doublegunshop.com - home
Posted By: Brian To enhance grain or not enhance grain. - 12/30/19 03:36 AM
I have had a custom Fox upgrade done and the gun came out very nicely. However the blank I used turned out to be a one sided wonder. The blank lost all of its figure on the right side once it was shaped.
Maybe I am being too critical but I was expecting the same smokey grain on both sides and after spending the money on this gun and not having eye popping grain on both sides, I am looking at the process done by Mark Larson.
Who has had him enhance a stock? How did it look?
Really just want the plainer side to match the nice side.
Or should I leave it alone?
Just bugs me that I spent what I spent on a blank and it just isn’t what I expected grain wise. The gun is my pride and joy. The smith who did the gun did a fantastic job, no complaints there No one has control over the wood once it starts to get shaped.
right side, the plain side

left side, the nice side
The birds won’t notice the grain. Sounds like you got a great job, congrats. If the wood is sound, and you shoot it well, maybe that is enough.
Only comparison that relates to me I can make is I won’t buy the fake battery cover that goes on my old car to make a current spec battery look like an old Delco “Eye” battery. It’s fake.

Good luck.

Best,
Ted
Posted By: RARiddell Re: To enhance grain or not enhance grain. - 12/30/19 11:31 AM
Yeah, it will be cool at first, but knowing it’s fake will haunt you, remember the tale Tell Heart! “It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night.” Poe
Posted By: tut Re: To enhance grain or not enhance grain. - 12/30/19 11:57 AM
Brian, post a picture of the buttstock from both sides. I think we can give you better thoughts after taking a look. PS. Happy New Year.
Posted By: craigd Re: To enhance grain or not enhance grain. - 12/30/19 03:05 PM
If(?) you go with the grain enhancement approach, maybe there's a way to pick up some natural grain contrast on the plain side. Then, have somewhat lesser enhancements added, rather than fully match the figured side. If you'd be inclined to, it would be interesting to see what the blank and its end grain looked like. I think about anyone could be disappointed, hopefully there's a flip side to that coin. Best of luck with it.
Posted By: eightbore Re: To enhance grain or not enhance grain. - 12/30/19 03:16 PM
Is there any chance that shaving 1/8" off the right side may expose some better figure? Mark Lawson's work is not cheap.
Posted By: RARiddell Re: To enhance grain or not enhance grain. - 12/30/19 03:36 PM
I would be very happy with that!!
Brian, I guess you have the right side and left side labels turned around. I really like Mark Larson's work and he's done two or three for me where a stock spacer was added . Very nice work and quite durable.

Your stock, the real left, is better than I expected it to be from your description. If I did anything at all, I might darken the foreword half of the left side to more closely match the rear left and the right side. The grain and pattern seem quite nice to me.
I'm still trying to figure out what's wrong with the "plain side"? It looks great to me, both sides do. Mark does fantastic grain painting, but your stock is nature's masterwork. Why mess with it?...Geo
I wouldn't spend another penny on it, Brian. That left side is much better than I expected it to look given your level of disappointment. Seldom does a stock have perfectly equal amounts of figure on both sides, and much of it is "in the eye of the beholder" anyway. Perhaps, considering that there are no two stock blanks in the world that are the same, or equal, would help your assessment of it. Think of it as the only one that has ever existed that looks exactly like that. It's unique.

I think it looks very nice as is, and would be proud to own it as is.

SRH
Leave it alone, Brian.

Fake is fake, and forever so.

Go out and enjoy the nice stock that you have.
Posted By: SKB Re: To enhance grain or not enhance grain. - 12/30/19 05:41 PM
I like the way it looks as is.
Another vote for as is.

