Good afternoon all, I'm really new to black powder although I've been doing the smokeless kind for over 30 years. I recently got a .50 Hawken kit from Cabela's. Being the kind of guy I am ,I've just spent the last 5 hours trying to find out exactly what kind of finishes were used back in the 1800s. Some kind of oil for the wood...maybe Tung?..and a procedure. I think I know about browning the iron. I even found a recipe for a salt water procedure! All I can find is new products that imitate the original. I wanna know what they REALLY did back then. ANY help is , to say the least, MOST welcome. Thank you and Merry Christmas.
can anyone help?
- Thread starter BUD BYRD
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BP can be fun building a kit is a cool thing to do for your project I recomend contacting a local antique restorer and consult with them. In the day some gunstocks were finnished in the same manner as furniture. massproduction guns had no time for a varnish finnish and were oil finished. I will try to locate a refrence for you later tonight.
scrat
Member
If im not mistaken i believe a lot of the OG type furniture was shellac.
ok I contacted a person I know that is into this sort of thing. He said look at this site http://www.historyisfun.org/ and contact them. Online resouces are scarce. I say keep up on the antique restoration side of things.
Roswell 1847
member
I'm not sure but looking at my Brother's original I think that Colt used a "French Varnish" which is a process in which the varnish is applied and buffed vigorously with a canvas or other stiff cloth to build up heat and both force the finish into the grain and cause it to dry rapidly.
This process is often used for wooden tool handles. Its faster than waiting for the finish to dry normally and buffing wheels can be used to speed up production.
Done properly the finish can last for centuries barring accidentally scrapes that allow moisture or oil to soak in under the surface.
My brother's 1851 Navy had lain in the ground for around a century before being turned up by a plow and the grips still bear about 95 percent or better of the original finish.
The rest of the gun escaped serious corrosion probably due to unique properties of the soil where it lay buried. One of the few battlefield relics thats still in shootable condition.
This process is often used for wooden tool handles. Its faster than waiting for the finish to dry normally and buffing wheels can be used to speed up production.
Done properly the finish can last for centuries barring accidentally scrapes that allow moisture or oil to soak in under the surface.
My brother's 1851 Navy had lain in the ground for around a century before being turned up by a plow and the grips still bear about 95 percent or better of the original finish.
The rest of the gun escaped serious corrosion probably due to unique properties of the soil where it lay buried. One of the few battlefield relics thats still in shootable condition.
arcticap
Member
Aquafortis is "the original" finish for American longrifles:
http://www.trackofthewolf.com/(S(a0...tId=5&subId=66&styleId=225&partNum=AQUAFORT-2
http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=311397
Roswell 1847
member
Well if you are wanting to duplicate the original finish of most Amercian made long rifles you'd have to chew tobacco. Many Gunsmiths found that Tobacco juice spit onto the wood and rubbed into it brought out the grain.
Some Master gunsmiths used a Mercury based chemical that vitrified the surface of the wood and gave a silvery sheen to maple, the result looking like a Silver Tabby's fur. The flame grain graduated from an odd almost black through many shades of silvery gray.
I think the chemical was called Mercury Bicarbonate, I learned of it first when reading Edgar Allen Poe's "The Gold Bug", the process had been used on the pirates treasure chest they find in the story.
The grain was brought out and made more prominent by heating the wood over a flame.
A method used to make less nicely grained wood take on a flame grained maple appearance is to soak a cotton cord in pitch and wrap it around the stock then set it on fire. I'd practice alot before trying that one. It does look very nice if done properly.
A hand rubbed oil finish over these staining methods would usually be Boiled Linseed oil applied many times and hand buffed daily till it sets properly. That generally took too long for mass produced guns, thus the French varnish method.
A method you are unlikely to see these days was the application of a paper thin layer peeled from a sea turtles shell. It has a plastic like appearance with a reddish mottled look. Its transparent enough to see the grain under it if well preserved. This Turtle shell coating sealed the wood against moisture very well, but few except nobility could afford it.
PS
"Aqua Fortis" is Nitric acid solution. Seems I'd heard of its use before but had forgotten it till mentioned.
Probably a lot less dangerous than the Mercury Bicarbonate.
I use a Walnut stain of my own manufacture.
I collect walnuts from my Black Walnut trees. I leave them sealed in plastic bags till the outer husk rots.
I then put the husks in a strainer and pour scalding water over them, catching the stained water in a bucket. I pour the stained water in flat pans and let the sun dry it until it forms an oily crust on the pans then wash the pans out with 70% rubbing alcohol.
