Hi all
First post here.
Please forgive me for reviving a very old thread and, perhaps worse, referencing a couple of even older ones. I read this thread and the three others listed below with interest when I wanted to redo the finish on an Anschutz .22LR rifle which, frankly, a gunsmith had made a botch of. I decided to strip it and do it all over, the "traditional English gunstock way".
http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=215&page=1http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=125797&page=1http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=96539&page=1I reached out to Dig Hadoke of Vintage Guns, purchased some of his Red Oil and picked his brains as regards method. Then the work began. That was 6-7 months ago and I am still going. Almost there. I'd certainly do a few things differently next time around. First and foremost I would use a grain filler rather than relying on gunstock finish oil and rotten stone to do that work at a painfully slow pace.
Erland asked a few questions including some in relation to Red Oil which interest me also. While I purchased a bottle of Dig's oil to do the job mentioned above, out of curiosity I decided to also make up a batch of my own.
In the above mentioned threads there are a number of references given to recipes for "red oil". Early on Dig mentioned "turpentine and boiled linseed oil in which alkanet root was steeped". (Later he referenced a steeping period of 3 months and the longer the better.) Salopian followed with "take about 70grms of beaten / crushed root, immerse in 100ml of pure turpentine for about 4 weeks in a sealed jar then add 100ml of linseed oil and reseal leave for another 3 / 4 weeks and then use as required." Later, Salopian mentioned a modified recipe from Sheraton: "take 4oz of alkanet root, broken into short strips,as much opened with the hand as possible, so that the bark of the root which tinges the oil may fly off, steep in 1pint of raw linseed oil to which you have added 1 tablespoon of the oil of the spruce, steep for a week and strain it through a cloth." And still later Dig mentions "I find I get better colour from alkanet root steeped in raw linseed for several months - rather than using it in alcohol or turpentine, which dilutes it too much in my experience" while Salopian said "I have had no problems with 4oz of root soaking in 1 pint of oil. Longer you leave it the better it gets, shake it about once a week." A few posts above in this thread, damascus mentions flax seed oil and walnut oil (50:50).
So 6 months ago I added 80 grammes of Alkanet root to 250ml each of Walnut oil and flax seed oil and placed it in a cupboard, giving it a gentle shake a few times a week. Today I finally decided to "test" it side by side with the little of Dig's oil I have left over.
In short, they are very different. My oil batch is considerably redder while his is more towards the red/brown colour one would ultimately seek in the finished stock. Both are really very opaque in the bottle, but the reason why I left mine to soak so long is because his appears to still be that much 'denser' in colour. I've attached a pic of a drop of each on a paper towel; Vintage Gun's red oil on the left, my batch on the right. It's as if mime now needs to brown in the way blood does when it coagulates.
I'm actually wondering if there is another "trick" here which I have missed. Any ideas? I've another project to do after this one (a shotgun which should be considerably easier than a thumbhole rifle stock with all its extra contours and surface area) but I am rather nervous about using my batch to colour the wood.
Regards
JJJ
