Tiger stripping walnut?

[jdkerstetter]

Good post Travis.

Further more on "burning", it appears it was a "fad" for a while...in the 20th century not the 19th...and it results in a stock that looks burned or charred....not the nice tight lines you see on a Leman.

I have had the opportunity to view several original Lemans and they show no evidence of "burning" and the stripes are obviously hand appied in a manner simular to what has already been described....probably with ink though I don't know that the iron in the ink would react like AF....could be.

Leman's factory was one of the prolific producers of civilian arms of the 19th century and there are some very good color pictures of a couple Lemans in the book Steel Canvas and a simple search will reveal many others on-line. The Landis Valley Museum by Lancaster, PA has several on display right now.

Candy striped ramrods? Many experts agree that they are another 20th century invention.

Enjoy, J.D.

 

[LaBonte]

As others have noted fake striping was done by Leman as well as several others in period

The best researched material on exactly Leman did the striping and how to replicate is this tutorial by Jack Brooks - scroll down about 2/3 of the page to How Do You Stripe a Leman stock? http://www.jsbrookslongrifles.com/theclassroom.htm

 

[northstatefarms]

That's a great link, thanks.

I've got a bag of old baseball bats I'd use before ever trying to reproduce tiget stripes on a real stock. This is a picture of my little Leman. The finish somewhere between poor and good on various places.

 

[Va.Manuf.06]

With all due respect fellows.

Do you guys really want to learn period rifle building where "gadgets" are not needed and what made an artist was the skill in which he used his hands and mind ?

Are you willing to accept Granpaw's myth was just Granpaw's myth because he really had no clue?

If yes, read further, if no, might as well skip to another post.

Well said, excellent post and accurate information, Grandpa was a great guy and we all owe our Grandpas a lot, but they didn't always know everything... or they often said things with a wink to another knowledgeable adult when they were talking to kids who didn't notice the wink. Thank you!

 

[Robby]

You can't judge a zebra by his stripes! :wink:
Robby

 

[crockett]

The question has often been raised how fake tiger stripping was done at the time; the point being that faking stripping is therefore pc. Does the fake stripping look as good as the real thing? Not usually. Some of the Leman rifles with fake stripping are pc but really ugly IMHO. If I was to try it I would plan on spending a lot of time and use a small camel hair brush to paint the stripes. I would do a "half job"- that is, make the stripes faint so they are noticable but don't jump out at you. The faint stripes give some life to the wood and IMHO they make the final thing look better than a plain grain stock with no figure to it.
It helps to first dye the wood the final color for the "background". This is done with light wood like maple but walnut is dark enough as is. You use a slightly darker dye for the strip. You don't want to stripe bare wood as the dye soaks it and expands sideways so put one light coat of sealer on the bare wood. I finish with linseed oil so I put one coat of linseed oil on the stock before the fake stripping. The linseed oil prevents splotching of the dye plus you can dab up excess dye and wipe it away if you act quickly.
Try hidden areas behind the buttplate or in the barrel channel to test before working on the exposed areas of the stock. As I said, faint stripes that just add a little life to the wood is generally best, big bold stripes are much easier to identify as fake.
Notice in the pictures how the "stripe" sort of stops and starts again. You might want to use a photograph of a rifle as a model as you stripe the gun.

 

[54ball]

That's a neat Leman John,

I am by no means an expert on these, so what I share is my opinion.....

stripes
It looks to me that the stripes are painted on below the varnish or top coat as Lemans were done.

Look above the center of the inlay where the top "varnish" is worn away. One stripe is also worn away but the others remain. Note that all the stripes are intact below the inlay. Note also they appear "brushed" as it is easy to imagine the swipe of the brush.

inlays

When I saw the first picture I thought that sure is an odd inlay. It is not "Leman work". It is engraved and looks to be nailed on by round headed nails? maybe corroded screws? Whatever the case they are not fitted well. Some one took the time to engrave but haphazardly attached the inlay.

Most likely that inlay came off another percussion era longrifle. Note, the curve at the rear of the inlay as if it was the head of a patch box on another rifle. Makes sense, since the hand that engraved it was not the hand that installed it.
Not too the toe plate nailed on and it does not go all the way to the butt plate.

The Cheek side confirms what I thought. Note that is a collection of odd inlays, looks like they were not inletted and were attached with brass tacks. The missing "sherrif's star?" appears to have been inletted well.

When was this done? who knows. It could be period work by an unskilled hand.
It may hurt the value for a die hard Leman collector but it may appeal to some who like folk art.
It is part of it's history and should be left alone. All in all I find it appealing.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[54ball]

Here is a Traditions I cut down for my son. It was his training rifle and now is in the parts bin.

I thought it might add some interest to the Beech stock. Done in kind of a tongue in cheek manner for a kid.

I was going to add some more stain on top of the stripes but my son liked it as is so I just top coated it with wax.

Brown India ink...Carnuba wax that's it. I also experimented with a pewter cap.

Keep in mind this was a practice piece for me and my son had fun with it a couple of seasons till he outgrew it.

Would I do this to a TC ?...Nope.

 

[tallbear]

This is an artificially striped original Leman.

Mitch

 

[54ball]

Very Nice

 

[jdkerstetter]

John, What makes you so sure this is a Leman? Is the lock or barrel marked?

Now, I don't like to generalize on these things and especially not on Lemans, as the factory likely turned out thousands of guns, but.....on virtually every faux striped Leman I've seen the stripes were perpendicular to the comb on the buttstock...not slanted.

A round cheek piece would be an anomoly also...certainly one so far forward. The rest of the architecture isn't the same either. Your striping appears as washboarding rather than being applied....I can certainly see why you thought it was "burned in".

This gun just didn't look "Leman" enough for me, but looked familiar, so I did some digging....

This looks very much like a Jamestown, N.C. gun. Even the inlays are simular. The buttplate is identical to several I've seen pictured. And you are certainly in the right place to find one.....and even in that condition it's likely worth something to somebody down there.

Google up masonic symbol rifles and judge for yourself. Pay particular attention to the sideplates, buttplates and inlays.

Enjoy, J.D.

P.S. In my previous post I indicated there were pictures in Steel Canvas, it was actually the companion book The Peacemakers.

 

[54ball]

Sometimes JD when the seed is planted, you cant see the obvious.
Like I said I'm not an expert.

With a second look I noticed the line along the top of the comb and the figure marks under the side plate.
I believe you are correct Jamestown Region NC.

The wash boarding and figure under the sideplate.... It's real curly maple.

JD, Do you think the lock side inlay is original to this rifle or off another?

 

[jdkerstetter]

Hey Travis, That inlay certainly is curious. I don't know that it was originally on any rifle but recycled from something else all together.

I see what your saying about a patchbox finial, what with that cut out and all, but it just looks too big....to me.

These Jamestown guns had some really funky stuff going on but I don't recall seeing anything like that.

Hopefully somebody else has an idea. Enjoy, J.D.

 

[northstatefarms]

John, What makes you so sure this is a Leman? Is the lock or barrel marked?

Yes, it is marked on the lock. I'll move this to a new topic ( in the gunbuilders bench)instead of misdirecting the tiger striping conversation. Please follow... and thanks to you all for the info.