A Question For Our Wood Smiths (and the rest of the peanut gallery)

[DocWard]

So the modern firearms thread got me thinking, which is a dangerous thing.

 

 I have a stock for a Ruger Mini-14 just sitting. The rifle is currently wearing a Hogue stock. I believe the stock is birch.  Since it is just sitting, I thought I would try my hand at restaining  it. If it turns out well, maybe I’ll stick it back on.

 

I’ve watched a number of videos on YouTube, and have a general idea of what to do but thought I would seek some advice here. 
 

I’m hoping for the re-brown color of th G.I. Issue M1, M-1 Carbine and M-14, only nicer with some wood grain showing.

 

Thoughts? Opinions?

[Smuteye John SASS#24774]

Shouldn't be hard to restrain.  Have you considered bungee cords?

[Rip Snorter]

Brownells has the answer https://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/stock-work-finishing/wood-stains/formula-xix-4-oz-bottle-sku500104004-7677-19250.aspx

[Colorado Coffinmaker]

 

Hi Doc,

 

For the most part, Birch is poor choice for stain.  Any Stain.  Birch "Splotches" unless first sort of sealed in some fashion.  You can stain Birch, but very doubtful it will be an even colour.  Gonna be some splotchy.  Just the nature of Birch.

[DocWard]

16 minutes ago, Smuteye John SASS#24774 said:

Shouldn't be hard to restrain.  Have you considered bungee cords?

I hate Otto. 

[DocWard]

3 minutes ago, Colorado Coffinmaker said:

 

Hi Doc,

 

For the most part, Birch is poor choice for stain.  Any Stain.  Birch "Splotches" unless first sort of sealed in some fashion.  You can stain Birch, but very doubtful it will be an even colour.  Gonna be some splotchy.  Just the nature of Birch.

I’ve sort of learned that from some of the videos. Seems that the sealers help somewhat in that regard? At any rate, if it doesn’t work out, I’ll keep the current stock on it. I want to give myself every shot at success, though.

[Smuteye John SASS#24774]

11 minutes ago, DocWard said:

I hate Otto. 

And he seems to hate you right back.

 

 

[Pat Riot]

21 minutes ago, Colorado Coffinmaker said:

 

Hi Doc,

 

For the most part, Birch is poor choice for stain.  Any Stain.  Birch "Splotches" unless first sort of sealed in some fashion.  You can stain Birch, but very doubtful it will be an even colour.  Gonna be some splotchy.  Just the nature of Birch.

I agree. I found this out the hard way. No matter what I tried it just made things worse.

[Sedalia Dave]

Maybe @Yul Lose can take some time out from cart duty to chime in.

[DocWard]

6 minutes ago, Smuteye John SASS#24774 said:

And he seems to hate you right back.

 

 

What did I ever do to him??

[Rip Snorter]

BTW if you research you will find that many U.S. military rifle stocks WWII and past Korea were birch.

[Colorado Coffinmaker]

 

That's True.  then we switched to Plastic.  Because "If It's Mattel It's Swell."

 

PS:  Military rifle stocks were not "Stained" in the manner we think of as staining.  Entire batches of hundreds of stocks were "dunked" then hung to sorta dry.  Whether the "stain" was blotchy or not was of no concern.

[Yul Lose]

Like CC says birch is tough to stain and make it look real good. I’ve done a couple of “rustic” (knotty) birch carts and I use a sanding sealer and then MinWax early American stain and a few coats of lacquer. I stain very few carts.

[Cholla]

Some guys use BLO, or Boil Linseed Oil to stain and treat.

[Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001]

been a long time since I have done any "dunk" stock staining , 

 

 in this case , I would use Minwax stain/sealer combo , hit it with at least 2 coats of that , then use Truoil or Danish oil finish (matte finish )

 

  for high gloss , Tru-oil I think 7 or 8 light coats should make it pop , it can be muted with a very light touch using super fine wool 

 

 of rotten stone . 

 

   CB 

[Dusty Devil Dale]

15 hours ago, DocWard said:

I’ve sort of learned that from some of the videos. Seems that the sealers help somewhat in that regard? At any rate, if it doesn’t work out, I’ll keep the current stock on it. I want to give myself every shot at success, though.

Consider using wood dye instead of stain.  On splotchey woods, multiple localized dye applications can SOMETIMES even out the depth of color. 

Check Woodcraft for good quality vegetable dyes.   Wear plastic or rubber gloves.