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

Michael, I have been experimenting with shellac and would appreciate the file.

JC(AL)

Salopian, was just looking at James V. Howe's "The Modern Gunsmith" and amongst the formulas he mentions, he mentions this one:

"Formula Nº6

1 pint boiled linseed oil
200 grains gum arabic (dissolved in alcohol)
1 oz. alkanet root
200 grains rose pink
150 cc. vinegar
Heat together for one-half hour, but do not allow the mixture to come to the boiling point; just let it simmer gently. To apply this polish, rub a small quantity on the stock, and let remain for ten hours; then rub it clean with linen cloth. With a few such applications you will bring out a very superior finish."

One can only guess where he got it from,

JC(AL)

So, thanks to the yogi000's kindness and tenacity, I finally laid my hands on some behlans blood red. I stained my dads walnut stocked fowler that I put together for him a year ago and never did stain. For those wondering what blood red does for walnut, here's a few pics. Two applications over a true oil finish.



Cody

Cody----Very nice! And over True Oil. Wow. That stuff is amazing.

And you are very welcome. Glad I could help out.

Yogi, is this similar to the color you are getting?

Cody

Cody,
Would it be correct to say that your photo's show the finish obtained by 2 coats of Behlan's blood red and then a Tru-oil coat? Surely not Behlans over Tru-oil?

Salopian, here's the whole story. The gun was made a year ago. No stain applied and finished with true oil. I was told somewhere in this thread that it would stain right through true oil so......... I got the behlans, applied the stain to the stock as is, allowed the stain to dry then applied another coat. I DID give the stock the thinnest coat of TO afterwards. Then when that was dry, I waxed it with rennessance? wax. Then took a picture. I think I would have preffered just a hint darker and it DID come out a bit darker on the raw walnut I sorta practiced on. What are your thoughts on the colour??

Cody

Cody,
I have to say that the photo's are quite pleasing to the eye.I think the tone of red suits that particular application, perhaps a little loud for a nice SxS for my taste, but I could be pleasantly surprised.
Surprised the Behlans penetrated the Tru-oil which only goes to show that if you do not try you will never know, which is perhaps what this thread is all about,trial & error.
Perhaps the joy of the success of the staining may only be surpassed by shooting the little beasty

this thread has really been inspiring....i have a question....is madder root a truer color of red? the reason i ask is that i stained my stock with alkanet root and it took on somewhat of a reddish/violet color...i am going to try the behlens red but i would prefer to use a natural color....thanks bugsy

It seems a bit "pinkish" rather than the deep blood red I am after. However, the wood I did a test on was english and the colour was darker. I think perhaps, the lighter "pinkinsh" colour may be due to staining over the finish. I'm doing a few more trials and will post the results. I have to keep my trials to a minimum as it was somewhat difficult to get this stuff into Canada, right Yogi . It may have been easier to import weapons grade plutonium packed in heroin but I doubt either one of those would make a suitable stock stain


Cody