doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Purdey Oil Finish Portriat "Slakum" Ingredients

I finally got all the Purdey players together for a group portrait. Left out plaster and antimony butter as I do not need to fill or darken. The block in front of the Alkanet is canuba. Now for some mixing, alchemy, witchcraft and a few trials. Boiled linseed oil may not be the best, but will do for the trials. Might have to locate some raw linseed oil.

Cant see the seller brand name on the alkanet root powder, Who/Where did you buy it from? Is that Mountain Rose Herbs.com ?
I need to get a bag.

Any tips on what to soak the alkanet powder in order to just get a stain, to just add the color/stain to a Can of Daleys Ben Matte or Daleys Seafin Teak oil? Do you just soak the Alkanet Powder in Turpentine for a couple months?

For stain, I soak the powder in naptha.

Mountain Rose it is. Check their website. Fast delivery, good price. This is a 2 pound bag, they also sell it in 1 pound bags. 2 pounds will last me for the rest of my life and two or three reincarnations. Couldn't resist the price at Mountain Rose, especially after seeing it for $12.95 for 1-1/4 ounces on a gunbuilders website!

Thanks, I will give it a try.

Whats the everclear for???? Yikes! I have a can of denurtured alcohol I sometimes use to delute stains.

As near as my research tells me, spirits of wine was added to the mixture to provide character and fortitude.

As spirits of wine is somewhat difficult to find stateside, a substitute is said to be any grain alcohol of high proof.

Everclear fits the bill, although I am pondering building a small still and distilling some Merlot or Carbernet.

My inside belief is, as a small amount of spitits of wine was used in the original mixtures, some 2-1/2 ounces, the old masters simply bought a quart of stout brandy, used 2-1/2 ounces in the mixture, and drank the remainder as they rubbed the Purdey Mixture into the walnut. Maybe a shot of brandy each time they rubbed in a little finish.

Well im anxious to try some alkanet root for stain, Ive been useing Laural Mtn "cherry color" in my finishes. Ive used a percent of linseed added to Dalys and linseed straight as a light coat finial rub. Experimented with Japan dryer with straight linseed also but heard japan dryer is not good for your health, cant remember the exact hazard, maybe wear gloves but safe when dry...?

I have not used the alkanet root "powder" before. Every time I bought it (one pound or so at a time) it was in the form of small shavings of the actual roots, no powder at all, this was all actually small pieces (averaged 1" to 1 1/2" long) very thin shavings of the root. Wonder how the two may differ in coloring action, and how the powder is obtained. Sounds like it may be something like "left-overs" from the root shaving process, but I certainly don't know for sure. I soak mine in turpentine to leach all the color out, and then there is the leached out root shavings as waste when you are done.

The powder I have from Mountain Rose is a rich deep purple, all ground in a fine powder. Might dissolve some tomorrow and see what turns up.