Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Stock finish using Bone Black for enhancement

I would like any suggestions and opinions on a project that I am working on. I have utilized the method described by the user Sitka Deer of using D2 epoxy and oil on one Claro Walnut stock with great success. In short what I did was dye the stock a shade of reddish orange, applied the D2 as he prescribe and then added about 15 coats of Minwax Antique Oil.

What I am working on now is a Black English Walnut stock (I hope this is the correct classification) with a big streak of sapwood running through it. I would like to add Bone Black to darken the pores in the hope of enhancing the sapwood and additionally I plan to add a small amount of dye to get that reddish huge in the wood.

Since I am carving the stock from a blank I have extra pieces of wood to experiment with, but any advice and suggestions are welcome. This is what I have been thinking of as a possible solution. First mix some of the bone black with oil and message it into the wood and sand it down to wood or just use steel wool to remove the top layer of oil. The problem is that I don�t think the epoxy will penetrate as well afterwards and some of the oil will boil out when I heat the stock in the oven in preparation of the epoxy. I have thought of adding it to the epoxy and do a double coat. The first I will rub off with lint free cloth against the grain and when hardened sand the stock down to the bare wood and stain it. I will then add an additional coat of D2 epoxy without Bone Black before continuing.

I know I can achieve this with Rottenstone mixed with the Bone Black and Permalyn, but I am not interested in going that route. I would hate the have to checker a stock with Rottenstone in it.

WELCOME to 24 hour campfire! I hope you have an enjoyable experience here.

Resident stock guru Karnis, who made some amazing color and figure come out of my CZ 550's stock, uses Rottenstone on his Walnut stocks and I have never heard him complain that they are more difficult to checker. I don't think the rottenstone makes for any hard spots etc. as one might think. The worst gunstocks to checker, according to the 'smith who did one for me, are slim grained Laminate stocks where the hardness changes SO quickly in such a short space.

This query might get some good reply's in the gunsmithing forum here. I hope you find the answer and stick around to visit with us going forward. Especialy if you like wood stocks, blued steel and Mausers.....

A word of warning....a LITTLE bit of bone black goes a LONG way! Plus, its VERY hard to sand out if you decide you put too much in.....don't ask me how I know that!

I tried to refinish a very plain stock and added some bone black with Tru Oil and decided I added too much. After a LOT of sandpaper, I got to an acceptable point. Its MESSY stuff to work with!

Chris

I'd be inclined to apply the bone black with a solvent carrier followed by an extended drying interval. Yes, a little goes a very long way. Use multiple light coats as opposed to dealing with an excess that might come from a single heavy application. Then the epoxy. I assume the epoxy is a sealing layer agent, and one does not want oil beneath. Last, I'd stay away from steel wool throughout and stick with abrasives.

1minute,

Thank you for the advice. Would you suggest a water or alcohol base solvent? You warm the stock to about 110 degrees in an oven to increase the penetration of the epoxy. Do you think the bone black would stay intact in the pours? I ask this since I don't know how fine the bone black particles are.

With bone black having a history of use in inks, I'd guess particle size is quite small. Data I've seen suggests 90 to 200 nanometers (billionths of a meter). Given that light travels about 10 or 11 inches in a nanosecond, 100 nanometers is likely pretty tiny.

Water, oils, alcohol, mineral spirits, and other organic solvents like acetone, or toluene should suffice as carriers. One might base his decision on drying time, flammability, and health risks. Slower drying times might give one a bit more control as excesses could be wiped off. Acetone would vaporize in short order.

Do some show and tell when finished.

I am not a fan of bone black as a highlighter, especially if trying to accent sapwood. I would be far more inclined to do all I could to eliminate sap.

But since you are asking... Bone black is extremely fine to coarse depending on the source. It can be added to epoxy in very high concentration and it will make the epoxy stronger.

Everywhere the epoxy with boneblack goes it will get into the smallest pores. It will require sanding back off the primary surfaces. It will not be easy. It would be extremely difficult to do it in more than a single coat.

The pore size of the wood is critical to how well it will work and how good it will look, IMO. The larger the pores the more base coats you want to apply prior to adding the boneblack. Adding it after several coats will also reduce the number of pores taking up the black and the size of the black areas.

I have enough experience with it to know I would not be using the epoxy finish I normally apply. I would probably use a quick and dirty spar varnish finish with an increasing oil cut to produce a finish with decent water resistance and an oil look.

Do not use rottenstone as a carrier as it will muddy the finish appearance and add nothing to the finish. It will also be a nightmare to checker as you noted. It is the traditional way of doing it though. It will also inhibit getting a uniform eggshell luster as it is very tough to get a thick enough oil finish layer to rub it out properly. The rottenstone will contaminate subsequent layers.

It will also reduce water resistance and finish durability quite a bit.