Is anyone familiar with a tried and true way to darken Tru Oil?  I have a lighter wood stock, which I would like to add to a darker finish.  Yes, I know that Tru Oil darkens with more coats.  It tends to stay in the medium amber color range, even after 7-10 coats, from my experience.  I am looking for a more brown finish, maybe slightly red/ amber would be OK.

Tru Oil has been my go-to for years.  I don't really want to start testing out new products yet.  Tru Oil gives me all of the benefits that I am looking for in a quality finish.

Does anyone have experience with products like TransTint?  I did come across another website.  The two top suggestions were a product called TransTint, and a soot option.  There are mixed opinions on if TransTint is compatible with Tru Oil.  I have never used TransTint, so I have zero understanding of how it works.  When looking up TransTint, it looks like they do offer a "Reddish Brown".  So it would just be a matter of testing for which ratio is best.

The soot option sounded like some trolling or fudd trash.  Who knows though, it may work.  Here is the only info they gave on the topic:



Some others even suggested dissolving a small amount of roofing tar, then dissolve it in a small amount of turpentine, then mix it in with Tru Oil.  I see a lot of bad with that option, including that it would add black color to Tru Oil, not red or brown.  It would darken it, but nothing more.

Also, when searching amazon, I found pigment powders, specifically Keda.  Would there be a common sense way to dissolve the powder and mix it in with Tru Oil?  Also, what about Mixol?

For TransTint, I'd be looking at Reddish Brown.

For Mixol, maybe 3, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23


I know there are like 25 questions in this post, but any insight would be greatly appreciated.  

Trans tint, mixed with denatured alcohol.  Great stuff and you can adjust how dark or light you want it.  Apply directly to the stock, tru oil over the top.

I know the video below is furniture, don't get wrapped up in that, wood is wood.  

I keep a jar of linseed oil with alkanet root powder in it for touching up wood stocks. The alkanet root is a red powder that gives a color similar to old winchester stocks.

This has me extremely interested.  Is there any specific ratio?  My current project is not a Winchester, but I do have at least 2 Winchesters that need a little touch up.  It looks like I can grab the powder from Amazon.  I may just start practicing on my axe handles.  It is about that time of year to start re-coating my axes/ mauls/ picks...  I don't care what color they are, so it gives me a chance to dial it in, before using it on a Winchester stock.

I have a 1/2 pint jar about 1/2 full of powder, then filled with boiled linseed oil, also tried one using turpentine - didn't care for the results.


I just keep it in the gun room and wipe stocks down with as needed. 1/2 Pint jar will last a couple lifetimes i think.

Eta: I think I read about this on the winchester restoration site years ago.  I like the effect on walnut, but I tried it on an ash (?) paddle - it wasn't good.  Kind of a bright reddish purple.

Stain the wood your desired color before applying the finish.