Parker stock colors

[Bruce Day]

Charlie Prices PP article is highly suggested for refinishing to original standards.

Shellac is an ingredient of French Polish but I am not aware that orange Amber Shellac was used. Some original guns with light colored wood were lightly stained with walnut stain or a reddish stain, perhaps alkanet. Others had no stain in the French Polish. Still other original Parkers had an oil finish only, boiled linseed oil with Japan dryer.

If a person is trying to make the stock look old, dark is better and some stain, walnut or reddish is added. This duplicates the darkening effect of age on a clear finish.

[edgarspencer]

I have two guns purchased by my dad from Parker in Meriden. One has a glossier finish which I presume to be shellac. The other has an oiled finish. Neither have had their checked panels darkened in any artificial manner. I have always believed that checkering darkens from being handled and because of the very small cross section of the individual diamonds. In my opinion, darkened checked panels on a lighter stock look like my Aunt's Daisy, or a Nylon 66.

This gun had it's checkering seriously buggered, and is just back to me from North of the border, getting the checkering tidied up. I deliberately took a couple of the pictures of the gun on one of my American walnut boxes, which has had a dark walnut stain, and 4 coats of tongue oil. This was freshly sawn and planed new wood. The stock has no stain on any part of it, just a nice oiled finish. I am trying to show that there's walnut, and there's walnut. Some of it needs a darkening stain, and a good quality old gun stock may not need any artificial coloring