Looking for some guidance on staining these types of woods without the blotchiness. I've tried conditioners in the past but without success. I've heard of alcohol based and leather dye being used for this but I would appreciate input from those who know.
Never tried staining any of it, but I have an old Husqvarna Mauser Sporter in .220 Swift that is stocked in "Arctic Beech", according to their literature. However, that is a generic term used for some of the Husqvarna stock wood of the 1940s, when my gun was made. The wood is actually European beech, Fagus Sylvatica. Fairly light colored, and kinda plain, but seemingly very stable. Great for a "using" crow rifle.
I'm pretty sure mine was finished without staining.
SRH
You might check out the muzzleloading sites. They use a lot of maple and other woods.
You might try Aquafortis. I've used it on maple and beech. Works as advertised.
https://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartDetail.aspx/392/1/AQUAFORT-2
Beech stocks on cheap guns were very common on this side of the pond in the past, I will also say that to colour them Walnut is simple but what is incredibly difficult is to make them look like Walnut. Both Beech and Birch timbers have convoluted grain that absorbs colour at differing rates leading them to look blotchy. To minimize this effect I always used spirit or Alcohol base and wood dye crystals, usually a mixture of Walnut and Vandyke Brown crystals. Finish the wood in your usual manner then after the final fine sanding stage burnish the wood hard with a leather pad in an endeavor to close up the more open sections of grain to slow down the rate of colour absorption.
To further slow down colour absorption saturate the woods surface with Spirit or Alcohol then while still wet apply your stain, usually mixing up a number of differing strengths and starting with the weakest first. Continue with wetting the surface with with Spirit or Alcohol then adding more stain stopping when you achieve the best colour compromise, remember a little colour goes a long way. Try to keep in mind the old saying "you cant make a silk purse out of a Sows ear" but you can have a dam good try.
You need a solvent based dye/stain like a leather stain.
I use Laurel Mtn stock stain. I don't know what their solvent is that they use but it works very well.
Colors can be mixed. Too dark an application can be lightened up with a rub-down with a pad dampened with acetone.
Aqua Forte is another good one that is water based and uses some heat applied to the stained wood to bring out the reddish brown color after application. A favorite of M/Ldr builders.
If mixed wrong and the acid component not completely depleted in doing so, the A/Forte mix can cause some rust problems further down the road with the steel and iron parts inletted into the A/Forte stained wood.
It will also leach the zinc componenet out of the inletted brass furniture on the M/Ldrs leaving the edges of the parts copper colored and the wood bordering the part will show a slight halo of silver. That halo being the zinc.
Brass is a mix of copper and zinc.
Probably not too many brass inlaid stocks on guns built on this forum, but it's worth noting the problem I believe.
Good old oil stain just won't do much on really hard woods like maple, birch, beech and the like. The pores are so small the oil stain 'mud' (the finely ground powdered color held in suspension in the oil carrier) just can't penetrate down into the wood. So you get little color change.
The solvent stains are a solution of the color, like a glass of red wine. It easily soaks in deep.
You won't control the grain pattern of the wood but you can use different colors and shades of them independently to create streaks and faux grain on the wood. This works especially best after the initial staining is done.
Overdone it can look crude. A light touch and the lines feathered out with the above mentioned acetone dampened pad, you can do much to enhance a piece . Sometimes you just want to balance the look.
The solvent stains penetrate so well, you can keep applying them and letting them soak in to dry. Using Ebony, you can make a Birch or maple stock as black as ebony if you want to.
Add me to the list of those who greatly appreciate the posts from Kutter.
It's getting to be a long list!
SRH
Once again thank you for your professional help.