Building a Muzzleloader - Staining the Stock

More of this Course • Page One: Intro • Page Two: Fitting the Buttplate • Page Three: Fitting the Lock • Page Four: Fitting Barrel to Tang • Page Five: Fitting Barrel and Tang to Stock • Page Six: Installing Trigger Assembly • Page Seven: Polishing and Fitting the Nose Cap • Page Eight: Polishing and Fitting the Trigger Guard • Page Nine: Fitting the Sights • Page Ten: Inletting for Wedge Pin Plates • Page Eleven: Sanding the Stock - Initial Sanding • Page Twelve: Final Sanding & Patchbox • Page Thirteen: Staining the Stock • Page Fourteen: Polishing and Bluing • Page Fifteen: Finishing the Stock • Page Sixteen: The Tools I Used • Page Seventeen: Conclusion

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I'll tell much of the story with photographs, so each page may be a bit slow to load. Click on any photo for a larger image.

After final sanding of the muzzleloader stock, it was time to stain it. The stock was a very light maple, and a quick inventory of the stain I had lying around revealed one called "Sugar Maple." I tried it on the ramrod, and though it didn't darken as much as I'd hoped, I decided it would work just fine.

Applying any liquid to an unsealed wood surface will raise the grain, and that's just what happened when I wiped the stock down with mineral spirits preparatory to staining it. I didn't let that slow me down, however, and commenced with staining. This was about as simple an operation as you could ask for -- swab some stain on with a brush, wipe off the excess with a clean rag, and prop it in a corner to dry.

After giving the stain plenty of time to dry (a day or so), I snapped a photo and gave it another go. This time, however, I used some 600 grit wet or dry sandpaper with the stain, and wet-sanded it into the stock. This took care of my raised-grain problem, while working the stain into the wood. Not only did my wet-sanding knock down the raised grain, it also did as I'd hoped and acted to fill the grain at the same time.

After another day or two of drying, I repeated the wet-sanding treatment, let it dry, and took another photo. I was now done with the staining, the next step on the stock will be finishing. Before that, though, I blued the barrel and other steel parts.

Here's the stock after one coat of stain.

This is after the second wet-sanding, the third and final coat of stain.

Next Page - Polishing and Bluing

- Russ Chastain

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