Wood stain

[Peter B]

I am working on my Virginia Fowler today and took an old piece of wood to try some stain on it. The stock is maple and I used some maple stain but was not really pleased with it. Any suggestions on what most people use on maple to darken it down.

Catfish

 

[BlackNet]

try minwax #209 natural You will be impressed.

Ed

 

[Zonie]

Diluted Birchwood Casey Walnut water base stain works nicely.

 

[mikelange]

If you use any of the oil-based stains, I would recommend using Minwax's pre-stain conditioner. Some woods take oil stain more evenly than others, but the conditioner is a good safeguard against blotches and other flaws caused by differences in texture and/or grain structure.

I'm shying away from oil stains, though they're handy (easily available) and easy to use. I like the Laurel Mountain line of stains, which are, if I'm not mistaken (and if I am, someone will point it out -- thanks in advance), alcohol-based. They penetrate the wood far more than oil and give a depth and darkness of color that oil can't come close to.

 

[Harddog]

I am working on my Virginia Fowler today and took an old piece of wood to try some stain on it. The stock is maple and I used some maple stain but was not really pleased with it. Any suggestions on what most people use on maple to darken it down.

Catfish

I have used the Laurel Mountain Stains for years. Alcohol based stains work a whole better than oil based stains. You can also mix the various LM stains together to get the exact color you are wanting. You can also overstain one color over another to get interesting colors.

Do yourself a big favor and leave the oil based stains for furniture not rifles.

Randy Hedden

 

[Swampman]

I agree with Randy. I also like Dangler's stains. In a pinch, Fiebing's Dark Brown Leather Dye doesn't look too bad.

 

[Harddog]

I agree with Randy. I also like Dangler's stains. In a pinch, Fiebing's Dark Brown Leather Dye doesn't look too bad.

As Mark said, you can use the Fiebings leather dyes, but make sure you get the alcohol based dye and not the oil based dye.

Randy Hedden

 

[kcsun]

you should try chromium trioxide from Dixie gun works works really good on maple
after applying 1/2of water 1/2of vinegar
shows what color will look like with oil finish


Kc

 

[Black Hand]

I am working on my Virginia Fowler today and took an old piece of wood to try some stain on it. The stock is maple and I used some maple stain but was not really pleased with it. Any suggestions on what most people use on maple to darken it down.

Catfish

Aqua Fortis and heat (preferred method). I have also used Fiebings Chocolate Brown leather dye with success.
Black Hand

 

[54JNoll]

Been away from this site for a while but.

I really like the Laurel Mountain line of stains. They are very easy to work with. I have used them and blended them to acheive many colors and even match colors for specific projects.

I like to thin the stain down by 50% as I think it gives me better color control.

This is a test piece I did several years ago. Each 4 inches or so was treated slightly different with either more coats or mixing colors between coats. Since I was, at the time of this picture< only interested in the color on the left that is what I centered for the picture. But the left end represents 4 coats of LMF Lancaster Maple placed on a nice piece of Suger Maple. The color when wet will very nearly duplicate the color once your finish is applied. We will see how far I get on the rifle that will be wearing the wood this came from next week.

 

[bob1961]

if ya have some time and samples of yer wood ya can make some vinager stains with different metals to get different colors and try on yer samples of the same wood as yer stock...........bob

 

[Peter B]

Thanks for the help guys. I am expermentinga now.

Peter :hatsoff:

 

[Uncle Jed]

Any suggestions on what most people use on maple to darken it down.

Catfish

Yep, fire. Take a torch at lowest setting and gently scortch the wood, keep the flame moving, don't linger in one area too long or you'll be in a heap of trouble. With a little practice, you can bring out a rich color and then finish off with fine steel wool and seal it with an oil rub.

 

[Flintandsteel]

Karl,

Chromium Trioxide makes a great color at first. But with exposure to the sun, It WILL turn green. I had to repair the first gun I ever built because of it. It ended up looking quite nice, but had to stain over that nice green tinted wood.
IMHO, Aquafortis, is the prettiest, most PC stain. But I find it difficult to wave a torch or heatgun over a finely relief carved piece of wood. So mostly I use alcohol based stains. LMF has about the best selections of colors, and the best thing is that you can mix them to get what you want, either in the can or on the wood.


DO NOT use oil stains on maple, it just muddies up the curl. :nono:

Good Luck :grin:

 

[Zonie]

"...DO NOT use oil stains on maple, it just muddies up the curl."
_________________________________

Another problem with oil based stains is the wood can only take so much oil before it is saturated.

This limits the amount of darkness you can develop.

With the water base or alcohol based stains you can cut or thin them and make repeated coats to get the color your after.