Anyone know if there was a determinate year when FN started to use the noticeably lighter wood, sometimes referred to as the "blond" colored stuff?
This is a relevant question Bill. I don’t know if they use the blond walnut on all there product or just the auto-5?? I even wonder if they proposed blond walnut in their marketing strategy as they did over the years with English and French walnut. Have you seen any Browning catalogue or publicity mentioning blond or pale walnut? I would like to know. In my shop, we use American black walnut (Juglans nigra) which is mainly chocolate brown and European walnut (Juglans regia) which goes from blond, red brown to dark brown. I am pretty certain the FN often stained the stock of is firearms. Was it to hide the unevenness of their wood? I wonder if our friend Justin saw some pale wood after stripping the old finish from is several project. He is becoming quite good on refinishing and staining stock.
Thanks for the kind words Marc. The stocks that I have worked on range from the 20’s through the late 40’s. I have seen the blond, red, and the browns. I’ve said it before and they had to have used a toned finish on their guns. I’ve done sets that were a perfect match before I stripped them. Then after the French Red they are different completely different shades. I’ll go through pics to find an example
I found an answer to my own question. I just noticed in the bible it mentions FN went to a lighter wood in 1962. I thought I had a 1960 with lighter wood. I guess I will have to open the safes and double check. Reading is fundamental.
