staining...
 

Olle is correct, matching is hard, except when you go dark.... Then, you can start light on one part, and then go dark to match... three levels of stain can be accomplished with Fibbings leather dye... light, med, dark brown... it's an aniline dye.. and has no filler, just color... then use Danish oil, natural, it works better then BLO, dries better, Good luck Rich, til...lat'r....GT:cheers:

I like Formby's Tung Oil, it seems to penetrate the wood and give it a nice, deep shine. It dries pretty quick, but it takes many coats to build up the finish.

That dye sounds interesting. One problem with stain is that you need to get just about all the color on in the first shot, after the first coat is dry it will seal the wood and the next coat won't soak into the wood. It's difficult to correct the color if you don't get it right to begin with, so using stain might give you more leeway.

I used to work for a cabinet factory, and they used different dyes mixed with alcohol. One problem they had when matching wood pieces was the red and yellow tones, so sometimes they had to pretreat with red or yellow dye before the stain. I believe these dyes are available from, for example, Woodcraft. I have also heard of woodworkers taking the felt tips out of Sharpies, then soak them in alcohol to make dye.

By the way, here's an SMLE I fixed up a while back. The buttstock was the older, dark walnut and the forearm was a newer replacement made of some kind of lighter wood (possibly beech). It took a few attempts and a lot of bad language, but it matched quite nicely once I was done with it.

Excellent!!! :thumbup:

I did a couple bubba-ized No 1 SMLE's as faux 'jungle carbines' using Redfield #75 peep sights w/hunting knobs and Numrich flash hiders and rubber & steel buttplates...And one #4 'jungle carbine' also...Pics around here someplace...I also have two boxes of parts for #1 and #4 rifles, plus about eight different buttstocks...

Sadly, both stock disks I have are blanks; no regimental markings... :(

I put it all back together, to get an idea of what it would look like, compared to what it was and what an 1891 cavalry carbine should look like... :rolleyes:

(Top to Bottom: 1891 Argentine rifle, bubba sporter, 1891 Argentine cavalry carbine, my faux carbine)

Laurel Mountain Forge makes excellent stains formulated especially for guns, The best finish I found is made by Keith Casteel, again formulated for guns.

The Woodstock OIL FINISH
Keith Casteel
RT. 1 Box 38 Bruceton Mills, WV 26525
304-379-8309 phone

good resorcinol
 

You can order good resorcinol from Aircraft Spruce. Well know and reputable company.
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalo...clickkey=19859

Marc

Those discs can be found on eBay, but they're getting kinda pricey. My project was on a shoestring budget, so I simply turned a brass disc and aged it a bit by scratching and dinging it, then wiping it with Blacken-It ( http://www.micromark.com/blacken-it-4-fl-oz,7267.html ). It turned out nicely, but it would have looked much better with the markings.

I've seen pics of regimental marked disks on SurplusRifle Forum, but have no idea what regiments they belong to, or if there was a standard for the marks [letters/numbers/slashes]...I have one steel & one brass...

For my fake carbines, I fill the disk hole in with a wood plug, since part of it gets milled out anyway for the sling relief...

I'm doing another 1891 Argentine Mauser stock extension, to make another bubba-ized rifle into a carbine w/full-length stock; this time I milled a 1/2" wide x 3/8" high x 6" long slot in the combined bubba-ized stock & extension...Then I milled a same size Walnut 'plug' and glued it in place...I rough sanded it down...

It looks like a butt-splice, but it's actually a hidden tongue & groove splice. :D

When I first started, both the stock and extension looked the same color...(I had seven Mauser/Steyr/Enfield stocks to choose the extension from)...I chose an Enfield No 4 stock for the extension...The color looked close... :thumbup:

After sanding, the colors no longer match... :grr:

No matter. :) The barrel cap, front sight band & blade, and rear band/sling swivel are en route.

Well, I guess that is why we have stains...
dju

Here's a disk that came on the Swedish M96 stock I got off ebay...Don't have the slighest idea what it means, but it looks cool...Someone put a little bit of effort into the markings... :)

Edit: I found a site that deciphers the Swedish markings...Sort of... :rolleyes:

http://www.gotavapen.se/gota/artikla..._se_rifles.htm

That disc seems to be buggered up. The "1, 2, 3" sector shows the barrel wear, and there should only be one mark. The "2-5" and "9-1" show the actual gore gauge, but it should also only have one mark.

The tung oil is easy to use for covering minor repairs to gun stocks. It is forgiving and allows for the semi-trained to use. Yes, it dries rather quickly and can be assisted, in drying, with a blow drier. I have had much success in using it on top of other finishes - such as true oil.
That's my shared secret of the day.
Will need to contact Mr. Casteel; he's only about 35 miles from me. His brother made me a Pennsylvania style muzzleloader in 1976 - for the bi-centennial. What a sweet gun.
Jack

I need something for the totally ignorant to use. I only have BLO on hand. :(

But that's weeks away. Parts won't be here for a week/10 days. $$$ doesn't get here until Monday...I hope... :o

For stock repairs, I've used Brownells Acra-glas for years. The runny original stuff in the red box for cracks and such. I've been able to blow it down into a crack with an air hose/compressor. For bigger jobs, like joining two pieces as discussed here, the "gel" works well. Both types can be dyed. Both sand well also. The best way to make an "invisible" repair is to select the wood carefully, make your joint or seam as tight as possible, and clamp tightly. This is a toe repair I'm working on for a customer's M-12. The arrow points to the seam. It included fitting a new buttplate. Still needs a little finish work, but will be done Monday or so. Photo is a little fuzzy. Oh well.

Jack,

Are you using the tung oil to cover minor repairs in Tru-Oil finishes, or are you using tung oil to completely refinish the wood over the Tru-oil finish? I have used Casey's Tru-oil finish for years, and also Formsby's Tung oil finish.

I finally finished the second 1891 Argentine Mauser stock 'repair'. I'm happy with the joint; with the color match, not so much...

I did stain the light forward piece, but the wood doesn't seem to like stain... :mad:

Anyway, they both resemble Argentine carbines now, instead of pawn shop junk (well, to my eyes they do)... :rolleyes:

A noble effort! They look pretty good.
I have a '91 Argentine carbine. They are really nicely made and they really bark when fired.