Staining a stock

[10X]

I have a Mossberg 500 with blond wood. I want to stain it a French walnut color. Haven't done this years. I used to use homer fornby and that worked really well, but that is no more. I am looking for recommendations for stain.

 

[Blue68f100]

I've always used Minwax Stains. Need to decide on what your going to use for a top coat. Some stains are water based these days. I prefer the oil based stains.

 

[Kp321]

The blond woods are birch which does not take stain well, especially oil based ones. Water or alcohol based stains do better. I have not tried it but have seen good results from using shoe dye on birch stocks. Finish with polyurethane or TruOil.

 

[JeffG]

I use Fiebing's (alcohol based) leather dyes for birch and maple. Medium brown is a good start, mixing with black or saddle tan darkens or lightens the mix. 0000 Steel wool and poly or Watco Danish oil to finish.
This rifle is plain walnut.

 

[10X]

KP321 I would not have thought of using shoe dye. Good info.
JeffG, looks very good. You have a talent.

 

[Mizar]

One more vote for Fiebing's leather dye - very good product.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Give this a try.
https://www.surplusrifleforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=1230

 

[desidog]

Another vote for Feibing's. Here's a 91/30 i refinished and dyed.

 

[sage5907]

I have stained several stocks in the past so I have a feel for what you are trying to do. The first point is that I would not sand or stain any area that has checkering. I have been using a stain that I really like and it's called MinWax aged oak gel stain. I would recommend buying a small can and test it on a small area to see if the color is what you like. It must be stirred until the texture is consistent, rubbed into the wood with a rag, let it soak for a few seconds and rub all the excess off with a clean rag. After it dries you can decide if it needs extra coats. It may be a good idea to remove any dry excess from the wood by rubbing lightly with 0000 or 00000 steel wool. Finish the job with MinWax satin polyurethane making sure you wipe it on with a rag and rub the excess off with a clean rag. The idea is to get the stain and the polyurethane inside the wood instead of on the surface. Remove any excess shine by rubbing lightly with steel wool. It should give a French (caucasian) walnut color.

 

[boom boom]

Don't have much to add to those above but be sure to thoroughly remove the old finish before starting with your stripper of choice-MEK works the best but is ghastly in its health warnings and you need to strictly follow them. Other chemical strippers may take more time. Make sure to remove the old finish from checkering as this can cause problems--depending on the stripping solvent--you will have to use a tool that works with that solvent--like MEK will disintegrate a ordinary toothbrush into your wood. Personally, I use SoyGel as it is based on soybeans and pretty non-toxic with no nasty odors--it also sticks to the surface but it does take time to remove polyurethane.

You can also remove the finish via sanding but that has its own issues. If there is polyurethane/varnish etc. left on the stock, it will cause blotching of the stain which will ruin the effect of refinishing.

If you have a wood crafter's shop like Rockler or Woodcrafters or Amazon, you can buy pen blanks (small pieces of woods used for turning writing pens) and they do have birch. You can mix staining materials until you get what you want--basically the staining material is floated in a evaporating solvent leaving the staining material behind on the stock. When mixing stains, I always test it and the pen blanks are useful for that and small stock repairs in general.