doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Darken a buttstock already finished

I bought an English double rifle that sometime before had the buttstock replaced. Nice job, but the finish is too light and does not match the forend. How can I darken the stock without removing the current finish? I could strip the forend and refinish so it would be lighter, but I like the dark finish. I don't know what finish is on it now, looks like an oil finish though. Thanks!

Use an alcohol base stain. It should penetrate the finish unless it is a poly type finish. It may need several applications to reach the color you are looking for.

Like Twice Barrel said, use a spirit based stain. I've had reasonably good results with Pilkinton's English Red & Pre 64 stains mixed together to get the look I want. Pilkington also has a Red Brown oil that can be used to give a darker red tone on too light oil finished wood.

Pilkington's products are available from Brownells & Midway. I would guess that there are other commercial spirit based stains available that will accomplish the same result @ lower cost but I've had good results with Pilkington's & have continued to use it for years. It will penetrate most finishes but not polyurethane. They also have a thinner which allows you to remove most of the stain if you feel the need to lighten the color.

Gary

The standard Brit finish for adding colour if the gun is vintage is "Red Oil" This is made from Linseed oil coloured with Alkanet.

The Timberluxe stain is alcohol based.

Pictures may help; is it possible the forend is just darkened from being oil soaked? many older guns are that way. I have personally used acetone and white spirit to remove oil usually just sit the forend in a pint glass full of it for a week.If that does lighten enough i have heard of people use bleach to lighten wood, to good effect.

Surely it is easier to lighten the for end than risk ruining or stripping the finish on the butt stock. At least then if it goes wrong you only have to re finish a for end and not the entire but stock.

If you are still considering darkening the butt stock. I use alkanet root in my stains, but usually this is on raw un oiled timber. First coats are a mixture of alkanet root, acetone, and linseed oil, which makes a thin mixture. After a few coats of this i go to straight BLO with alkanet. After a few coats of this i use my standard BLO mixture. In my experience this will not penetrate through an existing finish and needs to be applied to stripped wood.

I have never heard of using alcohol based stains over an oiled finish, i would have thought this would strip the finish rather than stain the wood.

Thanks guys, great ideas! I remembered that I had some Pilkintons English Red and applied about 3 coats to the stock. It did darken the stock and it looks much better. I might try lightening the forend to see if I can get it to match. The forend does seemed to be somewhat oil soaked.