1860s-era Stain(s) for Stock?

G

Grump

New member
I'm finishing up repairs on an old broken gunstock and am not confident that the replacement pieces of walnut will darken up enough to suit me when I start with the linseed oil final finish.

What can I use that would be consistent with the age of the gun? 1860s period. NO, not a civil war gun (it is a remote possibility but no unit markings and no serial number and no stories from the seller make all of that pure conjecture--plus it lacks the arsenal upgrades that the majority of these had done just before or during that war).

Pretty sure the broken stock and what looked like 1950s-1960s era repair blew out all collector value. It might be worth more parted out but I really don't want to do that.

I've read about walnut husks but don't have access to those right now and don't want to buy a bag of 10 lbs. Boiling regular walnut shells was a bust--no color comes out.

So, any ideas?

Thanks!
 
I was about to suggest the walnut shells. I had not heard of boiling it. Correct me if I'm wrong but one method I have been curious to try is to take the green stuff off the walnut. put it in a paint Can and fill with water . Let it sit in a warm place if possible for about a month. Again just an idea I heard. Of course that's if your patient enough to wait till there are husks!
 
Last edited:
I haven't even looked for Walnut husks yet. It appears they are very popular as a light-fast dye with the knitting and homespun fabrics hobbyists. Every method I ran into last week was much faster than just letting them soak for a few weeks.

One source said that for small patches of wood, you could just rub a damp husk on the portion you want darkened. Almost tedious but effective, or so it was claimed.

I am thinking about giving that a try. Go down to the health food store and poke around.

Wonder if Pecan husks would also do it. We have a number of those trees a short drive away...
 
Never heard of walnuts to dye wood. I used to dye my traps by boiling the shells in water with the traps. It sure as heck dyes hands!
 
I think they just used linseed oil. If you apply enough coats, it will darken the stock.

On longrifles though they used aqua-fortis, that is iron filings (use steel wool) mixed with nitric acid. Apply heat (use a heat gun) and then beeswax to seal it. You can buy aqua-fortis from places like Track of the Wolf, Log Cabin Shop or Dixie Gun Works.
 
Walnut -- it's certainly the husks NOT the shell that has the stain or dye . I had lots of husks here this year .I don't know how you would prepare them though.Soak in linseed or alcohol or both. In the old days things were painted with linseed oil with burnt umber pigment - very dark and darkens with age.That I wouldn;t want anywhere.
 
Years ago, I used walnut hulls as a dye for traps. To make the dye, you would build a fire under a wash tub, then add water and hulls, and let it cook. Later, you drop the traps into the dye and the steel would turn a black-brown color.

To make dye-stain for stocks, you would do a similar process, but in a smaller batch, say using a cooking pot. Strain the solution with a filter, and fill a bottle with it. I think I let those cook for about an hour. Also, you don't want green hulls, but black, after they turn.

There is a stain on the market, that is close to what you want, which is a pre-64 Winchester stain, that Galazan (Connecticut Shotgun) has. I think Brownell's is stocking it too. They also have a dark brown and a Parker stain.

http://www.csmcspecials.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=13
 
I may be irrelevant here, and this is 1776 stain, but simultaneously watching these two hour long videos, one for bright image, the other for English narration [by David Brinkley] has been entertaining for me.

The stain is made from nitric acid and iron filings.
The finish is made from linseed oil.
Part of the staining process is thermal radiation from a hot steel rod.

Listen to the dark version in English
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lui6uNPcRPA

Turn down the sound and watch the bright version in German
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hfe-tndlB0U
 
Nitric Acid, (Spirits of Nitre), and nails or steel shavings is the recipe for hot water bluing solution too. It definitely will turn iron oxide black. I wonder what reacts with it in wood, which is 40% to 50% cellulose? Nitric Acid and cotton, which is 90% pure cellulose, makes gun cotton.
 
Whatever dye method I finally went with, I'd try it on a separate bit of wood before I put it on the stock. Being as I have a lot of Transtint dye colors, I'd fiddle with mixing up a stain (mostly walnut, maybe a touch of cherry, and a touch of whatever else I have on hand) that came out the way I'd want. And I'd mix the stain in distilled water and apply it as a water stain and not an alcohol based stain. The water stain will raise the grain, but that's not a deal killer and I've found it easier to blend a stain in if I use water stain.

And if you want the real deal walnut stain, I'm pretty sure you can buy it online. Seems like I saw some for sale a while back. That would certainly be period correct.

Too bad you don't live around here (central Texas). You could use all my dyes and play with mixtures till you found something you liked.
 
603Country
Whatever dye method I finally went with, I'd try it on a separate bit of wood before I put it on the stock.
Click to expand...

I think I first read that notion many decades ago. Whenever I forget that step, I am taking a big chance... and then when I get bit, I don't forget it for a few years.
 
I wonder what reacts with it in wood,
Click to expand...
The tannin in the wood is reacting with the iron ions. This is the same reaction that turns walnut black where it touches steel and gets wet. Dry wood against dry steel= no problem. Damp wood against steel= black blemish. The reason it takes heat and acid is that there is not very much tannin in maple. Lots in walnut and cherry and mulberry and oak, but little in maple. I was also shown an ammonia-fuming process about 30 years ago that gives a beautiful golden color to maple, but I have only used it once, it was too time-consuming and labor-intensive to be practical.

As a stockmaker, I use a lot of stains and finishes. I can match old Winchester finishes, old Parker finishes, even old aquafortis finishes, all without ever having to use something that can physically harm me or cause damage to the metal I am putting into the wood. You can even match the startling orange-ish purplish tiger-striped maple stock finishes common in higher-grade long rifles without risking your life.
 
Scorch,

I always used stains or dyes, and never tried any of the old methods like this. Nitric acid is bad enough in itself, and is harder to get now. What little of it I've bought was from jewelers suppliers.

Fuming isn't that bad, I found, as I've done it with Red Oak. I made a tent up using 1/2" PVC pipe, and painters tarp. You put the wood in the tent, and pour out a gallon of ammonia in a bucket, seal the tent with tape, and let it set all day. Once done, pour the ammonia back into the gallon jug, and take down your homemade tent. The ammonia brings out the rays in the oak, and its how they used to do all that old fumed oak furniture that was found in schools and libraries years ago. I did some gun cabinets this way, and they really turned out well. You have to do this outside, or course, or in a garage open to the air, or under a carport, in case it rains. If its in a garage, I'd advise using a box fan to suck the fumes out the door.
 
I went with pecan husks, boiled & a few "coats" applied with a Q-tip.

I'm after a rustic look rather than an invisible seam & color match. Oil on the stock should bring it pretty close. There were three small pieces to fit in, every sharp end on the break had broken off.
 
Hang:

I thought varnish didn't come in until the early 20th century? Before that it was shellac but usually only on furniture.
 
Many of the old time stains used logwood to provide that reddish color. The reason we see a change in Springfield stocks after the start of WWI is that logwood became unavailable during the war and they never went back to it.

A good stain for Henrys and Winchesters is Tapadera's (google) N-35.

Jim
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top