Staining Birch Stock

[Ole Colonel]

I read where the army used iodine to stain birch stocks. Has anyone had any experience using Iodine. If so what was the ratio to alcohol? Any Help will be appreciated.

[seaninmich]

I haven't used iodine, but I've done quite a few birch stocks. The only thing I've ever been happy with was alcohol based dyes. The best was some stuff I used to get from one of my woodworking supply houses. I'd have to pull a bottle and get the name for you. It's pricey, though - about $90 a liter.

[Dave]

The only thing I've found to actually penetrate and stay put are leather dyes.

[LEAD POISON]

Fiebings leather shoe dye. dark brown, It turns birch red/brown.

[cuppednlocked]

What about removing stain/dye? Will the dishwasher take the wood down like on walnut stocks? I have a birch project I want to do with pine tar.

[buzzy]

Chestnut Ridge military wood stain is the best stuff around. It is alcohol based so you can control the color by thinning with denatured alcohol or if you want it dark red/brown you simply apply a second or third coat. For best results, wipe with boiled linseed oil first. The oil tends to even out the stain as it is applied. Good Luck.

[buzzy]

I use a good paint/varnish stripper to remove the stain and crud from the stock. Then I remove as much of the stripper as possible with steel wool and paper towels. After that I wash the wood with warm water and Spic and Span. At first the wood will have gray splotches and look strange, but after it dries for 24 hours it will bleach the wood to almost white.

Another little trick I have learned over the years is this. If you have a good old stock with poor lock up, after completing the above, let the stock soak in warm water in the bathtub for 24 hours. Then get out mother's steam iron an apply heat to the area around the trigger housing opening. The warm water will penetrate the pores of the wood causing it to swell a bit. The steam will cause the wood to expand. Sometimes, not always, you can recover a marginal lock up by doing this.

[The Garand Guy]

To stain a birch/European wood- Get some Potassium Permangenate (available at Garden Stores) , mix some in a jar , & rub it on the stock with a rag. (Be sure to wear rubber gloves, or it will stain your hands, and you can't wash it off.) It comes out a horrible purple, but it will etch the wood overnight, and turn it a nice brown. You can use this brown, or apply stain or shoe dye.
A good tip: Oil any stock with linseed oil until you get a sheen, and can see that the oil is heavy on the stock, & then stain it with Fiebing's shoe dye. the dye will go into the oil, not the wood, and you can get even color on the stock & HG's.

[Ole Colonel]

Thanks fellows for the ideas. I want to keep the stock with red, orange colors. I will try some of the tips and see what happens!!

[seaninmich]

These are a few of my birch stocks. The top one was done in a fiebings dye

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/remodguy/100_0630-1.jpg

[The Garand Guy]

These are a few of my birch stocks. The top one was done in a fiebings dye

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w196/remodguy/100_0630-1.jpg

Beautiful job Sean! Birch is very hard to do!

[cuppednlocked]

Those look good! I think my pine tar stock will be a little lighter than the bottom one.

[tljames]

<a href="http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/ECFD09/?action=view&amp;current=DSCN2364.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/ECFD09/DSCN2364.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Heres my birch stock finished with the Fiebings "dark brown" leather dye. YES its red, but I kinda like it!

[axemurderer]

Boy that is one purrty shootin iron!!!!!!!