Staining a 1866 Forestock

[warbucks16]

Need some advice if someone could help me.

I had to replace the forestock on my Uberti 1866 Carbine  made in 1999, and all I could find was an unfinished walnut one.

Can anyone tell me what color stain to use to try to match the Uberti Color on the rear stock.

I plan to use the Birchwood Casey refinish kit but the Walnut Stain that comes with it appears to be too dark.

Thanks for any help.

Warbucks16

[Marshal Deadwood]

Refinish the rear stock as well. Will probably be the best way to match the color on two pieces of wood.

[MMA10mm]

Refinish the rear stock as well. Will probably be the best way to match the color on two pieces of wood.

I agree very strongly with this.  Not only would you have to match the color but the heavy polyeurethane coating which is not period-correct (if that matters to you).  The italian wood gets a very red-colored stain over there, and after looking at plenty of originals (albeit, they have 125+ years age on them), I'd say your dark stain is more correct anyway.

[Johnny McCrae]

Refinish the rear stock as well. Will probably be the best way to match the color on two pieces of wood.

This is good advice.

I stripped the Reddish Orange varnish off of my 1866 and rubbed on several coats of Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil.

[Takoda Ray]

Plus 1, That is about the only way that you will be able to match the two parts but not to worry,I finished a few stocks using the BWC's stock finish and they came out great.Use an alcohol based stain,not an oil base stain and then get the BWC's Tru Oil and put about 10 or 15 coats of that on the stock giving a day to dry between coats.Put the tru oil on using just your finger tip and rub it into the stock,just enough oil to cover about an inch at a time before you move on to a new spot.You will notice a big improvement in about 5 coats but if you do as I say,you will have a stock you can be proud of.I used the rust walnut on my stocks which gives it a nice reddish brown cast and thinned the stain with a little denatured alcohol.Again,use one finger tip,no rags or brush unless you want your stock to look like it was dipped at some massed produced BB gun factory.One more thing to do before you add the following coats of tru oil,cut a piece of levi material from an old pair of jeans and use that to rub between coats,not steel wool.You can rub to far with steel wool and it will leave tiny little pieces of steel in your finish that will rust over time and look like ,well,you can fill in the rest.Mind you now,this is my way of doing the finishing job on a stock but their are other tried and true methods out there,some I am aware of but chose this method.Many others have had great success with their methods as well.
One big thing,first,you want to prep your stock before you put any stain on it. You must sand it smooth but don't go finer then 260 grit sand paper or the pores in the wood may be to tight to take on the stain.Wet your stock with water between your last couple of sandings abd let it dry.This will cause the grain in the wood to rise so you can LIGHTY sand off any high spots.That is why alcohol is recommended for thinning your stain,alcohol won't raise the grain like water will.Just don't rub to hard between the sandings or you'll have to start over again cause you removed to much wood.