Curl,
Finding a particular style of figure and color for someone is like trying to buy your wife a dress. You need to do the legwork (keyboard and mousework these days) yourself as nobody else can put their finger on it.
Search for Turkish, French, English gunstock blanks. The usual suspects are Hunterbid.com, Dressels, Luxus, Denli, Oldtreeblanks.com, Cecil Fredi, etc.
I know there are some that will disagree here, but I bet your stock is naturally much much lighter colored, . There is definitely oil that has darkened, probably alkanet root stain, and some dirt, on the wood. My point is, just keep that in mind when looking at woodblanks. Look for structural alignment of grain in critical areas, figure of your taste, then color last.
Chuck H,
I agree entirely with your comment about color.
To my eye an antique like my Henry looks odd when totally refinished and the wood cleaned, lightened, and finished with a clear oil or varnish.
Yet I wonder what this rifle looked like the day it was delivered. I feel sure it had some red stain. I would also imagine its finish was somewhat lighter and more clear.
So in the end, when we shy away from an antique with brightly refinished wood are we shying away from the original presentation of the gun? Ironic?
Just some thoughts. Comments of others would be interesting.
Curl
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