Stock Wood and Finish
I take a bit of artistic license with the maple stock wood that I use. The original guns were generally pretty plain-stocked guns, but there are examples with nice figured wood. I use fancy grade maple on all of my stocks unless otherwise specified. I finish all of my stocks with an original aqua fortis acid solution and heat. I tend to make my rifle's stock dark, as that is what my original "S. Hawken" had and is the way most originals that I have seen were finished. I have a friend who had an original "S. HAWKEN" marked gun with a very attractive dark honey-colored stock, but I believe the majority were finished dark. I use a hand rubbed oil finish based on linseed oil and beeswax; this is a very traditional finish that shows off the wood well without looking “plastic".
