You should be using alcohol or water based dyes on beech. Also, if you have access to HVLP, there are compatible solvent based dyes that'll work too.
If removal of the old stain left black freckles in an otherwise white wood, you'll probably need to use a toner coat over the dye and under the finish.
I never had any luck using conditioners before staining, so if you get that advice, take it with a grain of salt.
There are examples of people using wiping stains to get a reasonable refinish on a beech stock, however it's the luck of the draw if it's going to work for you.
A good book to check out from the library to explain all this is Bob Flexners "Understanding Wood Finishing"
K
Why?
Is there something wrong with your stock?
My R1 was bought from Doc Beeman in 1984...beech..
Over the years it has received probably 50+ coats of finger applied BLO.
It taught two boys how to shoot, both combat veterans.
It is in the will.
I think it looks good with more than 300,000+ pellets through the barrel:
As something of a wood purist, and having experienced first-hand the issues inherent in staining white-woods, I've come to better appreciate allowing the wood's natural beauty speak for itself. You might consider leaving that stock "in the white" (unstained), rather than opening the can of worms labeled "Staining White Woods".
A few I've left in the white-
A 1960s vintage Crosman 180 Co2 rifle converted to 'hawgleg' pistol-
A Sharp 648 stripped of its factory stain and refinished in the white-
Would you believe this 1950s vintage Sears & Roebuck Match rifle (Crosman 160 variant) actually shot better in the white? No? Well then, let's just say it didn't shoot any worse!
That is what I have done in the past left them white once stripped. I have friends however that want me to refinish their stocks and I am scared of beech. They want the stain over the beech ( original look) and I just can’t seem to get it even back to original.
As something of a wood purist, and having experienced first-hand the issues inherent in staining white-woods, I've come to better appreciate allowing the wood's natural beauty speak for itself. You might consider leaving that stock "in the white" (unstained), rather than opening the can of worms labeled "Staining White Woods"...
Those came out beautifully. I'm considering refinishing my Benjamin Discovery stock, what do you recommend?
If so what technique did you use? I have had mixed results with Prestain but still had slight blotching.
I really hate to work with this wood type.
Of course there are many choices in finishing products, but I'm going to comment on just one of them here.
I've successfully done it with oil stain and spray poly more than once. The first important step is to strip off all of the old top coat, let's say you have polyurethane on yours. I like chemical strippers other than sanding off all the old finish, to save time and all that extra elbow work. The stripping agent has to be some of the more-aggressive sort to get polyurethane completely-off. Look for the ones that say, "Strips epoxy" prominently on the can, as those seem to work the best on poly, too.
Then comes what I have found to be the real trick that does the treat: start your sanding by using fairly-coarse grit paper first to really open-up the pores of the wood so you avoid all that blotchy-ness, then do some slightly finer sanding before you apply the stain. To be honest, right this minute I can't remember if that was 120 grit or 220 grit paper (I'm sorry), but I know I went after it pretty hard. (I think I may have used 120 or at least 180 for that first sanding step). There's no need to overdo the fineness of the sanding, because your stain and poly topcoat will take care of that to give you a smooth finish (or, like the poly usually says right on the can, you can apply a coat of it, let it dry for the recommended time, do some very-light sanding with fine paper being careful to remove any sanding dust, then apply another coat of poly--repeat as desired).
Of course, you don't want to sand any checkering that's in place if at all possible. Even if some of it has damage or lacks depth from rubbing and wear, I've been able to restore the appearance of the checkering with a very-careful application of a needle file. When it comes to applying stain to areas that are checkered, a regular paint brush is fine, but after I let the stain set on the checkered areas for a short time, I like to make it look uniform using a toothbrush--it works better than a soft paint brush IME. As an alternative, just leave a fairly-heavy application of stain in the checkering, and the dark areas that result are what I like to call "accent areas".
Another thing that can sometimes cause a problem with getting uniform color is that some stains have very little pigment in them, no matter that you you like the color. I've solved that on several occasions by buying two cans of stain, then scraping all the pigment off the bottom of one can (don't stir or shake first, just scrape) and putting that pigment in the other can, so you end up with a 'double-pigment' can of stain to stir WELL and apply. By all means if you're using oil stains, do what most cans of stain say in the way of instructions: wipe the stain onto the wood WITH the grain, then wipe it off ACROSS the grain so the pigment-color has a better chance of staying inside the pores and grain.
If you don't get the color and uniformity you want with one coat of stain, let it dry then apply more coats. If you don't let it dry first, the next coat of stain will just dissolve the previous one.
I may not have written that perfectly, but I think something in there will prove useful.
the refinishing of beech can be done with almost anything but the staining of beech is always the problem and i must say i have not done either
but and most interesting ways that i have read about are using leather staining and ammonia fuming
i have always wanted to buy a cheap beech stock off Ebay and get both a go, for i a have a Diana 75 stock that need to be redone
the refinishing of beech can be done with almost anything but the staining of beech is alway the problem and i must say i have not done either
but and most interesting ways that i have read about are using leather staining and ammonia fuming
i have always wanted to buy a cheap beech stock off Ebay and get both a go, for i a have a Diana 75 stock that need to be redone
I may have said it poorly and with too many words. But, in the successes I've had in doing it here, starting with coarse sandpaper for a few passes seems to be the trick in getting good results, even with beech. You should still follow proper sanding technique and sand with the grain to avoid scratching the wood. Then finish your sanding with 220 grit before applying the stain.
