Russian Red Wood Dye Recipes?

[Vincent]

A friend put his Russian SKS in an aftermarket plastic stock. Now he wants to put it back in the laminated wood stock. There’s just one small problem. He lost the stock.

We found a wood stock, but it’s in need of refinishing and he likes the idea of Red wood. Have any of you had luck with home brewed Russian red wood dyes?

Thanks

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[MosinVirus]

A friend put his Russian SKS in an aftermarket plastic stock. Now he wants to put it back in the laminated wood stock. There’s just one small problem. He lost the stock.

We found a wood stock, but it’s in need of refinishing and he likes the idea of Red wood. Have any of you had luck with home brewed Russian red wood dyes?

Thanks

There is a video (or a few) on youtube where people go after replicating that color.

I have had pretty decent success following the repair manual for Mosins.

The manual calls for walnut stain, oiling the wood, and then shellac coat with shellac not being clear but having color. I use 2 parts garnet to 1 part lemon flake shellac.

So the same concept could apply when using other finishes except shellac, but staining the finish.

I would think if you added a bit of dye to your desired finish, and applied it over walnut stained wood, you could achieve that color. Again, I believe there is a YouTube video where a guy is working on an AK furniture and uses dye to add color to his polyurethane finish.

Let me see if I can find links.

EDIT: Here are the links

[MasterChief]

Fiebling's leather dye: British Tan + Buckskin.

[imarangemaster]

I used red English Chestnut Minwax stain on an AK. Looked great.

[Richard Hare]

Another easy stain if Fiebing's leather dye!

Works very well on wood and won't raise the grain. Dark brown always looks nice, as it is a reddish brown.
Let this sit a few days before you put a finish coat on it. Many walnut stains to me look like pond mud. just an ugly brown. The Fiebing's is a lovely colour and easy.

I've finished stocks with linseed cut with turps, and the die stays in the wood well. a bit draws out, so start with it a bit darker than you want to end up.

R.

[Bruce_in_Oz]

As I heard it, the red wasn't just ideological or decorative.

The "agent" was Potassium Permangamate (Condy's Crystals).

This stuff is water soluble, so is best applied before you go nuts with fancy oils.

It is also, very importantly, a really good fungicide, i.e. it prevents wood rot.

Also used on a lot of post WW1 production Arisaka furniture, even some of the stocks made from "relatively" bug-proof tropical timbers, like teak.

[browningautorifle]

You can use Watco Danish oil to some end here. There are others like Lepage's that also produce stains...some folk use food coloring if you intend to finish over it.