Finishing/Staining tiger maple furniture

[Blix666]

I'm pretty novice when it comes to wood-working and have a tiger maple stock to finish. I would like to achieve a blonde glossy finish while retaining darker colored curls or stripes. I'm am quite comfortable doing it myself but a great deal of the how-to videos but wanted to get some opinions from you guys before tackling the project. Any help suggestions are appreciated!

 

[TWtommers]

I did this to a guitar, not a stock. To get the grain to stand out I used a tynt (TransTint) off a darker color first. Sanded that down and then applied a finish coat. The darker color tynt sets into the darker grains but sands off the lighter grain. I used a black tint on a guitar that I ultimately stained blue. You may consider using an orange or red tint if you want a blond finish in the end.

 

[Blix666]

i've gotten some suggestions that have to do with scorching the wood with a propane torch to bring out the darker grain...anybody have experience with doing this?

 

[boxerjake77]

Using a dye stain will really pop that grain.
How about a pic of the stock.

 

[MA_Shooter]

i've gotten some suggestions that have to do with scorching the wood with a propane torch to bring out the darker grain...anybody have experience with doing this?

Not sure I would mess with a torch..could damage the wood.

I've achieved some nice finishes with polyurethane and wet sanding between coats & a pumice rub on the final coat.

 

[TWtommers]

i've gotten some suggestions that have to do with scorching the wood with a propane torch to bring out the darker grain...anybody have experience with doing this?

IMO, super bad idea if you're not experienced with this. It has a tendency to make the grain black or very very dark brown instead of just a richer, deeper color than the rest of the wood. Do you have a look you're trying to emulate? The method of dying the wood is what's most commonly used on guitars like the Les Paul.

 

[Picton]

Put the torch away and do exactly what TWtommers says. I do guitars also, and TransTint is the way to go with this.

 

[Blix666]

this is the look i'm going for. it says "two tone dye treatment" in the description but i don't know wth that is...



this is what the stock looks like now

 

[boxerjake77]

this is the look i'm going for. it says "two tone dye treatment" in the description but i don't know wth that is...

That makes no sense to me either... Unless they'er talking about the back part and the front being two different colors?

That's a great looking stock and color, good luck. Remember, you can cut that dye to make it less intense, I suggest you do that. You can always add color but it's not easy taking it out.
Dye stains penetrate deep and fast.

 

[Picton]

Two-tone = a darker tone to highlight the tiger figure, then sand that back and apply the lighter tone over top of it. Usually two tones of the same color/shade, just different concentrations. Again, it's TransTint. Thin it with water or alcohol; I use water for maple.

Search some youtube videos on finishing electric guitar necks.

 

[Blix666]

i found a member on calguns.net whose PSL looks identical to this one (it may actually be the same rifle) and i'm waiting on a PM from him in regards to what exactly he did, but he mentions transtint in one of his posts regarding the job and after looking up transtint i found a dye that looks very close to this...we'll see. the stock comes with a test block to experiment on so i'll play around with that. thanks for all the help!

 

[SKS Ray]

Nice looking stock. Where'd you get it?

 

[Blix666]

Nice looking stock. Where'd you get it?

http://www.troupsystems.com/romanian stocks.htm

 

[warwickben]

http://www.troupsystems.com/romanian stocks.htm

There 45acp mouser conversion is how I found them lol . I kinda like there other stocks for the psl to.

 

[Blix666]

i like the look of the SVD-PSL stock, but I'm not gonna pretend my PSL is a Dragunov lol

 

[TWtommers]

Here's a video I found in a really quick search.

http://youtu.be/u49jCIRNnmk

Like BoxerJake and Picton have been saying, its about a pplying a very dark stain first to penetrate the darker grain, sanding, then applying a lighter stain (in the same color family) to compliment. In the video its black first and then blue. For the look you're talking about in the picture, I'd guess you're talking about a medium brown first then a honey amber maybe.


http://www.homesteadfinishingproducts.com/htdocs/TransTint.htm

It's worth noting that when you apply the dark color first, you'll likely think you made a terrible mistake as the whole piece will be very dark. Then you'll sand it and think it didn't take. It's only when the final coat is applied that you really see the results. There's a bit of faith in the processs required.

