Staining a New BP Stock

Tough question. There are books written about this. Tru-oil on it's own can tend to be shiny, depending on how many coats. You can alleviate this by either rubbing with 0000 steel wool or using something like Birchwood Casey Stock Sheen and Conditioner on top of it. How you want the wood to look is really a matter of preference. I'm going to be refinishing a repro. 1803 Harper's Ferry and I plan on an open-grain look. For this, I'll stain the wood, then just use boiled linseed oil. A friend of mine mixes dark tung oil with the BLO for a darker finish. Another option is LinSpeed oil.....believe me, every person will give you a different opinion. The good thing is if you do something and hate it, you can strip the stock and start over. Check out this site. Folks there may be able to help you in regards to the particular "traditional" finish for the LGP...

http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/index.php?

I too would go the boiled linseed route.Get a piece of old walnut,or a beater stock,and play around with the different finishes on different areas to see what gives the look you want.

I'll try it out on a piece of walnut. Many, many, MANY years ago I saw a piece about a guy that reproduces BP rifles of museum quality. He inlaid a brass plate in the bottom of them with his name and actually had a collector try to sell one back to him (with a COA) as an artifact. Anyway, what I remember most is that he used very fine iron powder in some sort of medium to stain his stocks. As soon as he stained it, he would run a butane torch lightly over the entire stock. The heat caused the iron powder to "rust" immediately. Giving it a unique color. I just find any reference to that method.

Well, I guess I didn't search enough. I found the recipe but it involves using some dangerous chemicals that, during the process, create a deadly Hydrogen gas for a short period so it's best if I don't share it. If you just have to know, search "nitric acid stain" and you'll find a link that leads to another link.

PrimitiveHunter

the Lyman stock is probably a maple , if you want the curl to stand out get some
Chromium Trioxide and fallow directions

http://www.dixiegunworks.com/product_info.php?products_id=3914

NORM

TOW is a good source for finishing supplies. If you do have a maple stock I would take a look at this Aquafortis Reagent

The article I found detailed how to make your own Aquafortis Reagent. Buying it ready-made is MUCH safer! Thanks for the link. I looked at some before and after pics of walnut stained with Balck Walnut Danish Oil and it looks about like what I'm after. Of course, I'll test it. One technique I've read about is to wet sand the stock with a second coat of wet oil on it to fill the grain. Have you tried that?

Arrow wood finish, one of the best I have ever used.
http://www.shootersolutions.com/arwoodfin.html

http://www.rb-treasures.com/MPI_Products/ArrowWoodFinish.html