TC Hawken kit ???s

[bwhoffman]

Well, I stumbled into an original tc hawken kit, 50 cal that someone bought and lost all the screws, rib, thimbles and hammer to. So I call TC and all the parts are on the way, a lot of money but
I will be in the gun under 250.
It has real pretty wood, fully inletted and not touchedsince leaving TC.
What would be the best "Oil" type finish to put on this?
I'm thinking a darker wood would look nice, sort of like the old winchesters, but definitly no poly products or hard shell.
minwax has some oil stains that I have used on oak.
What ya all think I should do?
I'm going to keep the gun, probly buy a green mpuntain IBS barrel in 36 or 40 and shoot that.
I did notice that totw has these barrels in a longer length than the 28". Whats the feeling on these?

thanks for the input,
Brett

 

[Norskie]

Avoid oil stains. I don't know what kind of oil they use, put it isn't as good as linseed or tung oil and I've had it interfere with getting a good oil finish. It bleeds out when you're trying to get a hand rubbed look.
Is this a real light wood like maple or beech? If so, find an alcohol or water stain in the color you want. Since I work leather, I always have leather dye around and that works well on wood. Or aqua fortis. I'll shut my yap and let someone else explain that stuff. Acid and heat, and it works real good.
Longer barrel? Heck yes. A 33" wouldn't look over long on that gun.

 

[davy]

I had a worn out 28 inch barrel on my Renegade, replaced it with a 32 GM barrel .. could not be happier! :hatsoff:

Davy

 

[boar]

I did my first TC hawkins,it had walnut wood, with white gas and Linseed oil, it came out nice. This was in 1982, it is still good, and it was used a lot, my grandson has it now. It was a kit gun and I cold blued it, but now has a hot blue finsh. Acurate gun, it loved 42grs 2ff for RB,killed groundhog 72yrds,pumped right throu him.For deer 110 2ff max-ball never had to change sight. You could shoot the bottom of clorox jug 115 big steps and not miss offhand. Dilly

 

[Zonie]

Before you think about staining the wood, take it outside into the bright sunlight (if you have any up there) and wet the stock with water.
What you see is exactly what the wood will look like with just an oil finish.

If it is too light for your liking, I would suggest that you try to get some Birchwood Casey Walnut stain. This is a alcohol/water based stain and will sit you back about 5 bucks.

Thin the stain by pouring about 1/4 of the bottle into a glass bowl and add 4-6 tablespoons of water, then brush it on. When it is dry, re-wet the wood and check out it's color. If it is still too light, apply another coat of stain.

The reason I suggest thinning the stain is it is quite strong as it comes from the bottle. This multi-coat method allows you to sneek up on the color and darkness you want without having to say "SH**! It's too dark! Now what do I do?"

IMO, Oil based stains have several negatives.
First, the wood will only absorb so much oil so multiple coats to make it darker are difficult if not impossible to apply.
Second, the staining material is composed of particles so they don't get absorbed into the wood. They just lay on top of it. They also tend to cover and cloud the natural grain patterns in the wood.

Walnut, being a naturally dark wood to begin with will turn almost Black if you use one of the chemical types of stains like aquafortis or chromium trioxide. It will be so dark that any grain pattern will disappear.

For a final finish you can use Linseed, Tung or Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil. The Tru-Oil is a linseed oil with dryers added so it sets up in a few hours. It also seals the wood against water and wears very will.
Tru-Oil will be quite glossy unless you apply the final coats rubbing the oil until it is almost totally "rubbed in". That method will leave a soft satin look.

 

[Toomuch_36]

Zonie has probably got it about right.
As T/C uses mainly American black walnut for stock wood I am guessing this is what you have and staining will probably not be necessary.
for a finish I would use Birchwood Casy Tru-oil (or maybe toung oil). Applied in several light coats rubbed in well (untill you can feel the friction heat in your fingers) to get good penetration in the wood.
A little trick I have used several times is to start out with one or two coats of baby oil applied the same way, this will give a nice satin luster to the final finish.

Toomuch
...........
Shoot Flint

 

[CrackStock]

I have put together 3 T/C kits and have a couple other T/C guns. I have a suggestion: do yourself a favor and replace those brass screws with steel ones. Brass is not correct and is too soft. They break when you tighten them up.

Dixie Gun Works, Track of the Wolf, TVM, Garner's Stocks, and countless others have screws that will work.

CS

 

[roundball]

I've refinished 8-10 TC Hawken stocks now...after stripping them to the raw wood, all I use is Tru-Oil...here's a photo of one I just put the first coat of Tru-Oil on last weekend.

This one is finished with several coats of Tru-Oil:

 

[sidelock]

Bolied linseed. The best in MHO. Not shiney or hard shell. Looks **** the old stuff. I have a .50 T/C from a kit of about 1972 era a real shooter. LOL :thumbsup:

 

[Zonie]

While your at it, this is an excellent time to consider inlaying a nice star or crescent moon or something on the cheekpiece.

I can see the looks on all of you die hard "plains rifle" guys but some folks like them doo dads (like me) and the easiest time to install them is before the final stock sanding has started.

When I built my last TC .54 cal. Hawken kit, I added a special toe plate, a shaped brass thumb piece, and one of those nice 1 1/8 X 2 1/8 brass ovals with an Eagle on it on the cheekpiece.
It definitly makes it not one of the typical TCs.

These fancy little doo dads only cost a few bucks and they are available from TOTW, Dixie and MBS.

Zonie

 

[bwhoffman]

Zonie,
I've been dwelling on that issue and was thinking of something commerative to Lewis&Clark, possibly a coin or small medalion. I'm pretty cautious about it though.
I will try the water test and probly go with a staight oil like boiled linseed or tung os tru oil I do want it darker than the norm, sorta to help tell it apart from the cva guns (no dis here guys, i have 2 of them!) and noticed several of the older gpr's are a nice dark shade.
Thought about tacks also but would need to see pics of patterns.

Brett

 

[jgunn286]

Here is a TC Hawken kit I did a few years ago. All it has on it is Wahken Bay's Tru-Coat on it. I think it looks pretty dark by itself.

 

[bwhoffman]

Thats real close to what I am thinking, possible a little darker.
Where can one get this "wahken's bay tru-coat"?
is it a tinted stain or a poly?
Looks like a nice finish.
Hope my gun turns out as nice as yours!

Brett

 

[jgunn286]

I got it at Track of the Wolf, but I know you can get it at other muzzleloading shops around. I think there is a link on the links page of this forum.
Also it's pretty much a natural oil finish of the "once a day for a week, once a week for a month, once a month for a year" variety. Real easy to use, you just rub in a small amount with your hand for each application.

 

[aap2]

hi roundball. nice finish on the stock. do you use anything to strip the TC finish or just sand it off? Then you just apply Tru oil, no fillers or sealers? I assume that you sand lightly or use steel wool between coats; they look great. thanks

 

[roundball]

hi roundball. nice finish on the stock. do you use anything to strip the TC finish or just sand it off? Then you just apply Tru oil, no fillers or sealers? I assume that you sand lightly or use steel wool between coats; they look great. thanks

I don't sand them at all...sanding a finished stock would have to alter the dimensions somehow...so I take my stocks to a local antique furniture place that happens to have a commercial chemical stripping booth.

I remove the hardware, drop off the stock, pick it up in a few days for $20, and it's back to it's clean bare wood condition, including all the little nooks and crannies.

Get home and apply the first coat of Tru-Oil...I let each coat get bone dry for a few days then very lightly slide #0000 steel wool over it, apply the next coat, etc.

 

[aap2]

thanks roundball; thats a big help