Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Timberluxe finish?

Just ordered a bottle of this finish, has anyone used it to restore the finish on pre'64 Winchester M/70? Seeking comments as to the ease of application and final results.

BTT

Looking for some, where did you find it?

Jim

The best there is and ever will be.

Purdy recommends it for restoring their $100,000.00 guns. By the right person.

Can this be applied directly on a linseed oil finished stock? Or does the original finish have to be stripped first? It looks a heck of a lot easier than rubbing multiple coats of linseed oil.

I just ordered some myself. I want to use it on a Zastava stock that has pretty grain, but has a finish that looks like it was originally applied with nothing other than a wet Lipton teabag. Zastava says it's flaxseed oil (linseed oil), but if it is they only used a single coat. Brian Board, of Timberluxe, says their oil should blend in very well with the existing linseed/flaxseed oil and bring out the grain in the walnut, as well as sealing it. I'm especially interested in sealing the barrel/action inlay, which he said it would handle.

Have you tried your bottle yet? If so, how did it perform?

Ralf Martini uses it on his rifles.

I picked up a bottle and have had several email exchanges with Brian Board (owner of Timberluxe). He is incredibly responsive and helpful. I'm going to start applying Timberluxe tomorrow, first in the action/barrel channel to waterproof everything and then on the exterior of the stock itself. If my ham-handed attempt winds up looking even half as good as some of the pictures on the Timberluxe website, it's going to turn out very, very well.

Just put on a first coat. Wish I'd have taken a "before" picture, since this stuff is really beginning to bring out the grain. But it's going to take several more coats, I think, since the wood was so dry that it just soaked it up.

This stuff is awesome and so simple to use! Great for touch ups to oil finished stock as well. Really makes the wood grain pop.

Interesting that per the MSDS sheet it contains linseed oil and somewhere between 0 and 25% sunflower oil.

Quite a ingredient list, I saw that too.

As the MSDS shows, this stuff is nothing special. It is just a mixture of oils and solvent with some metallic dryers thrown in to make the oils polymerize quickly. Not sure about the sunflower oil since it is not normally thought of as a wood finish. It mostly used as a cooking oil or cosmetic. Anyway, polymerized ( dried) linseed oil is not waterproof. Maybe the sunflower oil helps with that problem. The maker is making a killing on the price. $35/2 ounces? You have to be kidding!

Pro woodworkers have been using home-brewed mixtures like this(less the sunflower oil) for at least 75 years. You can buy all the components at a paint store. Have to go to the grocery for the sunflower oil. LOL The hardware stores have shelves filled with oil finishes.

I have no doubt that it makes the wood grain "pop". However, straight BLO will do that quite well. Gasoline will, too.

BTW if you want to learn about oil finishes see: http://www.woodturningvideosplus.com/oil-finish.html

RAN

Oh I dunno. They state a quick drying time with a relatively thick application which means a lot of dryers. Maybe the sunflower oil inhibits wrinkling which can be a problem when heavy on the driers. If that's right it would make application easier. Sunflower is classed as a (slow) drying oil but in a class different from linseed. Guess I don't care enough to research it enough to know. The stuff sure is expensive though.

I haven't used this finish but on p64 70's I use lacquer just like the factory did. Nice thing about lacquer is it melts and blends together with the factory finish. I do a final rub with rottenstone and can usually get indistinguishable from factory finish.