Old Rifles

[JWFilips]

Never tried Cherry.
Is it easy to work?
Maple is hard but forgiving.
Doesn't take stain very well but there are other chemical options
for changing its color.

I use Ferric Nitrate On Maple (Have to make it myself) but it gives you golden to red colors
A mainstay in my 18th C workshop!

 

[Bret4207]

The old 'smithing books talked about making your own dyes and I imagine Ferric Nitrate was one of them. There used to be a book in circulation that gave the conversion from the old names for chemicals to more modern names. I forget any examples at the moment but Salamoniac or something like that was basically what we know soldering flux. "Spirits" of this and that abounded and often reeferred to compounds with an alcohol base.

 

[Rick H]

aqua fortis? The same as Ferric Nitrate, or iron Nitrate?
Seems like a much better way to stain maple than commercial dies. I never seem to be able to get that dark contrast and reddish brown hue. I will have to try the ferric nitrate and heat and see what happens. The color always comes out too light.

 

[KeithB]

Is that knife your creation? I like it!

 

[Rick H]

Sort of. It is a Russel Green River carbon steel blade with my handle of Michigan Maple with red micarta liners.

 

[Bret4207]

Aqua Fortis might be it. With hard maple there always seemed to me to be 2 shades. One was the tanned blond look and the other was the redder look. The redder looked better to my eye on curly maple and the blond on birdseye, but that's just me. The blond was many times more popular.

 

[Missionary]

Nice knife ! Should do well hacking on mellons.

 

[Rally]

Missionary,
My exact thought when I saw the blade design. Watched a documentary done on a Watermelon farm in MS.. The person being interviewed used a knife almost identical. Two fluid motions and the melon was in two pieces.

 

[rodmkr]

Ian,
What scope (if you do one) are you gonna put on your Glenfield?
What model is it?
Picked up a model 20 clip fed bolt action and was thinking maybe a vintage scope
until I saw the price tag on them.
Now wondering about a modern scope?

rodmkr

 

[Ian]

El Paso Weaver K4 with brass bezels, 1" steel tube, and round eyepiece. It used to have a Weaver with a 3/4" tube and "squashed" ocular bell but sadly I broke the crosshairs while having it apart to clean the internal haze that seems to plague these old scopes. I gave it to a friend who sent it somewhere and had it fixed.