Decided to do some "old school" refinishing on my 110 Birch stock. Wood staining with Iron Acetate goes back more than a hundred years.
Birch can be tough to stain, which is likely why Savage used a lacquer with a stain in the lacquer rather than in the wood. Corners become lighter over time, hides the grain, not ideal.
1) Stripped the old original lacquer stain finish.
2) Sanded / smoothed old stock, bare birch. The stock was very, very light in color
3) Made a tannin tea with alcohol, let it steep for 3 days and nights
4) Made an Iron Acetate stain from vinegar and old iron nails, let it "cook" for 5 days and nights
5) Applied / soaked the tannin tea into the birch, to add tannins. 5 applications, allowed to dry in between
6) Dewhiskered the wood with 400 paper
7) Applied 3 applications of Iron Acetate onto the tannin stained birch
8) At this point, the stock was fully ebonized, and was completely black
9) Let is sit for 4 hours
10) Sanded down the now ebonized wood until the amount of brown/grey/black was what I desired
11) Applied 10 coats of Tru-Oil, with 24hrs between coats.
The birch grain popped nicely, and the stain is in the wood, not in the finish.
This is a hunting rifle, not a showpiece, I am quite pleased with how it came out.
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