 

[Blix666]

can I start with a dark stain then finish with the trans tint? the dark vintage maple tint looks exactly like what I want as far as a final result only with darker stripes.

 

[TWtommers]

can I start with a dark stain then finish with the trans tint? the dark vintage maple tint looks exactly like what I want as far as a final result only with darker stripes.

I'd avoid stain. Takes too long to cure and is a little hard to control evenly. You can use a dark trans tint though. Trans Tint isn't really a finish so you'd still need to top coat or seal with something like a BLO.

Here's what I'd do. I'd start by sanding the wood to 600. I'd use one or two coats of the Dark Walnut to bring out the darker grains. It only takes Trans Tint an hour or so to dry then I'd hit it with 600 sand paper again. If the darker grain is popping already, I'd go over it with the Dark Vintage Maple. You can continue to coat it until you get it to where you'd like. Then I'd sand to 600 (or even higher) and finish with several coats of BLO. That's what's most likely to get you the look you showed. If, after one coat of the Dark Walnut, the grain isn't separating visually, you can hit it again.

The nice part about the Trans Tint is that it's forgiving. Stain is a lot less forgiving and will take more to dry/cure.

 

[Blix666]

I appreciate all your help!

 

[SKS Ray]

Whatever you do don't use a pre stain conditioner. That actually helps wood absorb stain evenly.

 

[boxerjake77]

I'd avoid stain. Takes too long to cure and is a little hard to control evenly. You can use a dark trans tint though. Trans Tint isn't really a finish so you'd still need to top coat or seal with something like a BLO.

Here's what I'd do. I'd start by sanding the wood to 600. I'd use one or two coats of the Dark Walnut to bring out the darker grains. It only takes Trans Tint an hour or so to dry then I'd hit it with 600 sand paper again. If the darker grain is popping already, I'd go over it with the Dark Vintage Maple. You can continue to coat it until you get it to where you'd like. Then I'd sand to 600 (or even higher) and finish with several coats of BLO. That's what's most likely to get you the look you showed. If, after one coat of the Dark Walnut, the grain isn't separating visually, you can hit it again.

The nice part about the Trans Tint is that it's forgiving. Stain is a lot less forgiving and will take more to dry/cure.

This is pretty much what you want to do. That stock is gonna look sick when it's done. Can't wait to see some pics.

 

[Blix666]

i ordered the dark walnut tint and the vintage maple. i'll update when i've got progress. thanks again for all the suggestions.

 

[mac1911]

I used the trans tint dyes....cool to work with. you can make them strong or weak and mix to get different colors.
I went for a sun burst effect with a stock. I do asdvise getting some wood that is close to yours and test. I did and it helped. I did how ever run into grain staining heavier and lightrer in some areas.
Heres my first attempt with the Dyes. Being water based it can be washed out a little also to lighten the affect before it dries. It doesnt show much but I did do the black base stain to try and get more grain.
here http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/177489-All-my-stocks-are-brown

 

[Blix666]

OK, time for photos of the almost finished product. I ended up going with a 50/50 mix of pine tar and boiled linseed oil for the finish. i experimented with the trans tynt on the test block i received with the stock set but couldn't get a result I liked. What I did ended up with looks almost identical to what I wanted which makes me happy. I also added a Tabruk flash hider, bipod and Duracoated the entire rifle matte black. Thanks for all the advice!

 

[boxerjake77]

Good job, looks sweet!!

 

[mac1911]

I like how it looks like you did not do anything......nice clean look....doesn't look out of place. I been playing with the trans tint dyes. After I did the discovery stock I wanted to see what else I could do....I been practicing. Transtint is funny stuff.
So far I been playing with scrap walnut and maple. Seems the test that look like mud come out nice....I have a model 60 stock I'm going to play with a little.

Not sure if its going to work the way I think but I'm thinking of taping off parts ofcthe wood to really limit the stain in some areas.