Staining Thompson Stock?

[Space Cowboy]

 

Dear Sirs,

 

I made a search, but couldn't find a clear answer to my questions. Could you please kindly help me?

 

I have a Thompson M1A1 repro stock, pistol grip and handguard made from nice walnut, so I wish to stain it in order to make it looks like the original ones.

It seems the Mahogany stain is the closest, but, I guess...should I use solvent or water based stains? The finish will be linseed oil.

 

Also, I can't avoid making "streaks" while applying the stain on the stock with a T-shirt. Does using a brush and wiping off the excess is a little more

efficient? I have only tried solvent based stains from now on, hence my question about the nature of the product...

 

Thank you for your help!

 

Best Regards,

Jon

[full auto 45]

No stain needed. Just give it about 4-5 coats of boiled Linseed oil and your good to go.

Put on a coat, let it sit over night. Wipe it down with a soft cloth after each coating has sat for 24 hours for a shiny finish or wipe it down with a 0000 steelwool for s satin type finish.

[reconbob]

Everyone has their own way to refinish or restore stocks. I agree that

linseed oil is the preferred finish, since that is what was used at the time

when the stock were originally made. One of the good things about linseed

oil is that is does not harden to the extent that it will crack which is one of

faults of the modern urethane type finishes. Also a linseed oil finish enables

you to "feel" the wood as opposed to touching something that looks and feels

like plastic.

However, linseed oil does not color the wood. What you see will darken

somewhat, but you will not get that distinctive reddish hue that is found on

so many stocks of the WWI and post WWI era.

My personal way to get there is to use Minwax Red Mahoghany stain.

Clean the stock, shake the stain well, and brush on the stain as if you were

painting the stock. IMMEDIATELY wipe off the excess. The color of the wood

when you start will determine how many times you repeat this to get the deep

color you want. If you are starting with an aveage-to-dark colored walnut stock

you will get a beautiful color and finish with one application. A pale stock will

require more - don't over do it. When you are finished staining you can apply

linseed oil in thin hand-rubbed coats until the wood stops soaking it up and

you get a semi-gloss finish. See photos below...

 

1) BEFORE

 

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f392/reconbob/IMG_1880.jpg

 

2) AFTER BRUSHING ON STAIN

 

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f392/reconbob/IMG_1881.jpg

 

3) AFTER IMMEDIATELY WIPING OFF EXCESS

 

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f392/reconbob/IMG_1882.jpg

 

Hope this helps...

 

Bob

[Space Cowboy]

 

Dear full auto 45, dear Bob,

 

Thank you very much for your help.

 

Though I will apply linseed oil, I will stain the stock, like you advised, Bob. The originals being stained, I really wish to get a "close" replica of this tone

with my repro stock.

 

Thank you very much for the photos and infosrmations about staining. You helped quite a bit! That said, I have a question, if you allow me.

You have talked about Minwax stain. I often see this brand mentionned here, or on other firearms forums regarding the stocks or grips refinishing. This

is the stain I would buy...if I could find it! I forgot to tell I am from France. So I must use what is available here.

 

My question is: should I use solvent or water based stains? It seems to me (though I might be wrong) that Minwax and Birchwood Casey stains are water

based, is it correct? Most stains here are solvent based. I don't mean what is better than the other, but does the solvent stains dry faster? It seems that the time I brush the complete stock, the part on which I started to stain is almost dry when I am ending the other side. Do you understand this rather poor explanation?

 

Maybe I am not fast enough, or maybe I don't put enough stain on the stock? Or maybe is it because solvent based stains dry faster? Please, could you

let me know your advice on the question?

 

Thank you very much for your help, once again. The pictures are extremely helpful.

 

Sincerely,

Jonathan

[casper]

bonjour spacecowboy,

 

je prefer du stains avec d'alcohol, quand tu prendre de stain avec d'eau, tu as le risque pour raisser le bois un peu,

je m'excuse pour mon Francais mauvais, je ne parle pas beaucoup le langue

 

meilleur salutations de Belgique

[artie in miami]

Dear full auto 45, dear Bob,

 

Thank you very much for your help.

 

Though I will apply linseed oil, I will stain the stock, like you advised, Bob. The originals being stained, I really wish to get a "close" replica of this tone

with my repro stock.

 

Thank you very much for the photos and infosrmations about staining. You helped quite a bit! That said, I have a question, if you allow me.

You have talked about Minwax stain. I often see this brand mentionned here, or on other firearms forums regarding the stocks or grips refinishing. This

is the stain I would buy...if I could find it! I forgot to tell I am from France. So I must use what is available here.

 

My question is: should I use solvent or water based stains? It seems to me (though I might be wrong) that Minwax and Birchwood Casey stains are water

based, is it correct? Most stains here are solvent based. I don't mean what is better than the other, but does the solvent stains dry faster? It seems that the time I brush the complete stock, the part on which I started to stain is almost dry when I am ending the other side. Do you understand this rather poor explanation?

 

Maybe I am not fast enough, or maybe I don't put enough stain on the stock? Or maybe is it because solvent based stains dry faster? Please, could you

let me know your advice on the question?

 

Thank you very much for your help, once again. The pictures are extremely helpful.

 

Sincerely,

Jonathan

 

[reconbob]

The Minwax stain is solvent based. You see how heavily it is applied

in the photo. I do not know why the stain you are using dries so quickly,

maybe you just need to put it on thicker?

 

Bob

[Joe H]

SC,

 

Everybody has their own way of staining. Here is mine. Stain using Fiebings dark brown leather dye. It's an alcohol based dye. Then finish with boiled linseed oil cut 50/50 with turpentine. It will give that "red arsenal" finish look. I've found its an excellent match for the 1940-42 Thompson parts kits.

