Joe farmer references and documents a stock finish in his book. Recently I was gifted a very late, nearly pristine, 1898 Krag rifle. I have repaired 7 or 8 bub'ad Krags and on the last 4 or so I have used the recipe Joe mentions in his book. I was struck by how closely the finish on my replacement forends match the original stock on the 1898 just gifted to me.