Krag Collectors Association Forum

I have wiped down many mil surp stocks, including Krags, with denatured alcohol to remove layers of dirt, oils and varnishes and then giving the nice cleaned stock numerous wipe downs with Boiled Linseed Oil. The alcohol does not remove the old stain. It adds such a nice vintage look to the stocks. Not exactly what Springfield Armory, or other arsenals, did but it's legit and works great! Be generous with the wipe downs and let it soak in and dry a little between repeats. Over time, it should darken the walnut some but not as much as if you had stained the wood first. You certainly can't ruin anything this way and you can add some stain later, if desired, to get a little more color red or darker brown if you're not satisfied. Maybe you could try it on a scrap piece first if you want to see exactly what happens. We'd like to see the finished product!

nagkalimot wrote: Sun Feb 05, 2023 5:46 pmIs there anything "wrong" with just a boiled linseed finish...

Nothing wrong with BLO for a sporting firearm. For a military arm, however, a relatively-thick, shiny surface layer of dried oil is generally inappropriate. Where protection outranks shine, the enhanced penetration and slow polymerization of raw linseed allows us to create a finish that is not ON the wood but rather IN it. That's what's wanted for tough outdoor service.

butlersrangers wrote: Fri Dec 30, 2022 10:24 pmI am going to try Parashooter's 'French Finish' to better match the dull sheen of the original section of the stock.

Hope I never wrote "French Finish".
Be careful with "French Polish" techniques described for vintage furniture - much too thick, heavy. For that gunstock "handling" sheen, use a small, thin pad of folded cotton (linen even better) with a dab of shellac and a couple drops of RLO. Apply sparsely and never stop moving without lifting pad off the work first. Best part - if you put on a nasty layer, rubdown with alcohol takes it off to start over.

Thank you 'Parashooter' for your careful explanations and clarification.

I don’t think anything is wrong with it at all. However, I will tell you the military originally stained and then used linseed oil over it to achieve a more uniform appearance with the other rifles. Also, not all species of walnut will look the same — again that uniformity thing the military likes. I know during WW I we used some Italian wood on some of the M1917 stocks — those rifles were awfully blonde compared to the North American species.

Also, it’s my understanding that the red in the stock comes from aged raw linseed oil — we are all using boiled linseed oil nowadays for the most part, so red stain is added in to achieve the desired look.

Italian Walnut

You will find that a run of Krags sported Italian walnut as well. Most were stained to "blend" in but some can be found very yellow to this day

I know that the Italian Walnut Krags are special and less common than the regular American Black Walnut stocks but I have always liked the darker, and slightly red-tinted, American Walnut stocks. Mallory reports that 33,000 Italian Walnut stocks were used in and after June and July 1899. Out of about 500,000 total Krags made, that's only about 7% of all Krags having the lighter Italian Walnut stocks. That does make them somewhat scarce!