Chestnut Ridge Colonial Red.

http://www.chestnutridge.com/products/misc.asp

 

Sometimes you just have to mix your own to get the right color.

 

Hi....

The very best solution is to refinish the stock and handguard at the same time [but that may not be practical for most].

Refinishing the stock and handguard at the same time gives you the best opportunity for an excellent match. However, you will always have some variation because the stock and handguard "wood" comes from two different sources (most likely] and both will take the stain and oil different [unless you just get really lucky].

Lastly - I prefer alcohol based stains that can be mixed individually for color darkness etc. and teak oil because I can make color changes all along the wet sanding progression and change color as required without starting all over again.

Good luck with your project.....

M1Army

 

Thanks for the tips, i'd really like to just stain the upper h/g as this is a brand new SA Boyd's stock. I'm a woodworking amateur at best... i'm afraid i'll turn gold into poop... LOL

 

I've had very good results with leather shoe dyes, either Fiebings or Anthony's thinned with denatured alcohol. As M1Army said, the alcohol in the dye allows better penetration than water based ones. The alcohol doesn't raise the grain like water does. If the dye is applied too heavily you can "wipe it" with pure alcohol to remove some. Better to apply to thin than too dark. You have to wait till it dries completely to see the final shade. All these were refinished with shoe dye. The wood upper handguard on the Garand and the M1A's were Boyds replacements.

 

I've picked up wood handguards wherever I can, just to see if they will match one of my wood stocks. If they don't, I end passing them on to someone else at a loss.

Sometimes you get lucky: