doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com darkening an oil finished stock

If the wood does not have too much finish on it, you might just try removing it by soaking in some MEK (Methl Ethyl Ketone). That will remove all of the oil right down to the wood without having to sand it or anything. And it will do it quickly. Then you can stain it to darken it.
The key to applying any stain and getting an even finish is to condition the wood to open all of the pores so that the stain penetrates evenly. You can do this by just wiping it down with denatured alcohol before putting the stain on.
I personally do not care for ever staining wood, but there are some times where it is a required evil.

Connectuciut Gun offers an oil finish that has a brown stain in it. Brownells sells it.

I have used a product from Brownells called Classic Spirit Stain made by Phil Pilkington Gun Co.It will stain through all finishes.I don't know about doing a whole stock but have used it for touch up work.

I have used Pilkington stain to darken an oil finished stock. Bobby

I always had thought that, too; then I was educated. The attached pic was finished by one of the better stockmakers in the USA, he applied finish to the wood, then stained, then the final finish coats were applied. I asked why he did it that way and he told me it is a way to eliminate the blotchiness that sometimes occurs when staining bare wood.

Phil is correct about alcohol-based leather dyes penetrating most finishes. I�ve used Tandy leather dyes, mixed and thinned as necessary, to touch up a variety of furniture and stock finishes and add coloring to streaks of sapwood. The 3-ounce bottles of stock stain/dye sold by Galazan also penetrate finishes well, and are water-based. Both of these product types seem to be least effective at penetrating pure urethane finishes, but work equally well on Tru-oil, lacquer, oil-modified urethane, and shellac. None of them seem to impede the application of additional finish coats, and none that I�ve used have done anything peculiar in the long term. Some leather dyes can be very light fugitive, however, and may not be suitable for something exposed to light for long periods.

None of these products rub off on your hands after application and drying, but can be very difficult to apply evenly over large surface areas. Until I had sufficient practice, I ended up stripping a number of dappled stocks back to bare wood and starting all over again.

Gunman�s suggestion of ammonia fuming may be an excellent method of darkening the wood, and should penetrate an oil finish. If the stock in question is Walnut, as I assume it to be, it should have significant tannin content and be a good candidate for darkening during the process.

Good luck!

A Famars is WAY too nice a gun to "try" home remedies on...do it right or not at all IMHO steve

Thanks to everyone, and especially to JR. My wife had been busting my b@ll$ all weekend and I took it out on you. It actually isn't that blonde, I just wanted it a titch darker. I may just strip and start over again.

Thanks all!

I've used shoe dye and it's a trick. You can thin it with water and smooth out the blotches. You can also get the right tone by thinning.

Never tried it on already finished wood.

Try Behlen Solar-Lux stain. I get it at Woodcraft. It works. Hickory stain is the one I like.

I'm with the guy that recommends leaving this gun alone or send it to someone who knows what they are doing. Shoe leather dye on an expensive gun.......gimme a break