Before
After
My son has a Crossman Blaze NP and I have always hated the bland finish on these cheap (I believe Chinese Stocks ) The wood may be Beech, but Crossman certainly does a lot to hide the Grain...
I have been researching natural wood staining techniques and decided to try and off the wall old school method of dying my stock...I firstly sanded the stock all the way down to clean wood...
After getting this smooth and prepped I put this away and started with making Tea Mix ( 1 Natural Ceylon Tea Bag and 2 Green Tea Bags) all three cut open and contents emptied into a 1/3 filled with hot water glass jar...This was stirred and blended for an hour and then strained twice through paper towels to remove all Tea Pieces.
The stock was pulled out an thoroughly coated with the Tea Mix and left to dry, after an hour another coat was put on and the stock was left overnight to dry out, the purpose of the tea was to increase the Tannin effect when staining and bring out the woods natural tannins (I used Green Tea as I wanted a Green / Gray finish) I also knew that some woods took a dark gray tone after applying the next phase of staining. At this point the stock just looks light brown in color...
Before starting all of this I mixed a glass jar of white vinegar and filled it with 2 bundles of ultra-fine steel wool (An old trick to antique and age wood) I left this for 24 hours and once ready, removed the steel wool and filtered it twice through paper towels, I then proceeded to put two light coats on the wood and left it for 2 hours...The results were incredible, the grain came out and the colors were remarkable...
After this was dry, I lightly sanded with 1000 grit sandpaper and started the standard process of putting layer by layer of tru oil on it, every four hours or so, after 9 coats I was happy, after all this was an experiment and not an Air Arms/ Weihrauch or Walther....Just a Crosman Blaze NP for $120...
I am incredibly happy with the results...
After
My son has a Crossman Blaze NP and I have always hated the bland finish on these cheap (I believe Chinese Stocks ) The wood may be Beech, but Crossman certainly does a lot to hide the Grain...
I have been researching natural wood staining techniques and decided to try and off the wall old school method of dying my stock...I firstly sanded the stock all the way down to clean wood...
After getting this smooth and prepped I put this away and started with making Tea Mix ( 1 Natural Ceylon Tea Bag and 2 Green Tea Bags) all three cut open and contents emptied into a 1/3 filled with hot water glass jar...This was stirred and blended for an hour and then strained twice through paper towels to remove all Tea Pieces.
The stock was pulled out an thoroughly coated with the Tea Mix and left to dry, after an hour another coat was put on and the stock was left overnight to dry out, the purpose of the tea was to increase the Tannin effect when staining and bring out the woods natural tannins (I used Green Tea as I wanted a Green / Gray finish) I also knew that some woods took a dark gray tone after applying the next phase of staining. At this point the stock just looks light brown in color...
Before starting all of this I mixed a glass jar of white vinegar and filled it with 2 bundles of ultra-fine steel wool (An old trick to antique and age wood) I left this for 24 hours and once ready, removed the steel wool and filtered it twice through paper towels, I then proceeded to put two light coats on the wood and left it for 2 hours...The results were incredible, the grain came out and the colors were remarkable...
After this was dry, I lightly sanded with 1000 grit sandpaper and started the standard process of putting layer by layer of tru oil on it, every four hours or so, after 9 coats I was happy, after all this was an experiment and not an Air Arms/ Weihrauch or Walther....Just a Crosman Blaze NP for $120...
I am incredibly happy with the results...
