Shousugiban....

[Ray]

Deleted.

[Shasta]

I've not used that method on a gun stock, but I do use it to put a "barber pole" stripe on muzzleloader ramrods. I wrap the rod with masking tape, leaving about a quarter inch gap between the tape edges, then torch burn the un-taped area to create the stripe.


Shasta

[JerryB]

The torch works very nice on maple too. My Kentucky cap lock looks figured till you really look close.

[Chuck 100 yd]

Often done to hammer,axe and other tool handles. It supposedly hardens the wood making it more durable.a common practice.

[Pete44ru]

.

I did it on a few gunstocks about 40 years ago, and thought it worked "okay" - but soon moved on to creating contrasting color woodgrain streaks on an otherwise plain stock via applying some very dark stain/paste that had settled after quite awhile at the bottom of a half-used tin of Jacobean stain I had hanging around.

I had run across the flame-finish method in an article on stock refinishing in a now un-remembered gun rag of the day.


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[Rusty]

If you read the Foxfire book number 5 they cover flintlock rifle making. They cover an old gun maker named Hacker Martin. He talks about heating an iron bar in the forge then holding it close to the stock. The heat was used to cause a reaction with a solution called Aqua Fortis that had been applied to the gunstock. Aqua Fortis was made by dissolving iron filings into Nitri acid.

[Ray]

Deleted.

[GunnyMack]

Rusty- you can achieve the same effect with iron/ mild steel filings and white vinegar.

Ray, just for kicks try iodine on maple, beech or birch. Deepens the color of these light woods BUT it sometimes gives a greenish tinge...

[Pete44ru]

.

Once I even applied some Min-Wax Black Walnut stain to a curly Maple stock on a 1903 US Springfield that somebody "customized".

I was very pleasantly surprised at the MUCH darker burl grain that transformed a "so-so" looking stock into a stunner.

There's not much to lose by experimenting with different wood/stain combinations (my fave is mixing Red Mahogany stain with Black Walnut in a 25%/75% ratio, heavy on the Walnut), as whatever can be easily removed/redone if the result wasn't satisfactory.

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[HawkCreek]

Never done that to a rifle stock but all my tools that get rehanded are gone over with a propane torch before being finished out. Shovels, axes, hammers, post hole diggers and one adz to date.

[piller]

I have heard that it hardens the wood. As far as wood colors, the lighter wood colors are pretty easy to see in the field. Not what I want.

[Bill in Oregon]

Ray, I for one would love to see photos of your stock work. I have done this with atlatls and dart shafts, but never tried it on a gunstock. Like you, I cannot abide a light-colored stock.

[Ray]

Deleted.

[Bill in Oregon]

Ray, I hear you about photo challenges.
As to aging muzzleloaders, Mike Brooks of Iowa used to have a great tutorial on the Web that showed how he built a gun and aged it at the same time. I don't know if it still exists out there in the Internet universe. One of the steps was painting the stock black, then sanding and scraping it all back to leave "the grime of ages" in the cracks and crevices. I was impressed.

[stretch]

Punji (sp?) stakes and wooden spear points have traditionally been hardened with fire.

In a previous life, i made historical woodwinds. The traditional stain was nitric acid.
Because that stuff is so corrosive in a shop environment, (DO NOT leave it near
the milling machine with the top off!), we used to use Miss Clairol hair coloring.
The shop owner's son was friends with a hair dresser and used to get it wholesale.
Oil finish on top .

-Stretch

[piller]

Being one who has had a bunch of laboratory time in Chemistry, I am very cautious with Nitric acid. It has many uses, but it is nothing to be played with as all of us who have used it have learned. How we learned it is probably enough stories for a book.

The hair coloring idea sounds worth a try. The ones with ammonia in them would probably need to be neutralized with a weak acid such as household vinegar. Ammonia can corrode steel if left in contact too long. It is a reaction similar to rusting. Reduction/Oxidation reactions can be useful to blue the steel, but it must be controlled and stopped when it reaches the desired point or it will begin to remove steel. Some knowledge of chemistry can be useful.

[Ray]

Deleted.

[Bill in Oregon]

Ray, that Kentuckian is keeping some mighty good company!