Beech has this great feature, the fish scales. I have a Garand with a sweet main stock of beech--pic below for comparison--but it has walnut hand guards that don't match. This caused me to undertake some research projects.
I bought some pine tar for horse's hooves at the local feed store. I got a George Foreman ElectricTwo-sided Broiler Grill for two bucks at the local yard sale, where I also picked up a large bread pan for a quarter. Some beech stocks and parts were donated to my over zealous experimental cause by a bud on another board (when the experiment is fully concluded, I'll make a final post for there). I was ready.
I cut the pine tar by 25% with odorless mineral spirits, and I put the hand guards in the bread pan, covered them with the thinned pine tar and brought the mixture to a steaming barely simmer with the George Foreman grill, in my back yard. I kept taking them out and putting them back, as they absorbed just so much and stopped.
As it so happens, I could not fit the large stock part into the bread pan. Because I noted the hand guards stopped absorbing, I reasoned I could get the goo boiling and apply it to the stock that had been warmed in the sun, then use a heat gun to drive penetration. That's what I did.
This doesn't quite show the deep color, but it shows that the three pieces match, despite the two different techniques.
Here's a better idea of how the fish scales come out under the technique.
With my Garand of Gnarl, the Danes dyed the wood pretty deep, so to match that one I'm going to have to experiment with another set of hand guards I have. I'm also going to get the metal for the other beech stock so I can have different Garands to go with the season. I figure he'd wear dark clothing in the winter and light clothing in the summer.
Winter:
See? He needs another suit because reasons...
CDFingers
Pine Tar on Beech/Garand experiment
1Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack