I just purchased a used Brownell's Gunsmith Kinks from 1981.
There are two excerpts in there.
1) Beautifying curly maple:
While experimenting I discovered that your Resorcin Brown Stain does almost as good a job as the "Suigi" method (burning the grain with a torch) on curly maple. It brings out the curl much faster, easier and safer than any method used so far.. For a GOOD job, whisker the stock with a fairly strong water solution of Resorcin Brown instead of plain water at least five times, dry the stock well with an electric heater after each application and before sandpapering. Apply a coat of Lin Speed (or Tru Oil).
2) Staining Stocks By Fuming
Maple, sycamore, and some other blond woods are ideal for rifle stocks so far as strength, texture, etc., are concerned. But not many people like light-colored stocks; and staining the wood is never too satisfactory. So to get the rich, mellow tone that normally only comes when the thing is 8 - 10 years old - fume it.
Maple and other blond woods contain little, if any, tanic acid, but tea does. So to fume blond woods, simply use a black tea as strong as you can to raise the grain instead of using water. Then, put it in a box that is airtight as you can make it with masking tape or the like, insert a saucer of ammonia.
At the end of three or four days your stock will be nicely aged to a beautiful golden brown, much as it would in ten years normal exposure to the atmosphere.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've never tried either, so this is just an excerpt from a book. Not sure if the fuming would just mellow the wood or also bring out the birdseyes too. Obviously the first excerpt continues to validate what other suggest on the staining.
Hope this helps.
