No trade secret Mr. Humbug, I’m a novice myself .... I have plenty of guns and friends with them also, not to mention kids(5boys). I’ve been experimenting with dyes. After tooling/stamping, I block dye what ever lighter color and then block the edges(I have a fancy air brush system my boss gave me a few Christmas’s ago but been a chicken to use them) with a darker color. I neats foot oil after and after at least a day, I then seal with tan-kote, antique with whatever crosses my drunken mind by then(buy all available shades) and then seal with 50/50 resolene/water . I use Fiebings spirit dyes and paste antique . I’ve learned from hours of scoping this wonderful site so again, no trade secret. And the New Mexico theme is a pride of where I’m from. I use whatever matting tool to make a hot mess !!