It seems as though I read about flame striping plain maple stocks for some of the old Pennsylvania/Kentucky type rifles. I think they wound something like hemp rope around the stocks and then burned or partially burned the rope.
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Enhancing a Beechwood / Beech Gun Stock
- Thread starter Bear-of-Grayling
- Start date
I checked out a few videos about fuming and wood burning to color otherwise plain wood. It looks very promising for experimentation.
Each piece of wood will be unique in its reaction and color - you'll never know what you're gonna get until you try.
on a wood stock, you need to be careful not to over burn, because you'll need heavy sanding which may change the shape of the stock in undesirable ways.
Fuming is more subtle process and maybe independent of burning the stock.
The trick always seems to be finding the right set of color dyes or stains which will not blotch the treated wood.
Each piece of wood will be unique in its reaction and color - you'll never know what you're gonna get until you try.
on a wood stock, you need to be careful not to over burn, because you'll need heavy sanding which may change the shape of the stock in undesirable ways.
Fuming is more subtle process and maybe independent of burning the stock.
The trick always seems to be finding the right set of color dyes or stains which will not blotch the treated wood.
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I have heard of fuming oak, using ammonia, No idea how it would work on beech, or if beech contains enough tannins to react with the ammonia.
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Some useful info here. It just goes to show, that most woods can be made nice, with skilled finishing techniques.
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Hey Guys,
Tagging onto an older post about re-finishing a Weihrauch Beech wood stock.
Interesting Project:
I will be looking at re-finishing a Beeman Goudy stock using Ammonia Fuming with a satin, Verathane clear-coat.
I watch a video where a woodworker used store bought, janitor strength and industrial strength ammonia to fum white oak.
After 3 days of fuming, the store bought ammonia almost darkened the wood as much as the industrial strength. The difference was fuming penetration of the wood. The industrial strength ammonia definitely works better, but is extremely TOXIC.
I will try fuming with store bought ammonia for a week to see how dark it gets. I will need to find a suitable small case/bin to enclose the stock. Beech is supposed to contain a lot of tannin - like White Oak - so we'll see how dark it gets.
I will (chemically) strip down the stock to begin with and then sand to perfection before the fuming process begins. The original finish has been compromised and needs to be re-done. It's almost impossible to touch up one of these stocks without completely refinishing ...........
Hoping it turns out like one of my other Beeman Goudy stocks ............
Tagging onto an older post about re-finishing a Weihrauch Beech wood stock.
Interesting Project:
I will be looking at re-finishing a Beeman Goudy stock using Ammonia Fuming with a satin, Verathane clear-coat.
I watch a video where a woodworker used store bought, janitor strength and industrial strength ammonia to fum white oak.
After 3 days of fuming, the store bought ammonia almost darkened the wood as much as the industrial strength. The difference was fuming penetration of the wood. The industrial strength ammonia definitely works better, but is extremely TOXIC.
I will try fuming with store bought ammonia for a week to see how dark it gets. I will need to find a suitable small case/bin to enclose the stock. Beech is supposed to contain a lot of tannin - like White Oak - so we'll see how dark it gets.
I will (chemically) strip down the stock to begin with and then sand to perfection before the fuming process begins. The original finish has been compromised and needs to be re-done. It's almost impossible to touch up one of these stocks without completely refinishing ...........
Hoping it turns out like one of my other Beeman Goudy stocks ............
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Surely this picture is not the refinish. Looking forward to see how this goes.Hey Guys,
Tagging onto an older post about re-finishing a Weihrauch Beech wood stock.
Interesting Project:
I will be looking at re-finishing a Beeman Goudy stock using Ammonia Fuming with a satin, Verathane clear-coat.
I watch a video where a woodworker used store bought, janitor strength and industrial strength ammonia to fum white oak.
After 3 days of fuming, the store bought ammonia almost darkened the wood as much as the industrial strength. The difference was fuming penetration of the wood. The industrial strength ammonia definitely works better, but is extremely TOXIC.
I will try fuming with store bought ammonia for a week to see how dark it gets. I will need to find a suitable small case/bin to enclose the stock. Beech is supposed to contain a lot of tannin - like White Oak - so we'll see how dark it gets.
