doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com To enhance grain or not enhance grain.

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.

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?

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:

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.

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!

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.