I have a custom rifle with much worse left-right asymmetry. But I'm happy with it anyway.
Posted By: WBLDon Re: To enhance grain or not enhance grain. - 12/30/19 05:57 PM
Brian, It is your gun, do what makes you happy!! But if it were my gun I am with Stan. My weakness is nice wood on a gun and I think both sides look very nice. Don't get me wrong, Mark's work is outstanding and second to none but it is "still" enhanced coloring and not natural to the stock. For an extension or damaged stock I would not hesitate using Mark for the repair if the gun warranted it but in this case, if it were my gun, I wouldn't touch it.
Grain flow looks great through the wrist, where it matters. Everything else is a bonus and I'd say you did very well.
Posted By: Brian Re: To enhance grain or not enhance grain. - 12/30/19 06:07 PM
I had the sides labeled wrong. see edit.

then tell me what you think.

maybe its all in my head and I am just pissed that the right side isn't as smokey as the left and it irks me that for the cost of that blank, it should have been the same on both sides.
Brian,
I'm with the suggestion to leave it alone, as I think it looks nice as is. The photos of my Churchill bear out the notion of natural grain as it presents itself. Grain at the wrist is most important.
Karl

I think it is in your head. I think it is great! The two sides are very complimentary in my opinion. I would enjoy admiring both sides when I'm sitting in a duck blind and the going is slow. I also love the way the grain sweeps into the wrist on both sides. Just about ideal to me.

What is the white stuff on the sides of the pad/buttplate? Maybe it is just glare.
I am with all those saying leave it alone. Nothing wrong with the way it looks.
Why on earth would you even think the right side is plain? Good grief.
I actually like the right side better.
JR
I certainly wouldn’t do anything. That’s a handsome stock.

That being said, Mark did a stock extension for me on a British SLE. I was very impressed withe the final product and can heartily recommend his work.
Now that you have three play pages with people telling you do nothing, I’m curious.

How much interaction did you have with the stock maker during this process?

It would seem to me that you would’ve known about the dissimilar sides as soon as the stock was shaped on the duplicator.

You could’ve decided yes or no at that moment, before you sunk a whole lot of finishing time into it.

So, have you already visited this question previously?

FWIW, other than the finish color, I like the stock.
Super clear finishes seem to be derigeur these days.
I’m not a fan of them.
Brian, I think you have a fine stock here and can't see what concerns you about it. Your text makes it sound as if one side is plain as balsa. Remind yourself that trees don't grow to our specifications. The color in your stock is nice on both sides. Both sides look as if they belong together. To me, one side is as attractive as the other.
Posted By: Brian Re: To enhance grain or not enhance grain. - 12/30/19 08:43 PM
Yes I know. I guess its just one of those things that I focused on and haven't let go. by any other persons measure its a phenomenal gun. and to me is. also, just that wood.
sort of like looking at Cindy Crawford and saying wow and then seeing that mole!!!! still think she is gorgeous.
I am making a mountain to of a mole hill for sure. I could have worse issues to contemplate, couldn't I?
Posted By: tut Re: To enhance grain or not enhance grain. - 12/30/19 08:52 PM
I had a custom Fox done years ago. Pretty well known engraver did the work and one of the birds on the frame looked more like a Merganser then a Wood duck in my mind. I went nuts for 2 years looking at that Merganser and almost decided to have that one bird redone by Gournet just because I didn't like that bird. Had a pretty well known guild member tell me I was nuts and finally let it go. I will say for those two years it really troubled me. PS. The gun itself turned out great:
Posted By: damascus Re: To enhance grain or not enhance grain. - 12/30/19 08:56 PM
Given the high number of gun stocks I have finished and re finished over the years the majority have been odd sided with one side being more eye catching than the other. Now we are all human and if we dont like something the first impression does always take priority in our mind so I will not go along the lines of it is fine because it is obvious that one side of the stock does not equal to other side in looks, but on its own merit I have seen far worse and if the stock was the same on both sides as the less figured side it would be a good looking stock. What I would advise the owner in your case would be to have the stock finished the Brit way with Alkanet (Red Oil) this will do a number of things firstly it will bring out the underlying grain swirl and lower the contrast between the light background colour and the dark grain lines. In using Alkanet to colour the wood it will limit the glaring dark light grain characteristic effect. Alkanet has been used by Brit gunmakers and stockers to enhance the whole look of a gun stock by making it warm and pleasing, keep in mind Alkanet has been used to colour Brit guns for over two hundred years and is still used today for all the reasons I have mentioned. Try to keep in your mind if your stock is Oil finished it will darken over time.
Posted By: 67galaxie Re: To enhance grain or not enhance grain. - 12/30/19 09:27 PM
Love it man
I think it looks great! I had Mark Larson do a grain enhancement on a plain stock of mine. Mark will enhance it, but it won't come out as exhibition. I think that there would be very little improvement to be made. It looks like you have Turkish, or English walnut? These species just won't have the feather crotch and fiddle back of Black walnut. I would be proud of the stock you have. The borderless checkering is cracking good!
Posted By: keith Re: To enhance grain or not enhance grain. - 12/30/19 10:48 PM
Your blank may have lost some figure during turning, but that is far from being what I'd consider one sided. It's a great looking stock. There is no way that I would consider a grain painting enhancement on that piece of wood.

