Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Basic wood stock refinisher

The only time I use straight linseed or tung oil is when finishing an as-issued U.S. military stock, when OEM correctness is the goal. The only reason the gov't arsenals and commercial gun factories used that stuff in that manner was because it was cheap and quick- not because it was the very best finish possible. At the very least mix it about 50/50 with spar varnish and apply like Art said. You'll still get that warm oil finish look with a somewhat better moisture barrier. Then, when finished, wax the bejapers out of it for what will be as good as it can get without utilizing a good barrier-type finish.

BLO is never a good choice on a sporting rifle. It will never cure properly and there are hundreds of better choices. I would not use BLO in Spar Varnish due to questionable curing and the curing inhibitors added to BLO are only part of the issue.

I've been using 50/50 oil(pure tung oil)/spar varnish for years on non-gun and non-boat projects, and on a few gun stocks when a customer or circumstances require an oil finish. I never noticed a curing issue. Have I been extremely lucky, or what?

I use cherry for about 75% of the projects I build for the college where I work. (Archaic lab apparatuses, museum quality repros of wood/glass/brass 17th-19th century scientific experiments that we use in our curriculum)- and typically I apply this mix, let sit for a quarter hour and wipe dry, let dry overnight, polish with 600x, repeat once or twice, wax with Butcher's Wax. Obviously no exposure to weather, and kept in a controlled humidity environment.

BLO, tung oil, and any permutations thereof I keep off of my personal stocks that I know will stand a chance of weather exposure. I'm still a firm believer in the utility of barrier finishes for that purpose.

You are correct about the lack of waterproofing with oil. Bare wood absorbs water vapor slower than oil-based finishes.

BLO under oil finishes can cause problems years down the road. Leave it in hot sunlight for an hour and you can suddenly find yourself with a very sticky mess.

BLO is never good for any sporting stock.

I guess I haven't been the game long enough to experience compatability problems with BLO/tung and hybrids. Thanks for the info.

BLO is the bottom grade of the linseed oil used for finish. The best is food grade and that starts the grading a bit lower for finishes and linoleum manufacturing.

The myth that tung is better oil is because too many people are allergic to it to use it for food. So the best tung is used for all the other oil feedstock.

BLO is literally the bottom of the barrel. Stabilizers are added to slow curing and they cause issues.

Basic is - as basic does. Seeking something wayyy short of a full rework Rusty75 let me experiment with his stock. Nothing much seemed to have any effect on lightening, redistributing, removing or otherwise beautifying the dark blotchyness as seen in the before pics. Stock was stripped already and I'm guessing someone had applied a dark stain? Well, after a few dead-ends, I eventually gave up on lightening it and went to dying it, here and there, by - wait for it - wiping on burnt umber airbrush paint! Then after several layers of Tru-Oil, some buffing and wax he says it's good enough - so it's good enough. Rusty75 was great to work with and I learned a couple handfulls of things along the way. We wanted to followup with appreciation for the inputs on this thread and show it off at roughly two three feet.

Some wood is just a beech to work on?

Props to mtnboomer for a quality job at a very reasonable price. Doesn't even look like the same stock in person.

Yep!

So are there any other options for trying to bleach out a darkened stock, especially in the checkering? I know this probably goes against all woodworking rules but what about actually using a diluted chlorine bleach solution? And I've got another question about finishing. Does anyone use Minwax Helmsman?

I can't speak to the chlorine bleach- never tried it because I had heard that it attacks the nitrocellulose of the wood. Someone more knowledgeable needs to answer that.

As for Minwax Helmsman spar urethane, I've been using it a lot lately but my all time favorite remains Epifanes spar varnish.

You are mostly right... but it is just cellulose it attacks. Nitrocellulose is made by mixing nitric acid into cellulose for stuff like gunpowder.

The best wood bleach I have found is Daly's Two Part Wood Bleach.

http://www.dalyswoodfinishes.com/st...duct_info&cPath=5&products_id=22

It is not good at getting through finish so it must be applied on bare wood, but it will take all of the color out if you ask it to.

Helmsman is not bad finish and better than most spar varnishes, but I also prefer Epifanes when I can find it.

Ha ha, I stand corrected. Must've been an "explosive" brain fart! (Groan...)

The Daly's 2 part stuff is hydrogen peroxide in one bottle and lye mixed with silicate in the other. It does an admirable job of whitening skulls, too.