is plagiarized from a earlier British Manual.

In my opinion a brownish varnish may be worth a look for this project.

 

[dave_person]

Hi 54Ball,
You may be right. If I recall, the muskets with maple stocks I examined may have had a tinted varnish on the surface if they had any artificial coloring at all. Also, if any of you saw Eric Kettenburg's gun on which the first coat of finish on the unstained maple stock was a linseed oil varnish that was almost boiling hot, that look seems very close to some of the muskets I examined.
dave

 

[old gunsmith]

Hello Dave,
I would think that the issue of original finish treatment would be situational, that is to say according to the taste of the local gunsmith who would be doing the modification to an existing arm or a new fabrication using salvaged parts from earlier arms. To my knowledge, there was no standardization of military arms fabrication in the colonies unlike as in the British system so the finish might be as simple as spirit varnish of the type used on furniture or a true boiled linseed oil and in both cases the finish has a slight reddish tinge. I have viewed a number of composit arms over the years - all in walnut and cherry and from what I can remember there didn't seem to be any extra coloration under the patina. Then too, it is reasonable to conclude that because of the arms shortage in the colonies arms were fabricated or repaired in haste so staining probably would have been omitted. So in my opinion the case can be made both for and against staining and that pretty much leaves it to your taste. Sounds like a lovely piece of would by the way. Regards, old gunsmith

 

[Col. Batguano]

Have you noticed any significant difference in the Vermont logged maple vs. the sugar maple we get from places like Dunlaps? I think Danny's maple generally comes from more southern climes. I ask this because I'm patiently waiting to try my hand on some MN maple I took from a tree about 5 years ago.

 

[dave_person]

Hi Dave and old gunsmith,
Thanks for the note and your input OG. It will represent a militia arm and not hurried war production so I think you are right about it being situational and personal preference. OG it also would likely be the militiaman's personal gun meeting the militia requirements, so he might have wanted it stained to show the figure.

Dave, I do not detect any difference between sugar maple from Vermont versus further south. I believe the key is not so much latitude as site specific growing conditions. Slow growing on wind prone sites seems to be the recipe up here for good figured and dense sugar maple. Of course tree growth may be faster at lower latitude but I think exposure and local site quality (site index if you are a forester) may have greater influence. My logger friend can provide a pretty convincing demonstration that sugar maple chronically stressed by wind may produce more curl. Of course there may be other conditions that enhance curl as well but I suspect it involves some sort of structural stress on the tree.

dave

 

[tenngun]

One thing I would ask is would a fine figured piece be used on this sort of gun. Well figured wood was highly prized then. Trarding a well figured piece to a gunsmith to restock old parts would go a long way to pay for the job which a plain maple or fruitwood stock.
Now a private fusil could be fairly fancy but would that match cast off parts?
Don't take this as criticism. My own NWG is on a maple stock when it should be walnut. Bd my southern mt rifle is on a figured stock when beech,cherry or plain maple would have been more common.

 

[Artificer]

Dave,

While a customer could have ordered the "bespoke work" stock with AF stain, and thus be historically correct in the period, I think it more likely that the gunsmith used a "Brown Oil Varnish" that Eric Kettenburg described in the following linked article.
http://www.muzzleblasts.com/archives/vol5no2/articles/mbo52-1.shtml

This would have given the surface colored treatment you mentioned you have seen in period guns, though period boiled linseed oil would oxidize to a darker and maybe slightly red color over many years.

Cuthbertson's writings done from his FIW/Seven Years War experience and actually written during the latter part of the conflict, talks about varnishing stocks and it was more than likely done with the kind of Brown Oil Varnish Eric mentioned. Cuthbertson also mentioned coloring stocks brown, black and yellow to get all the stocks in a Battalion or Regiment to match. Cuthbertson actually served on the Continent during the Seven Years war, but since these things were common knowledge to Infantry Officers during the period, it more than likely was common knowledge to civilian gunsmiths here in the period as well.

Gus

 

[old gunsmith]

Thanks Artificer for the referral to Eric Kettenburg's article on traditional varnishes; I've seen bits and pieces of info over the years but never as much good information in one place before. Very useful, thanks again. old gunsmith

 

[Col. Batguano]

I read the article. Very useful. But it seems like a lot of work, and of some risk to your health in dealing with vaporized lead to make this stuff. I get it how 17th century gunsmiths and wood workers had to make all their own stuff, But, this is the 21st century now. I wonder if one can simply buy a finished product that will get you close to the same place.