In the event that turning really did make a very nice blank one-sided, I agree with Clapper Zapper. That would be the time to cut your losses, sell what you have or use it on another project, and buy another blank. Considering what grain painting enhancement costs, there probably wouldn't be all that much difference in cost if you are a smart wood shopper. And it would be real. Another consideration is the grade of the gun. To me, an exhibition grade stock looks out of place on a low to mid grade gun.

The grain painting enhancement process may be preferable to looking at a glue joint between two entirely different pieces of wood resulting from a repair, or adding an extension to increase LOP. But I have never seen a grain enhancement job up close that would fool me into believing it was real. And it seems that the more enhancement that is added, the more fake it looks... like a girl with too much make-up.

It would be interesting if you had some "before" photos of the blank to show us what it looked like before turning.
Brian, sorry for your disappointment.

There’s light in this Irish proverb:
“Listen to the sound of the river and you will get trout.”

As you turn the stock from the side you like to the side you don’t, also turn your focus from comparison to consideration. You, although you didn’t get what you wanted, may very well find that you want what you got.

I hope so.
Originally Posted By: FallCreekFan
You, although you didn’t get what you wanted, may very well find that you want what you got.

I hope so.


If not, drop me a note. I'd love to have your problem and could take it off your hands at the right price... smile
Posted By: Mark II Re: To enhance grain or not enhance grain. - 12/30/19 11:04 PM
Brian, Get the grain enhanced if you want, just don't end up like folks that get hooked on plastic surgery because they never like what they see in the mirror. D.J. did a great job to commemorate your service. Think of it like the rug makers who make a mistake on purpose because nothing is perfect.
Posted By: Buzz Re: To enhance grain or not enhance grain. - 12/30/19 11:25 PM
Looks good as is to me.
I hadn’t seen the pictures when I posted. That said, I stand by what I posted, and will add-I wish I had that “problem”. Feel free to donate the gun, as is, to my cause.

Best,
Ted
Posted By: pipeliner Re: To enhance grain or not enhance grain. - 12/31/19 01:05 AM
Dave Wolf Waco Texas best stock man in the US.IMHO
Posted By: tunes Re: To enhance grain or not enhance grain. - 12/31/19 05:02 AM
If you don't like what you have, I have a Fox Sterlingworth stock that that you can have enhanced I will offer in trade!!!
Posted By: eightbore Re: To enhance grain or not enhance grain. - 12/31/19 11:39 AM
I hadn't seen the pictures when I suggested taking an eighth of an inch off the right side. The comment I would have made, had I seen the pictures is "That's what English Walnut is supposed to look like." Leave it alone. By the way, why don't we know who the stockmaker is?
Nobody can tell you how you should "feel" about your custom stock.
It is not plain on one side to my eye, just not similar figure.
I would be letting it settle in with me a while, before deciding on enhancement.
It's a product of nature.
I've had my disappointments with custom work, but they have been where the gun maker pleased himself rather than the client. That's not what I see here.
With slab sawn blank you never know what you get till its finished. Its a great looking stock, both sides.
I'm kind of laughing to myself. I originally thought the "real" left side was the side Brian was disappointed in. Now, I understand that he likes the left, and is questioning the right side. We all have different tastes, but when I saw Brian's picture, I preferred the right side.
I prefer the right side, too.
I also thought the slab grain was the disappointing side to the OP.
Just goes to show how tastes differ.
© The DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com