staining stock

[rusty]

does anyone have experience with Fiebings leather dye I am thinking of useing it to stain my trade gun stock it is walnut.I thought if I thinned it 50/50 with alchohol and used a piece of cloth to apply it,the dye is dark brown.all input appreciated.

 

[Swampman]

I've used it straight on knife and hawk handles. It's a very dark red.

 

[Harddog]

does anyone have experience with Fiebings leather dye I am thinking of useing it to stain my trade gun stock it is walnut.I thought if I thinned it 50/50 with alchohol and used a piece of cloth to apply it,the dye is dark brown.all input appreciated.

Rusty,

Most walnut doesn't need to be stained before finishing. The finish makes the walnut darker. Put some water on the stock and that will be what it will look like with just the finish.

Randy Hedden

 

Rusty, I've used fiebing spirit based leather dye on several occations (some peolpe are slow learners)on both maple and walnut and am now of the opinion that is is pretty much worthless as a stock stain. On walnut it tends to sit on top rather than soaking in and on maple it stains OK but is not very colorfast. After 4-5 years it will not lokk anything like it did when you did it. It will look light colored and washed. That's my experience anyway.

Cody

 

[rusty]

Thanks I think I'll just varnish the stock...rusty

 

[Swampman]

I'd stain it. Once you've varnished it, you won't be able to.

 

[roundball]

does anyone have experience with Fiebings leather dye I am thinking of useing it to stain my trade gun stock it is walnut.I thought if I thinned it 50/50 with alchohol and used a piece of cloth to apply it,the dye is dark brown.all input appreciated.

Rusty,

Most walnut doesn't need to be stained before finishing. The finish makes the walnut darker. Put some water on the stock and that will be what it will look like with just the finish.

Randy Hedden

I agree...I foolishly stained the first walnut stock I refinished and by the time I started adding Tru-Oil, it was so dark the grain & figure were lost...every walnut stock I've done since only get coats of Tru-Oil...and they turn out[url] beautiful...grain[/url] & figure is highlighted, etc.

 

[Swampman]

I like my stocks to look like original guns. Dangler's and LMF stains make your guns look like they were built by professionals.

 

[Brian Rice]

I don't think there would be any danger of anyone thinking a gun I built was built by a professional. :rotf:

 

[gmww]

I like my stocks to look like original guns. Dangler's and LMF stains make your guns look like they were built by professionals.

Some of us need all the help we can get. Especially me. :rotf:

 

[Herb]

This is Vernal, Utah walnut. Had three blanks, knew the middle one had a bark inclusion, but didn't know it was that bad. Sent bottom two blanks to Jack Garner of Tenn. Valley Mfg. to shape to my patterns, told him I'd fix the inclusion. Middle one is a Joel Ferree, bottom one is a Jacob Weigle (Westmoreland Co, PA)

I glued pieces of figured walnut in the two inclusions, stained the wood with full strength Fiebing's dark brown oil leather dye, finished with 10 coats of low gloss tung oil. The grain shows very well, this photo is too dark.

And here is the Jacob Wigle rifle, with a silver filled (alloy) patchbox. L.C. Rice .50 caliber, flintlock. Probably has killed an Iowa deer by now.

I like Fiebings oil leather dye very much, have used it on maple and on walnut. Also like the tan dye.

 

[Swampman]

Very nice and very professional looking. I like Fiebing's too. I keep studing how the pros do it. Every time I build one I pick up something new. The internet is a great learning tool.

 

[Mike Brooks]

In my opinion (take it for what it's worth :winking: ) I'd stain your stock. I havn't seen any old light colored walnut stocked guns that didn't look like thay had been refinished at some point in their recent past.
I stain ALL the walnut stocked guns that I make. Unstained light colored walnut gives me the chills....
I use Jim Kliens alchohol based stains.
Here's some of my results.
This is on a british 1776 rifle in english walnut.

This is on a english fowler stocked in english walnut.

This is a 1733 french cavelry carbin stocked in english walnut.

This is another british fowler , this one stocked in american black walnut.

This is another british fowler done in english walnut.

As you can see, you can go as light or dark with your stain as you want to.

 

[brettsut]

One interesting thing to do with walnut is to first dye it yellow before putting a finish on. It warms up the whole thing and IMO gives it a look of age or natural oxidation. Wouldn't do much good if you were subsequently going to apply a darker stain. However, if you like the color as is, and want to accentuate the color variation, it's worth a go.

Try it on a piece of scrap. You can make a yellow dye simply by putting a piece of a hilighter felt in with some acetone. I doubt it would be very colorfast, but it is worth a try. I use an analine dye and am happy with it. They fix much better than they used to.

Brett