Lightning Bolt Gunstock

Lichtenberg burning is passing thousands of volts of A/C electricity through a conductive medium in a controlled manner. This results in a pattern that gives the item an appearancnce of having been struck by lightning.

I made my own tool for Lichtenberg burning from a few items. A neon sign transformer, a pair of battery cable clamps, a pair of heavy copper wires, and a small foot pedal switch. The foot pedal switch turns on and off the electricty so i dont accidentally electrocute myself between set ups.

A homemade electrolyte is applied with a small brush. Too much electrolyte won't work, so I dab in between brush strokes. I place the probes a short distance apart on the damp wood and step on the pedal. 15,000 volts A/C runs through the damp wood and burns electrical patterns in the wood's surface. The longer you press the pedal, the deeper the burn channels get.

After the Lichtenberg pattern is in the wood, I progressively sand using finer grits. I'm trying to get rid of the excess scorch marks on the top layer of wood.

Here you can see the pattern as it runs down the length of the stock. You can almost control the pattern's direction by how far apart you place the electrodes.

Next I prep the surface for stain. I make my own stains from alkanet root, dragon's blood resin, and I use denatured alcohol as a solvent. It takes several coats, but it sinks in and dries really fast.

I hang the stock in the drying area overnight. A final two topcoats of enamel finish over the stained wood is all the finish this stock needs. It's not a very expensive firearm to begin with and the customer is not willing to pay the fee for a really nice wood finsh that's labor intensive.

All in all, it's a unique look for an inexpensive .22 caliber backyard plinker.