Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Rifle stock finish

Marine Spar Varnish, properly buffed.

I asked this on the gunsmith forum but received no answers.

I'm currently finishing a walnut stock.

While I've been finishing my rifle stocks in tung oil, linseed oil, Truoil, I read that these are poor choices. What's the best finish to use?

I don't often hunt in the rain, but do at times. I also don't hunt much in negative 20 degrees or lower but sometimes do.

I'm probably over cautious when hunting and most of the dings are from the safe.
So what finish should I use? I like the oil finish look btw.

Thanks!

No point in mixing tung oil and linseed oil. They have nearly identical properties, and as such are often used interchangeably by the folks who make wood finishing products. Anything to the contrary is urban myth.

Repairing a scratch on a stock that was finished with oil is as time consuming and laborious as repairing a scratch in a barrier finish, if done so as to be perfectly invisible. No real advantage to an oil finish in that regard.

I've been doing stock work for 40 years, and believe me when I say I tried what seemingly is every stock finish known to man. (Said half in jest- no one can try them all.) Inserted into that experience was a half lifetime career as a yacht carpenter- which will teach a guy a lot about weather impermeable finishes. From all that, I've taken away a couple basic observations: oil finishes are warm, pleasing, and certainly apropos for a gun that will spend its life being admired a lot, shot occasionally, and hunted with in fair weather. If you want real protection from the elements, on a gun that will see use in all manner of environments, nothing beats a barrier finish (or better yet, a synthetic stock).

Anymore, I just do a barrier finish. My finish of choice is straight spar varnish. If done properly it can be as aesthetically pleasing as a "hand rubbed oil finish" and provide great protection from water fenestration (although no finish is perfect in that regard). No matter what approach one takes, finishing a stock is a time consuming proposition. Figure at least as much time to finish a project as it took to build it, and often much more. There are no shortcuts or magic formulae in this game if you wish for a world class finish.

A properly applied varnish finish, consisting of maybe 10 coats block sanded between coats, rubbed out at the end and finally waxed can fool laymen into believing they are holding a supremely well done "oil finished" stock. Example:





Custom Savage 1899 I recently built (.22 Hi Power takedown). Ten coats spar varnish.

Stock finishing opinions are like a**holes- everybody has one. It's just that so many guys fail to investigate the science involved or conduct their own experiments, relying instead on myth, old wive's tales, advertising claims, and advice handed down by Pappy (originally based upon same).

Last thought: Many say that gun companies and government arsenals used oil finishes since forever and they held up just fine. Remember though, those folks employed oil finishes not because they were the very best available but because they were quick and cheap.