I will (chemically) strip down the stock to begin with and then sand to perfection before the fuming process begins. The original finish has been compromised and needs to be re-done. It's almost impossible to touch up one of these stocks without completely refinishing ...........
Hoping it turns out like one of my other Beeman Goudy stocks ............
View attachment 402968
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No Bear - I wish! ....... Factory R10 finish from 1988.
Hoping/praying the fuming could look somewhat close ?
- I wish! ....... Factory R10 finish from 1988.Hoping/praying the fuming could look somewhat close
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It’s a similar process to the oxidation method. No two pieces of wood come out the same. I think this was the process used when Beeman imported the Goudy stocks. I have always wanted to try it. Good luck. Please keep us updated with each step.No Bear
Hoping/praying the fuming could look somewhat close
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I had a friend years ago who used to fume wood for furniture projects. He used old broiling pans for the ammonia that he sat on either the benchtop or table depending on the piece. Next, he would make a sort of a parachute out of thick plastic which surrounded both the piece and the pan of ammonia. It was amazing the colors he could get doing this. I had forgotten about him since this was close to 50 years ago, but now I might try this myself.
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Aquafortis can really create some nice colors and bring the grain out. This was a piece of very plain maple. The camera doesn't pick up what you can see with the naked eyes.
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Stripping the stock now, it seems Beeman used some kind of light dye/stain to tint the wood orange/amber?
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Yeah, I don't know Bear .... there seems to be some type of stain, but I'm definitely guessing on this one
.The finish should be off by tomorrow. The extent of the stain/coloration may change my approach, because there's not much excess wood you can sand.
Plus fuming assumes your dealing with very clean wood - only.
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FWIW. More wood to sand than it looks like. Leaving the butt pad on, I sand first with an orbital sander 180 grit up about 1/2 from the checkering. Don’t try it if you haven’t used an orbital much. Then sand the stock entirely by hand, with the grain, right up to the checkering. Mostly the stock is bright as new. Except around the checkering which looks nicer when completed anyway.Yeah, I don't know Bear .... there seems to be some type of stain, but I'm definitely guessing on this one
The finish should be off by tomorrow. The extent of the stain/coloration may change my approach, because there's not much excess wood you can sand.
Plus fuming assumes your dealing with very clean wood - only.
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After it has been stripped, the grain has spots around end-grain exposure (pistol grip, forearm ends, monte carlo cheeck rest) where dark stain remains.
What's very interesting and maybe a sign of vintage (nice) Beech, is the stock has a redish or gunstock color when it gets wets. Meaning it should have a natural red/golden look to it if clear coated. This isn't a approach I will take, but interesting to see the Beech grain has natural color to it.
What's very interesting and maybe a sign of vintage (nice) Beech, is the stock has a redish or gunstock color when it gets wets. Meaning it should have a natural red/golden look to it if clear coated. This isn't a approach I will take, but interesting to see the Beech grain has natural color to it.
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Gentlemen, I’m reading all these posts about the old beeman goudy stocks… I’m interested to say the least!! I have about 3 stocks I want to refinish. I would love for them to look original if possible…
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I used to live in a strongly AG area where winter wheat seed beds were fertilized using ammonia injected using liquid ammonia injected 6-8" below the ground. One farmer I knew used ammonia in a well casing to fume birch, and walnut stocks as an experiment. I don't know what the critical point pressure of ammonia is, but the pressures weren't enormous. I wasn't around to see his results, but people said he got very nice results. Not a process I want in my shop!!
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I refinished a couple of stocks on Beeman guns from the '80's. After paint remover wouldn't get any more of the color out I used a 50/50 water/bleach solution and a tooth brush. It was brutal on the checkering and I wouldn't recommend unless you plan to chase it all with a checkering tool, which I did. Below is an R8 stock that is bleached and ready to refinish. I did hit it lightly with sandpaper to knock the "whiskers" off.
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It's wrecking the checkering that gives me pause. I've only checkered one stock and it went incredibly well until it didn't. I tried to not let people see that side of the stock. Stripping and sanding are quite an art around the checkering.
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