 

 

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e86/joez52/TSMG_RE_DO_005.jpg

 

Joe

[reconbob]

Hey Joe - that looks perfect! Better than the Minwax.

I am definitely going to try it...

 

Bob

[casper]

makes me think, Hey Joe ,what you gonna do with that gun in your hand teh tehteteh teh teh ten nen nen ten nen nen

but yes that dye does look goed

[GUTTERRATT]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLnKUiybiFo

 

Hey Joe where you gonna run to now....

Edited June 5, 2009 by GUTTERRATT

[Space Cowboy]

 

Hello Everyone. I apologize for the slow reply.

 

Firstly, thank you very much for your help. Merci beaucoup!

 

All advises and comments were very interesting.

 

 

Joe H,

 

your technique using leather dye is really intriguing. I am going to send you an PM in order to know more, if you accept to share your experience, of course.

 

Sincerely,

Jonathan

[dalbert]

All,

 

This has turned out to be a very good thread. I am adding it to the reference pinned post index at the top of the page.

 

Space Cowboy,

 

It's good to have you on the board from France, and I have enjoyed our offline conversations! I have a special interest in the French Colt Thompsons, and their history.

 

Thanks!

 

David Albert

dalbert@sturmgewehr.com

[RoscoeTurner]

All,

 

This has turned out to be a very good thread. I am adding it to the reference pinned post index at the top of the page.

 

Space Cowboy,

 

It's good to have you on the board from France, and I have enjoyed our offline conversations! I have a special interest in the French Colt Thompsons, and their history.

 

Thanks!

 

David Albert

dalbert@sturmgewehr.com

 

 

David,

 

You may want to also include this link to an excellent article on the CMP website - http://www.odcmp.com/Services/Rifles/wood_...ing_article.htm

[dalbert]

David,

 

You may want to also include this link to an excellent article on the CMP website - http://www.odcmp.com/Services/Rifles/wood_...ing_article.htm

 

Good suggestion. I added it along with the link to this thread.

 

David Albert

dalbert@sturmgewehr.com

 

[Space Cowboy]

Hello sirs,

 

Thank you for your messages.

 

David,

 

It also is a pleasure for me to chat with you by mail. Please let me know if I can be of any help regarding the French Thompson! I also have a book by the

very much respected in France, Firearms Historian Yves L. Cadiou, about Colt Thompsons. This article is about 10 pages long, with B&W pictures.

 

By the way, here are the pictures of my finished M1A1 Set. It is a repro made in Japan, from Walnut, and dedicated to the Marui M1A1 AEG Airsoftgun.

I often worked on real guns' woods too (mostly revolvers), and this is my first M1A1 set.

 

The pictures are really poor, I am sorry. I firstly made them for reference, but finally decided to post them here, where many people helped me quite a

bit.

 

http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/5237/76424082.jpg

 

http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/1976/73516028.jpg

 

http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/6687/26031568.jpg

 

http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/7276/32189533.jpg

 

 

And a little comparison with an original M1928, in about the same lighting conditions:

 

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/9388/47590739.jpg

 

 

Thankfully,

Jon.

Edited June 8, 2009 by Space Cowboy

[buzz]

I have to disagree with the idea of using Fiebing's dye on wood.

 

This is one of those things that only gun guys do to wood, it's been kicking around the gun boards for years.

 

I tried it and found that it makes the wood look a truly odd color, sort of a bright red with copper undertones. It's a really unnatural looking color. That product was just simply not designed for use on wood.

 

Also, since it's a dye and not a pigmented stain, instead of highlighting the grain of walnut, it washes it out.

 

 

Most American guns have American black walnut stocks, it is a beautiful looking wood, it rarely needs more than just a little bit of stain to warm the color up a little.

 

If you're looking for a red tint, I would just try some minwax mahogany stain as reconbob suggested. Be aware that the minwax oil based stain has some thinned out varnish in it, it will seal the wood to some degree.

 

I used to do a lot of fine woodworking and cabinetmaking, the best book I found on wood finishing is this:

 

"Understanding wood finishing" by Bob Flexner. This books explains virtually everything about wood finishing.

 

Most commercial wood finishes like "teak oil" or "Danish oil" or "tung oil" are just thinned-out varnish polymerized linseed oil with some pigmented stain in them.

 

Practically any of them are fine to use on a gun stock, black walnut is very forgiving and easy to finish. If you go to the hardware store and get some minwax stain and some minwax tung oil finish, the stock will come out great, look like a professional job.

 

Birchwood Casey has some walnut stain and something called "colonial" that is a little more orange-brown. They both look fantastic on walnut.

 

Any kind of stain you wipe on and off with a rag and any kind of wiping varnish looks great on a walnut gun stock.

 

The only time you run into problems is when actual brush-on type varnish is used, it's very thick and if brushed on it builds up in thick bloppy coats that give that ugly plastic look. But if you use any oil-type wiping varnish or boiled linseed oil you won't have that problem.

 

If you need to strip an old finish off the gun, use the most gentle wood stripping product you can find, and use something that was DESIGNED FOR WOOD. Don't use any other kind of product, I have seen people try to use all kinds of weird stuff like lye cleaning spray to strip cosmoline and finish out of wood, sometimes the chemicals will instantly burn and bleach the wood. Lye is what they use to chemically break down wood to turn it into paper, why would anyone think to use that on a stock instead of wood stripper?

Edited August 10, 2014 by buzz

[RoscoeTurner]

The NOS stocks I have finished I simply gave them several coats of linseed oil and let them dry in the sun between coats. They all ended up matching the color of the older finished stocks I had.