THOMPSON CENTER RAMROD

I finish the renegade and have to say it came out super mint,the stock has a tung oil low sheen finish the barrel nice brown along with the butt plate and trigger guard all dark brown.I also left a little of the factory dark blue on some part's ,gun looks aharp.I would like to know what I can use on the ramrod whick seem to be made of maple and does't take well to any color to darkenen the wood? I thought of using a heat gun to darken the wood on the ramrod or a mixture of old motor oil and linseed oil and let it sit in a tube for a while,any ideas guy's? :hmm:

 

[vradin]

You can try fuming it. Hang the rod (horizontally) from some string in a clear plastic tent, and put a tuna tin 1/2 full of strong ammonia under it. The tent doesn't have to be very big- just enough to cover the rod and tin, and be able to see through. Don't forget basic safety gear- goggles and respirator that ammonia can be nasty stuff.

Watch carefully for a few hours. The ammonia reacts with the tannins in the wood and you can get some nice coloration if you're careful. If you forget and let it go too long it'll turn black as night and needs bleaching and sanding to lighten it up again. Bleaching requires a ton of safety gear as the bleach and ammonia reaction can be fatal.

Advantage of fuming is that the color goes deeper than surface stains.

vic

 

:m2c: FWIW when I built my Renegade kit , back in the 80's I left my rod natural and rubbed about 8 coats of tung oil into it . The rod I got with mine was a nice piece of straight-grained hickory . I like the contrast of the light colored rod agianst the black walnut stock and the blue barrel .