QuestionableMaynard8130 wrote on Feb 22^nd, 2015 at 4:04pm:


Reference Alkanet stain, Shawn McWilliams in Illinois sells a 4 oz. bottle of oil/stain for just over $20 with free shipping.

Did any of the "logwood" powders provide a red tint?

marlinguy wrote on Feb 22^nd, 2015 at 12:11am:

Ditto ... have used that and it has been a perfect match for me!

JS47 wrote on Feb 22^nd, 2015 at 10:29pm:


Im going to guess they were filled full. The only reason I say this is grain filling was historically considered an absolute must. Even if an object was to be painted the grain was filled. The practice seems to have drifted slowly away from about 1950 onwards

Unless the shellac-based finishes were kept covered with a coat of waterproofing oils or wax they tended to water-spot badly.  Most high-grade "french polish" (most commonly found on high grade furniture) was a combination of shellacs and waxes. Museum conservation/restoration departments have to deal with it in various states of deterioritation all the time.  It was and is a high maintenance finish. Most products that were finished with it were of a type that indicated a lifestyle that involved availability of a lot of cheap labor.  Military "issued" arms more often had painted wood.  It appears that most of the artisan built firearms had simpler shellac/wax based finishes.  "Be-spoke" arms, cased pistols and sporting long guns, may well have had real "french-polish finishes.
I suspect that by the time of industrial mass-production of arms (mid 1800's) true french-polish was reserved for de-luxe special order and presentation arms. And that a more utilitarian less time consuming finish based on oils and Japan drier over a sealer/filler coat of fast drying shellac/lacquer was used for normal factory production. The term french-polish might have been applied to some low-lustre "rubbed-out" finishes for marketing purposes.

Shellac varnish, often applied by French polishing, was by far the most common wood finish for furniture and other high quality items, until nitrocellulose lacquers for spray application appeared in the 1920s.

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In my experience of original pieces finished by this method, it is quite durable and not harmed by handling. This finish is also easy to repair. On the other hand, cellulose lacquer over wood tends to craze, crack, and flake over time, and it is exceedingly laborious to remove.

Copal varnish in oil was in wide use for various purposes during the Victorian era, but I don’t think it was used for gun stocks in industrial production of rifles, where shellac based finishes were the rule. Here’s a typical gun stock varnish formula of 1890:

Varnish and Polish for Gun Stocks.— Gum shellac, 10 oz.; gum sandarac, 1 oz.; Venice turpentine, 1 drachm; 98 per cent, alcohol, 1 gallon; shake the jug occasionally for a day or two, and it is ready for use. Apply a few coats of this to your gunstocks, polish by rubbing smooth, and your work is complete. 

1901:

Varnish for Gun Stocks-- Five oz. shellac, ½ oz. sandarac, Venice turpentine 1 drm, alcohol 2qt.

The French polishing method involves a small amount of linseed oil (a drying oil that hardens by polymerisation), mostly as a lubricant, but it becomes incorporated into the finish and may add to moisture resistance. Naturally, a gun stock finished with shellac varnish can be waxed for extra protection.

You might want to call Don Hardcastle @ 254-848-4755.He manufactures a pre- 64 Red Brown stain
that I have used and resembles the early Winchester 
red finish.