doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Alkanet Root - Reddish Stock Look

Pineknot,
Thank you for your answer,I also find that Truoil is too thick and goes onto the wood rather than into it. It is also a devil to remove if you are refinishing.
I strive for a finish that is always allowed to penetrate the pores and gets into the wood even though if you cut a stock to repad you will be amazed how little that penetration is.But in the end it is really all about what pleases the eye of the beholder.

My favorite stock finish to date is plain old bees wax. I've used it on maple and it penetrates deep, looks great,is easily repaired and seems to be reasonably weather resistant.Im not sure how it would work on an open grained wood like walnut but I'm quite pleased with the results on maple.

Cody

I've used Minwax Red Mahogany oil finish (by multiple gallons) for sealing treated lumber on a three story wood porch. That was in addition to roofing tar adhesive and topcoating. Messy but fits my 19th century and earlier wooden man-o-war ship building mind for heavy outdoor lumber.

On exposure to normal weather it will turn brownish. I am sure it is a good penetrating material based on my observations and expereince and if the color holds (it does, indoors) as a reddish brown, it would be a useful stock coloring. However my applications are heavy.

I have Tru Oil and Brownells' tung oil and found both to be worth experimentation on English walnut. However the blank I was working with is solid but undistinguished quarter-grain. Solid and stable but minimal figure on the Butt and only some interesting slavage grain on the front part which would be made into a forend.

Sheraton, the furniture maker used 'red oil' to colour mahogany.Here is a modified version of his 'red oil' recipe.
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.
This makes a strong colour, you may have to dilute the colour with more linseed oil to suit your need.Oil of the spruce I believe is turpentine.
Should you require other traditional recipes I may be able to help.
Salopian

Dig wrote:
I cooked a batch exactly as written but instead of an oil, mine cooled to a wax paste solid. I must have done something wrong or 200 grams of carnauba is the wrong proportion. I might heat it to 110-120 degrees and work with it warm on a test piece but I'm not sure that's the ticket either. Dig or anyone care to speculate?

Maybe it's supposed to be 200 GRAINS of wax .

Cody

D'oh, that would make sense. Any idiot should know gram is abbreviated 'g', not 'gr'. I don't think in grains except for powder and shot. I think I'll take my brain out and wash it tonight. Straightened out by a Canadian, no less. Thanks, Cody.

Sorry for the delayed response - just got back from a very hot wedding in rome (not mine!)

Well spotted Cody! Old recipe, old measures - I should have translated to modern proportions!

let me know how you get on with it - I'm also trialling a mix with the same make up but a small measure of modern Terebine (unfortunately we can't get the old version as it is carcinogenic and banned in the UK).

My brother (a research chemist) suggested I try a third world country (Cody?) as it is still probably produced somewhere, but he warns against it as he said it was banned for a good reason. Still, the old Terebine drier was Harry Lawrence's 'secret ingredient' and is apparently the key to the hardest wearing, shinyest finish.

Yes, it should have been grains. 218gr = 1/2 oz or 1 tablespoon and even that amount will be on the thick side with 16oz of linseed.

Don't think so. You must be refering to FLUID ounces. Grains is a measure of weight, (one grain of wheat). If the creator of the recipe intended to have the wax measured in liquid form I suspect it would be listed in oz like the other fluid ingridients. Therefore, if the wax is to be measured as a solid (which to my way of thinkin makes sence), it would be 200 grains which would convert to 15.4 grams. or .457 oz. Are we sufficiently confused yet

Cody