Rossi Rifleman

I would not put color on it unless I wanted a fairly drastic change.

Fran49829 wrote:Do I need to put stain on it before tru oil and if so what kind and color. I don't think the original finish penetrated the wood

You can try stain. I can never get the wood on any of my Rossi's to accept any stain. The Tru Oil will darken it a little.

Do you think it will look ok with just tru oil?

GasGuzzler wrote:

Archer wrote:There have been reports that the stain on the Rossi can be washed off with tap water.

I'll second that. I would start with rubbing alcohol.

I went looking for some rubbing alcohol a couple three weeks ago and found it sold out.
Might be back in stock but since I live in SoCal Loco I wouldn't bet the clowns around here might still be buying it faster than it comes into stock.

I stripped mine with Purple Power, then sanded it smooth and clean and hit it with Watco Medium Walnut Danish Oil, then topped it with a 50/50 BLO/turpentine mix.

I think that Rossi wood is Tabubeia, it's very dense and hard. Doesn't soak stuff in very well.

If I stain it, would I be able to remove the satin if I don't like it?

I personally believe dyes work better than stain. They are more expensive, but worth it. You can use aniline dyes made specifically for wood. I find Fiebing's leather dyes (available from Tandy) work exceptionally well. Neither hides figure as stain often does.

The stock in the photo was dyed with Fiebing's Dark Brown + Oxblood in a 5:1 ratio.

(BTW, my rifle is the the one without a sling. I don't know why it was combined with rondog's.)

That finish looks beautiful on your lever !

Good work on blending dyes.

I saw your lever in an earlier posting on finishes and admired the work. You also have posted that you have tweaked your lever quite a bit, as it is your hobby. Most, if not all, lever carbines have some wood projecting in front of the rear barrel band. I note yours does not, so am guessing you must have trimmed it back. I wondered why you did that, but it does look closer to a Winchester "short rifle" aesthetic.

dlidster wrote:I personally believe dyes work better than stain. They are more expensive, but worth it. You can use aniline dyes made specifically for wood. I find Fiebing's leather dyes (available from Tandy) work exceptionally well. Neither hides figure as stain often does.

The stock in the photo was dyed with Fiebing's Dark Brown + Oxblood in a 5:1 ratio.

(BTW, my rifle is the the one without a sling. I don't know why it was combined with rondog's.)

Did you use a sealer over the stain and if so what?

Arroyoshark wrote:. . . wood projecting in front of the rear barrel band. I note yours does not, so am guessing you must have trimmed it back. I wondered why you did that . . .

The original fore end was badly misshapen beyond the band, so I cut it flush. (I had done the same deliberately on my Marlin 336 more than 50 years ago.) I also planed the wood down on both the fore end and stock so it would be flush with the receiver. My original stock was quite "proud" adjacent to the metal and looked tacky.