Years ago I use to build muzzle loading rifles and used Maple for the stocks.
I would get a staining solution from Dixie Gun works but I can't remember the name off hand. It was water based and created from a formula used in the 1700's . I have also used stain made from green walnut shell.
Chromium trioxide is the old timey one.
I like automotive clear with white pearl.
Fast drying, hard, excellent clarity and thick as you'd like with some wet sand followed by more coats.
Pretty much everything opposite of BLO.
I'll come back later with a B3 (pallet wood and putty) stock we did in Mac (makeup brand) glitter and automotive clear.
If so what technique did you use? I have had mixed results with Prestain but still had slight blotching.
I really hate to work with this wood type.
Water- or alcohol-based dyes work best with beech. As others have said, leaving it unstained is nice as well. But if it HAS to be brown, I recommend Transtint brand dyes, mixed with either water or isopropyl alcohol. It's kinda like painting with watercolors, in that you can layer here and there to get an even tone.
But the MOST important thing with beech is to make sure you have removed ALL the original finish. That means sanding, and a lot of it. If you think you're done, wipe it with a damp sponge. If it looks blotchy with just water, then there's still old finish left in the pores. More sanding! And use nitrile gloves. Oils from your hands will enter the wood and make blotches. If there are dark stained areas, or bits of stain left in the pores, you can try bleaching with oxalic acid. Make sure to rinse thoroughly with lots of water, and let dry thoroughly, usually at ambient humidity for at least 24 hrs.
It's been my experience that most factory finishes on beech stocks are tinted lacquers, which sit ON the wood, not in it. Lacquers have a production advantage in that they can be evenly spray applied, and dry very quickly. Beech is a challenge to get a traditional oil-rubbed finish that resides IN the wood, but a dye as opposed to a stain helps. To replicate a factory finish, dye the wood, then apply a few sprayed-on lacquer coats, such a Deft.
FWIW, one of the prettiest beech stocks I ever did was dyed with Transtint in 92% isopropyl alcohol, then oiled with boiled linseed oil. It took forever, but it'll last forever. Someone once told me to use boiled linseed oil, you apply thin coats with your fingers, once a day for a week, once a week for a month, once a month for a year, and once a year for life.
After getting tired of fighting with the pistol grip on my D48 I decided to do something about it .
I sanded the whole stock down to bare wood and was disappointed with what I thought was the lack of grain in the beech stock.
Use to working with maple/ white wood is no stranger to me but decide not to wait to order my usual stain and went with an off the self Minwax special walnut and stain pre prep. The stain is applied with in minuets of applying the pre prep and allow the stain to soak but not dry on the wood.
Since liquids raise the grain I used #0000 steel wool to card off the stain and polish the wood for the True oil finish.
Using my Dremel tool and drum sander I sculptured the pistol grip to include a palm swell and finger grooves , I also used the Dremel to stipple the pistol grip so it wouldn't slip in my hand.
The big trick to staining beech is to make sure you get all the old finish off the wood since OEM finishes are sprayed over a clear base the base also has to be removed so the stain can get into the wood. The longer you leave the stain on the deeper it penetrates and the darker it gets.
Here's some pictures of the finished work.
I have refinished a few, and never an easy job. My first was my FWB 124D that got scratched, and was probably the easiest of any. The others were as M96 Swedish Mauser and a Swiss K 31. I used wiping stains, then Tru Oil on my FWB, It seems to me now that Tru Oil dries too quickly, even drying as I attempt to wipe it out so I have abandoned it a home mix that works out well. In my limited experience the secret seems to be getting the stock absolutly smooth, then use something like an alcohol wipe, to raise the grain, mostly the softer area between the rays, repeat several times, finishing that with some very fine steel wool, then some kind of filler, stain and final finish. My FWB looks as good as a lot of walnut stocks, i do need to mention that it has probably been 30 years since I finished it, so cannot remember how long it too, but I think several weeks to get it to look like I wanted.
Years ago I use to build muzzle loading rifles and used Maple for the stocks.
I would get a staining solution from Dixie Gun works but I can't remember the name off hand. It was water based and created from a formula used in the 1700's . I have also used stain made from green walnut shell.
Aqua Fortis
Or iron nitrate. Same thing far as I know.
Wipe it on, wood turns green, and then blush it to brown with a heat gun.
Years ago I use to build muzzle loading rifles and used Maple for the stocks.
I would get a staining solution from Dixie Gun works but I can't remember the name off hand. It was water based and created from a formula used in the 1700's . I have also used stain made from green walnut shell.
Aqua Fortis
Or iron nitrate. Same thing far as I know.
Wipe it on, wood turns green, and then blush it to brown with a heat gun.
Ferric Nitrate crystals are a nice easy way to go for an AquaFortis stain, you can buy a small container and just mix anywhere from a tsp to a tbls with a cup of water to make your own solution. Same process of wiping it on, letting it dry, and then using a heat gun to blush it. It's a bit safer to use in this form as well.
Water based dyes are great for Beech, BUT Gel Stains are oil based and do not blotch like most oil based. For final coat, consider epoxy. Theoben used it, it is not affected by DEET in insect repellent. It is the only finish that will protect against Deet.
Also Fine Woodworking magazine published a article about whaat finish protects best. Epoxy rated best because it prevents water vapor from entering the wood and making it expand and/or contract. The West Sustem is a supplier that has a web site you can visit.
