Walther LG55 stock refinishing and butt pad replacement - help and suggestions please

[Discocom]

I'm restoring a left hand stock for a Walther LG55.

Stock is walnut (chequering to grip and under fore end) and in pretty good condition.

It had already been stripped when I bought it, but the walnut is very light and does not darken that much when I damp it.

It looks like the butt pad has been replaced (badly!) as it does not match the pad on the right hand stock I have, looks like the the rubber has been 'carved' in order to match the stock! Also there is a slight curve to the wood at the end of the stock, so when the butt pad was fitted the spacer has cracked on both sides. I was going to leave the butt pad alone, but have now decided the remove it and replace it, given how nice the stock is. The complicate things, I managed to get one screw out, a 1.5 inch wood screw, but the heads are messed up on the other screws so now expect I'll have to 'butcher' the existing pad in order to remove it and then somehow get the existing screws out. I will also need to 'true up' the rear of the stock so that it is flat in order to mount a new butt pad.

I have a butt pad from an Original 66 stock which appears to be of similar dimensions, so hope to fit this.

Would welcome some advice on following:

Stock finishing - planning to stain the walnut with diluted Birchwood Casey walnut stain, just to darken it slightly, is this a good idea?, how much should I dilute (50/50?) best way to apply?
how to finish stock, just oil it, use trueoil? I'd like it to look similar to a period stock, similar to http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_myY4q7WpSz...0/DSC_2620.jpg

Butt pad replacement - any advice/tips from someone who has done this before

cheers

[cooper_dan]

Personally I don't like using stain. Reason being that a stain had relatively large particles of colouring (compared to a dye). When applied, these particles of colour tend to sit on the surface of the wood and then some other ingredient in the stain forms a barrier. This does the job of holding the coloured particles in place, but also prevents further colour from being added, it will just wipe off.

So with a stain you tend to only get one good go of getting the colour right, otherwise you have to strip it and start over.

With a wood dye, the colour particles are much smaller than in a stain, and they penetrate into the wood. Because they penetrate in, they don't need that covering layer to hold it all in place. This means you can add further dye and the colour will darken. So you can thin the dye out to like 10/90 and add the colour really slowly until you get what you want

I just thin with white spirit.
To get the look of that other stock, it might need some thinned down varnish, maybe multiple coats of danish oil. Good luck

[Discocom]

Thanks for the advice, any recommendation on which dye to use?

[Drew451]

In my opinion the Birchwood Casey Walnut stain is really intended to re-finish beech stocks. I would avoid staining walnut but would be tempted to give a tinted oil finish a go. Osmo Polyx oil is available in various tints and should darken your stock.

[averageplinker]

I guess the problem with the dye is if you don't like the effect it will be more difficult to remove due to deeper penetration. Proceed with caution.

[Garvin]

I have seen some very light walnut stocks on the Walther LG55s, so much so that I think someone called them 'cue ball walnut' once! Maybe some Alkanet oil would redden/darken the wood somewhat before finishing? I think the stocks on these Walthers was lacquered originally, but an oil finish looks good if done properly. Take a look at the article starting on page 57 here.

[Discocom]

Thanks for the advice, I’m wondering if I use something like:

http://www.schaftol.de/English/english.html

I used this on my lp3 walnut grips and it gives a nice warm colour