 

[dave_person]

Hi David,
The answer is yes. A modern oil-varnish mix like Tried and True with the same tinting agents will make a fine substitute. My polymerized tung oil with a modern varnish and tint will achieve it as well. I know what finish I will put on this gun but I was looking for documentation about staining or coloring American made muskets stocked in maple.

dave

 

[Artificer]

You are most welcome, but the thanks we all have need to go to Eric Kettenburg, himself.

Dave,

I rather doubt that direct documentation will ever or can be found on whether AF or other stains were used on maple for replacement musket stocks in New Jersey. However, if New Jersey gunsmiths were using AF on maple stocks for fowlers during that time, would not one of the same gunsmiths been the guy who restocked such a set of parts for a militia musket? That would mean an AF staining was available for the replacement stock, if the customer wanted to pay the extra money for it.

Perhaps I am mistaken, but I think you are going to use a maple stock with more figure in it than would have commonly been used on a musket stock? If so, that meant the customer would already have been paying more money for that grade and type of wood for a stock than normal for a militia arm. So adding an AF stain to bring out the figure of the extra cost stock made/makes historical sense.

Gus

 

[rich pierce]

Ahh, Gus, we are not sure that in every period a premium was paid for fancy wood. I've seen crude guns stocked in fantastic curly maple and masterpieces done in plain maple. Even seen muskets stocked in fine figured wood.

Back to topic of stains. The Marshall rifle is an example of an original with very little stain evident. It is very lightly colored. This may be another example of an early gun which has little staining and instead, possibly color in the varnish.

 

[dave_person]

Hi and thanks Rich and Gus,
My piece of maple is a beautifully dense blank with good but not great figure. It has curl where it will look the best but other spots with little figure. Some of the muskets I examined had a lot of curl and others were plainer but they all had some figure. I think unless a blank was exceptional, the gunsmiths of the time didn't take much notice. My blank is exceptional because of its density and the curl is nice but not exceptional. Rich, I recently saw the Marshall gun and think you are right. I am tending toward that look because it is similar to the muskets I've seen. Also, If you have ever seen color photos of guns by the Hills family of Goshen, CT it is clear the coloring if any was often light. They seemed to use figured maple a lot and their fowlers and muskets were light colored. However, having said that, I am really attracted to the deep red-brown colors of those fantastic maple stocked Hudson River fowlers, some of which became muskets. I am going to have maintain my customary discipline and keep my eyes on my objective. Right now I am whacking in a 46" 0.75 cal barrel into that hard maple. Have pity on me and my right elbow.

dave

 

[Artificer]

Dave and Rich,

My goodness I wish I had known you two when I was deciding on replacing the stock on my Pedersoli Brown Bess carbine around the turn of the current century. I was thinking about replacing the stock I shattered with curly maple and turning it into a militia gun, but I did not think that likely for a Pre AWI musket. Oh, well, I managed to fix the stock and sold the gun to buy a full length Pedersoli Musket I needed to reenact with. But that could have been a very interesting gun....

Dave, looking forward to seeing it when you are finished.

Gus

 

[Col. Batguano]

With as many guns as you make from blanks, I'm surprised you're still inletting barrels by hand. I would have thought that by now you would have created a jig and router system for barrel inletting, and for sure for the upper forestock

 

[dave_person]

Hi David,
I send some out to Dave Keck for barrel inletting. The rest I just do by hand. On this one I removed a lot of wood with my dado stack on my table saw. Now it is gouge and barrel plane work but with an all round barrel, that is pretty easy except for physical work of cutting hard maple. I began yesterday and will be done today. Then I have to drill a small ramrod hole for a metal rod.

dave

 

[old gunsmith]

Just a thought on the issue of stain. There are early references at Springfield Armory over the use of an alcohol / walnut shell based stain for coloring stocks on martial arms. The thought occurs to me that there must be a very large number of plant based materials suitable for making dyes that would be useful in the staining of gun stocks. Does anyone have any further insight on that? OG Alkane root is another example-OG