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Yes, it’s another thread about stock refinishing, but I promise it is nothing like the others I have read here in the past.
I recently obtained a new in the box Armisport 1861 Springfield. Of course, I was not happy with the general appearance of the plastic polycoating in the stock, so I decided to strip it off this past weekend. I sprayed the stock down with a can of aerosol paint remover from Lowes. It took several applications and scrapings to get the stuff to soften to the point of being able to remove it. This is some tough stuff. Anyway, once 99% of the finish had been removed, I decided to give it one more coating just to be sure it was all removed. I picked up the nearest can and sprayed the stock down, when I noticed a distinct difference in the smell. I had accidentally picked up a can of oven cleaner from the bench and sprayed my stock. :cry_smile It had been sitting there from the previous weekends chore of cleaning the BBQ grill.
As the oven cleaner soaked in, I noticed a near immediate change in the wood color of the stock, the lye in the cleaner had turned my stock into what appeared to be ebony, the wood grain disapeared and the stock resembled one of those plastic black nylon stocks on inline muzzleloaders: baring_te Needless to say, I was dismayed at the sight of my stock. Therefore, I hosed it down with the water hose hoping I would be able to salvage this project. I removed as much of the oven cleaner as I could and then I placed the stock back on the workbench to dry.
The next day I gathered enough courage to venture back out to the garage to inspect my new ebony Springfield stock. Much to my surprise, the stock had dried and looked exactly like a black walnut stock blank. Apparently, the lye in the stock reacted with the tannins of the Turkish/European walnut and turned the stock from nose to toe a nice chocolate brown with a few tiny white streaks. I sanded the stock down with various grades of steel wool and found that the stock began to look even more like black walnut. Last night I finally finished the process of oiling it down with linseed oil. The next step is to give a coat of wood wax to seal the surface.
There you have it, there appears to be no real need to stain your European walnut stocks to achieve the appearance of American Black Walnut.
I recently obtained a new in the box Armisport 1861 Springfield. Of course, I was not happy with the general appearance of the plastic polycoating in the stock, so I decided to strip it off this past weekend. I sprayed the stock down with a can of aerosol paint remover from Lowes. It took several applications and scrapings to get the stuff to soften to the point of being able to remove it. This is some tough stuff. Anyway, once 99% of the finish had been removed, I decided to give it one more coating just to be sure it was all removed. I picked up the nearest can and sprayed the stock down, when I noticed a distinct difference in the smell. I had accidentally picked up a can of oven cleaner from the bench and sprayed my stock. :cry_smile It had been sitting there from the previous weekends chore of cleaning the BBQ grill.
As the oven cleaner soaked in, I noticed a near immediate change in the wood color of the stock, the lye in the cleaner had turned my stock into what appeared to be ebony, the wood grain disapeared and the stock resembled one of those plastic black nylon stocks on inline muzzleloaders: baring_te Needless to say, I was dismayed at the sight of my stock. Therefore, I hosed it down with the water hose hoping I would be able to salvage this project. I removed as much of the oven cleaner as I could and then I placed the stock back on the workbench to dry.
The next day I gathered enough courage to venture back out to the garage to inspect my new ebony Springfield stock. Much to my surprise, the stock had dried and looked exactly like a black walnut stock blank. Apparently, the lye in the stock reacted with the tannins of the Turkish/European walnut and turned the stock from nose to toe a nice chocolate brown with a few tiny white streaks. I sanded the stock down with various grades of steel wool and found that the stock began to look even more like black walnut. Last night I finally finished the process of oiling it down with linseed oil. The next step is to give a coat of wood wax to seal the surface.
There you have it, there appears to be no real need to stain your European walnut stocks to achieve the appearance of American Black Walnut.
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