Is this stock striping normal?

[P0H0]

I picked up a 1903 stock that I’m refinishing - trying to get the hand guard to match. Anyway, I stripped down the stock (used lacquer thinner) and then stained — it has stripes through the wood under the old finish.

Is this natural or some result of how it was manufactured/duplicated?

My M1917 stock has some sort of heartwood vein on the stock too — I seem to be getting a lot of odd wood.

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[P0H0]

Nevermind — it has to be the wood. It seems to go all the way through. I guess this will be a tiger stripped 1903 Springfield.

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[Ned Butts]

[P0H0]

Ned — is that a good shocked face?

I’m thinking it will be easier to stain the stock with a red then it will be to make the handguard more brown…. I may end up starting over on the stock for a better shot at getting the red to show.

While I am at it… is there anything I can do to help accentuate the tiger stripes in the wood? If it’s gonna be striped, maybe I should help them standout?

[butlersrangers]

Is the 'new' 1903 stock possibly from an Italian maker (Minelli)?

I would suggest you try and get a Minelli handguard.

Beautiful piece of wood, that I suspect is a European Walnut.

[P0H0]

No — I don’t believe it’s Italian. I bought the stock on eBay from Kevmil6 — he did a limited run of stocks. The stock comes with an NOS handguard. So to match, I planned on using the same stain on both pieces. After stripping the stock, I found stripes.

You can barely make out the hint of stripes under the stain on some of his posted stock pictures.

[butlersrangers]

Try to contact 'kevmil6' for a matching handguard.

[P0H0]

Amazing — he will have a matching handguard in May.

[Ned Butts]

Ned — is that a good shocked face?

Yes more of a surprised, look what I found face. Very nice wood!

[FredC]

I used to do some machining for Kleinguenther Distinctive Firearms many years ago. You would see highly figured blanks with 5 figure price tags. If you get a matching hand guard, I would finish it so the figuring would show, instead of trying to hide it.