Arrow Wood Finish / darkening laminate

[Jay Christopherson]

Does anyone with experience with Arrow Wood Finish know if it will darken wood (laminate) at all, with successive coats?

I have a laminate stock I want to finish. Normally I'll use teak oil which darkens wood a little, but I was wanting to try the Arrow finish that so many people think highly of. The stock I have is a little lighter than I thought it would be so I was thinking about using a few coats of teak oil and then finishing with a few coats of the Arrow finish over the top of that.

Normally if I wanted to darken some wood I'd use some shellac or tints, but not sure how to deal with a laminate that has multiple colors in it.

If the Arrow finish does darken the wood with successive coats, maybe I'll just start with that and use it exclusively. Any other ideas would be welcome too.

 

[JRS]

Haven't used it on a gun stock, but I have used it to re-finish a couple of longbows containing yew, cocobolo, mahogany, maple and ebony. No yellowing whatsoever, very flexible and forgiving. It may have darkened the woods a smidgen, but what I see could possibly be nothing more than the grains more pronounced.

 

[Preacher]

I've never noticed that it would darken laminates.. If you sand it in, it will fill a lot of voids and chance the colors a little from picking up the different colors and imbedding them into the wood... It seems to make the colors brighter.....

 

[xs hedspace]

I refinished a Savage BVSS stock, and after I stripped and did some shaping and sanding, I used the Winchester Pre-64 stain from Brownells, before doing a polyurethane varnish. Rubbed out with 0000 steel wool, and waxed, it looks like laminated rosewood! The Pre-64 is a dye stain, so it doesn't muddy up the highlights.

 

[Preacher]

Here's one of my rear grips that was finished with Arrow wood finish...