While I am waiting for my action to be re-barreled I decided to refinish the old stock. (I've got a figured American Black Walnut coming in but while I've got time, I'll work this one.) Some history, way back in the day... my dad built a really nice 30-06 on an FN Mauser with a beautiful fiddle-back maple stock. It was gorgeous. Then he took a Rem 700 in 30-06 and added a beautiful figured walnut stock and that was my brothers. So, not to be out done, I took my 30-06 Mauser apart and sanded off the brown paint from the stock hoping to find something good underneath.. (it happens sometimes). Well, it looked something like maple, very tight grained but not much figure at all... I refinished it with Tru Oil and it kind of had an amber color. So, for you experts... is this a plain maple or something else? The bare wood is white. My intention is to use Tannic Acid and Iron Nitrate to darken and hopefully give some depth to the wood grain. Thoughts ? Also, I am looking for a butt plate and eventually a recoil pad (4 3/8" L by 1 5/8 W ) if anyone has a good source.

I am thinking maple but have seen an ash or two that were similar. Good looking stock

That grain looks very maple-y

Maple for sure. If it was me keep it light in color not too much stain. You'll want to show off that grain.

Maple. To darken it up just a tiny bit at a time get some loose tobacco and soak it in methanol and wipe it on with a lint-free cloth. I've done this numerous times. less your

Unless you are opening up the barrel inlet sandpaper should never touch an already finished stock. Use stripper to get the old finish off and super fine steel wool if you need to polish it a little bit.

Appears the consensus is the stock is Maple. Thank you all for the confirmation. Lots of possibilities with Maple.




I am cleaning the stock up a bit... The first time I worked this stock was back in the 70's. The barrel channel and inletting need to be cleaned up. The internals of the stock look like it was quickly and very roughly cut out and I'm going to pillar bed this one. In addition, during my first pass over this (high school days) I didn't use a sanding block, going against the advice from my Dad. Now I'm fixing that as well. I'm excited about the potential

Maple won’t stain very well. The wood grain won’t take it well at all. It should be dyed. This is what I use for knife scales and gun stocks.

Maple blotches badly, like pine. What worked for me recently was an application of Minwax Pre-Stain, followed by a Dark Walnut dye (Transtint in water). Put it on with a foam brush and wipe off quickly. That gave me an even light/medium brown. After that one dye coat dried, and I wanted a darker color, I used Varathane Dark Walnut Gel Stain. It’s oil based, so it can be lightened up by wiping with mineral spirits. The people I did that for wanted “dark”, so that’s what I gave them, but the test board with two applications of the dye was what the wife and I liked best.

That approach worked with a maple blanket chest I made a few years ago. Of course, you may not want it that dark, so two coats of the Transtint dye might give you what you want, and they have many color options. Get some maple for test cases, before you go to work on the stock.

^^This is the local authority on carpentry finishing.

Do what the man says.

Maple won't blotch when dyed as suggested. I use Fiebing's leather dye on all my projects. It's alcohol based and therefore you can mix your own color and even thin it to the desired opacity.

Can be bought on Amazon, etc. but here's their website ---> MORE INFO

Lots of info re maple stock finishing on UTUBE. Old time long rifle makers used tannic acid to react with the sugar molecules in maple. I think.

It’s a very dense wood which is why stain is a bad idea. Tight grained wood needs dye. It’s common knowledge in the gun stock and knife making world.

When I made that big blanket/toy chest for the favorite niece’s little girl, I could have used walnut or cherry, but for some crazy reason decided on Hard Maple. Seemed logical at the time, and it was going to be simple to color it to a walnut shade. Or, so I thought. I figured Hard Maple would stand up to any punishment a little kid could deal out. So I made this big chest with dovetailed joinery. Attached the bottom enhancements and the top, prepped it for a dye job and discovered that it was not going to be easy. I got a bunch of scrap Maple and tried this and that, but it blotched like crazy. I’d run the test samples over the jointer and try again. Finally I ordered some Charles Neil blotch control, learned to use it (which took many tries), and finally found the correct mix of everything. The chest was colored, Waterlox applied, and the chest delivered. Well, for the recent dye job, I was almost out of the blotch control mixture, and Mr Neil had died. I tried the Minwax Pre-Stain and found that it had been improved, so I went with that.

I recommend the use of many test sample of blotch control and dye. Getting it right the first time, in my humble opinion, will be almost impossible. I do have enough Charles Neil blotch control for a gunstock or two if someone wants it, but I think the Minwax Pre-Stain is almost as good. And I should add that Minwax has a water based Pre-Stain and an oil based version. Use the water based version.

My approach worked fine, but there are other equally effective ways.

I have used aniline dyes on Maple projects. They don't blotch with the water based ones, never tried the alcohol based ones. You do however have to finish sand with 320 or 400 grit because it raises the grain just a little. Oh and most importantly, the color changes when you put on the finish coat so you do need to try a few samples. For example, the cherry dye goes on with a purplish tint but turns deep reddish brown when you topcoat with either an oil, clear poly, or a blond shellac. I almost freaked out the first time on a dove-tailed hope chest for my newborn daughter. Cherry can be as difficult to work with as maple.

I appreciate all of the replies and guidance, it's why I come to this forum. The expertise and help is amazing and appreciate. I've got a little more prep work (sanding, shaping) to do on the stock before I am ready to apply a finish but will post the results when done.