Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Stainign birch stocks?

What's the best way to stain a birch stock? I'm re-doing my father in law's old 28 ga. Stoeger double for his great grandson to use, and I want it to look nice enough for him to be proud of it. I've deburred and polished the internals, and darned if the little gun doesn't work a LOT nicer than I thought it might. I'm actually fairly impressed with it now. I think the prospective young shooter will be impressed with ANYthing, but I want him to be proud of it after the "new" has worn off of his having his very own double barrel shotgun.

Thanks for any help here. Sitka, I know you work in a lot nicer woods, but do you have any tips here?

i have recently been working with water based stains and they seem to penatrate well and add an even color. i do mix them with denatured alcohol instead of water and use it at the whiskering stages. never tried it on birch though. i tried oil base stain on an old mossberg 500, years ago and all i got was a mess.

I tried some water based stain on some birch some time back, or helped a friend - can't remember which. The result wasn't very good.

I tried using a rag to daub on some oil stain, and using a daubing and slight "sliding" technique with one finger, was able to create a half arsed "quileted maple" sort of look. Maybe if I can experiment and get this more consistent, it'll be acceptable. I fear I'm going to have to go to a stained clear finish, though, to get anything halfway acceptable.

I'm also thinking about using a leather dye. I am likely going to e-nickel the receiver, and black (likely more gray than black) may wind up looking acceptable, visually. More than likely will go with brown, though.

Just looking for ideas for this, and wondered if anyone had a method that has worked for them. Thanks.

Birch on it's own will take dye or stain unevenly,you will get blotchy patches.I don't work with much birch,if you have big-leaf maple cheaper, why bother. But the simplest way I remember reading was to pre-coat with shellac.I refinished my son's Cooey 64 with analine dye,bl. walnut,,except for a patch on the butt,it came out with a classy "surgi" finish.My son was very happy with it.

you can also sand the stock smooth and use a sanding sealer so seal most of the pores.

The best thing I have found is a product called MINWAX Wood Sheen/ It's a "Rubbing Oil, Stain, and Finish" all in one. They sell it at HD, Lowes etc with the rest of the stains.

I had an old Ruger stock that had sat in a corner and bleached blonde on one side and stayed regular on the other. You just wipe the Wood sheen on and off like stain. Just used alittle more on the lighter side and you can't even tell now

Andrew

Concur with what others have said about pretreating to prevent a blotchy appearance. I've had good luck with MinWax Water based prestain conditioner before a water based stain. I'm not sure I would go with shellac as a first coat as it might seal things just a bit too much and the stain might not get any penetration so any dings that happen will end up leaving an unsightly blemish as opposed to "character".

I've got to look at our new Doug Fir front door this morning and figure out what I'm going to finish it with. I'm thinking prestain, a Maple stain and either a water-based poly or varnish.

I've had pretty good luck with a 2 stage process to stain birch. Here's a link to a thread I did on an savage with birch stocks:

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads...part=1&vc=1

Basically I use a water based stain followed by a spirits based stain.

Good luck,

Weagle

Thanks for the replies and info. Hadn't thought about precoating. Duh! And particular thanks to Weagle for that link. Very neat work.

I've taken the old 28 ga. SxS Stoeger that I bought for my father in law before he died, and cut it down for his great grandson to use, maybe this fall on squirrels or dove. That boy is chompin' at the bit to shoot a "real" gun. Already has the Chipmunk .22 I bought for him while he was still in the womb, and his Dad bought him a NEF Youth model in .223. I've loaded up some TSX's for it, so it'll do the job on deer if he gets a shot. He's been schooled in deer anatomy last week, and angles, etc., and it's amazing how well and quickly they grasp these things.

I cut down the stock to 12" and a smidgen over the pad, and I've cut down and rounded the grip and forend. Need a little more to get it right for his small hands, and the front trigger is a bit heavy. I've deburred and polished the internals, and it's much easier and smoother to breech and unbreech - an important factor for a young shooter. Too much effort can make for mistakes. The rear trigger's about 4-4.5 lbs., but the front is @ 7 lbs. or so. A decent but safe trigger pull helps the young ones hit, and it ain't no fun unless they hit. That 28 ga. won't kick much, either.

Only problem is the wood's white as a sheet, and y'all have helped me get this gun ready for him. I may electroless nickel the receiver and forend iron. Nice touch that I think he'll find quite attractive, and we all know how much a kid takes pride in his first gun, or in this case, first shotgun, I guess.

Ain't spoilin' the grandkids FUN!