The inside of the plastic bags often contains a lot of the oily residue and this can also be scrapped out and added to the mix.
If you boil the water away the stain will have a more reddish brown look.
I sometimes just save the rags I wipe the pans out with and when needed just pour alcohol on them and rub down the wood with them. That works okay till the rags begin to rot.
The alcohol stain solution can be allowed to evaporate for awhile to form a concentrate.
The thin solution is good for evening out the color of a stock that has sap wood or is uneven in shading for other reasons. Using many applications of the thin solution allows you to make the stock as light or dark as you please.
Some Master gunsmiths used a Mercury based chemical that vitrified the surface of the wood and gave a silvery sheen to maple, the result looking like a Silver Tabby's fur. The flame grain graduated from an odd almost black through many shades of silvery gray.
I think the chemical was called Mercury Bicarbonate, I learned of it first when reading Edgar Allen Poe's "The Gold Bug", the process had been used on the pirates treasure chest they find in the story.
The grain was brought out and made more prominent by heating the wood over a flame.
A method used to make less nicely grained wood take on a flame grained maple appearance is to soak a cotton cord in pitch and wrap it around the stock then set it on fire. I'd practice alot before trying that one. It does look very nice if done properly.
A hand rubbed oil finish over these staining methods would usually be Boiled Linseed oil applied many times and hand buffed daily till it sets properly. That generally took too long for mass produced guns, thus the French varnish method.
A method you are unlikely to see these days was the application of a paper thin layer peeled from a sea turtles shell. It has a plastic like appearance with a reddish mottled look. Its transparent enough to see the grain under it if well preserved. This Turtle shell coating sealed the wood against moisture very well, but few except nobility could afford it.
PS
"Aqua Fortis" is Nitric acid solution. Seems I'd heard of its use before but had forgotten it till mentioned.
Probably a lot less dangerous than the Mercury Bicarbonate.
I use a Walnut stain of my own manufacture.
I collect walnuts from my Black Walnut trees. I leave them sealed in plastic bags till the outer husk rots.
I then put the husks in a strainer and pour scalding water over them, catching the stained water in a bucket. I pour the stained water in flat pans and let the sun dry it until it forms an oily crust on the pans then wash the pans out with 70% rubbing alcohol.
The inside of the plastic bags often contains a lot of the oily residue and this can also be scrapped out and added to the mix.
If you boil the water away the stain will have a more reddish brown look.
I sometimes just save the rags I wipe the pans out with and when needed just pour alcohol on them and rub down the wood with them. That works okay till the rags begin to rot.
The alcohol stain solution can be allowed to evaporate for awhile to form a concentrate.
The thin solution is good for evening out the color of a stock that has sap wood or is uneven in shading for other reasons. Using many applications of the thin solution allows you to make the stock as light or dark as you please.
Roswell 1847
member
Correction to my last post.
That would be "Bichloride of Mercury" rather than Mercury bicarbonate.
That would be "Bichloride of Mercury" rather than Mercury bicarbonate.
Pulp
Member
You might get a Dixie Gun Works catalog. The back of the catalog has a whole bunch of stuff on doing things the old way. It's been awhile since I've had one, but I think I remember the old timers using urine as a bluing or browning agent.
Pancho
Member
Pulp, after reading this thread I went directly to the last issue of DWG to see if they sill have the mixtures and procedures for staining stocks and browning barrels. The home made mixture for browning is no longer there they now refer you to the bluing and browning section that has a selection of burch casey for that purpose. What a shame. I should have kept my past issues of the DWG catalogs because they had a lot of good information. Maybe it would be wize for DWG to publish a book compiling all of that information. They'd have my money.
There is a wealth of information on the internet. It can be a little overwhelming, in fact. I'm currently building a .54 flintlock; I've previously built a .50 Hawken style rifle, a .45 Kentucky rifle, a 12 ga db shotgun and 5 pistols, all percussion. The decision about finishing the metal and wood parts is the hardest part of the process.
For anyone interested in using the authentic materials and processes from any given time period, I'd suggest starting with The Muzzleloading Forum's Gun Builders Bench. There's a great deal of information and guidance available from those folks.
http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showforum.php?fid/21/
For anyone interested in using the authentic materials and processes from any given time period, I'd suggest starting with The Muzzleloading Forum's Gun Builders Bench. There's a great deal of information and guidance available from those folks.
http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showforum.php?fid/21/
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