Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Linseed Oil

Bullwinkl,<BR>I can't post photos, but I'll get someone who can to do it, when I can get some time, in the near future.<P>I can't argue your post, and I certainly agree that the stright grain layout is the only way to go on a real hunting rifle, and the use of nearly poreless wood that is sho nuff dry, such as Turkish walnut helps a lot also....<P>I'm a fan of laminated wood and I have all the lesser qualitity Turkish I get laminated with the bad color inside and the pretty stuff outside, really makes a pretty stock and as good as you can get....<P>I do use a plastic finish on the laminated wood, usually Varathane 66 or the two part stuff....and then when it gets built up I knock off the shine with rotten stone and oil....I cannot stand shiney wood, but shiney wood is the most waterproof, no doubt...but "good wood" is near as good as laminate, if its dry and properly cured and then sealed and finished properly, I have had no problems with mine, over the years and they have not changed POI in several years.... <P>------------------<BR>Ray Atkinson<BR>atkinsonhunting.com<BR>208-326-4120

Ray and Art I believe we got us a tie here. Neither one of you or my self really use a traditional finish and all finishes work. None of us has any problems with craze in the finish, stock warpage dosn't seem to be a problem and we all are justly proud of our work. There are a great many factors that dictate why we do what we do with our stocks.<BR>I am probably the farthest from tradition in my choise of finish material but am also, I believe, closest to tradition in prep work. Ray as I stated in an earlier posting you have the most to lose by changing from what you know works, Art you have the cognative ability and desire to expirement in a controlled method and environment, me I just expirement with nothing to lose but my labor, and we all have a finish that we use. Looks to me we got us a tie. Now I gota go steal me some more dog bones to work on my stocks. <P>Bullwnkl.

Art and Sitka get my vote for being the most grown-up folks I've read in a discussion board -- to disagree like that and not get ****y about it shows a lot of maturity.<P>I do have a thought that Bulwnkle prompted regarding weather sensitive wood: it seems that if you take a piece of wood that is not totally dry and then seal it completely, even if no water can get in, won't temperature changes cause the wood to expand and contract and thus bend with the grain because of the moisture that is already inside the stock? If this is a phenomena that occurs it would seem that proper drying of stock blanks would be a factor in making a great wood stock. Then again, what do I know?

Erik <BR>Thanks for the compliment, I'm sure Mr Atkinson would have liked to choke me a time or two there in the discussion, but we did make it through.<P>To your question about wood changing size with temperature, actually it does almost no longitudinal changing, and extremely little lateral movement. Enough that a pressure point type fore end might react a tiny bit, but most of that would be a result of the metal moving, as it does more changing than wood. <P>The exact numbers are basically fluff, but the idea is that wood gets dry to a fairly uniform point without changing size, then starts changing like crazy, only to slow down and stop moving when it gets real dry.<P>Understand that I am refering, as you stipulated, to very well sealed wood. If the wood is not very nearly water-proof, all bets are off in the stability arena. But those changes are a result of a size change induced by a change in water content, not temp. Rambled a bit here and have a kid hollering at me to get in the hot tub, so I gotta run. <BR>art<P>------------------<BR>Life is too short to hunt with an ugly gun.

I make boats, fiber-glass boats, and we see that even completely man made products can and do absorb water. Point is no matter what you use as a finish it is likely that some amount of moisture will penetrate, you are simply trying to slow the process down enough to use the gun while it is exposed to the elements, then remove it from said elements when the hunt is over.<BR>On a related subject Sitka Deer, would you think that an isiothalic based resin would work as a base using MEKP as a catalyst??? Then you could finish it with whatever oil you prefer.

Wish I could answer that, but my testing has been limited to epoxy and various polyester resins. Am not familiar with that terminology for any of the resins I've used. <P>You are right about the difficulty in keeping tupper-ware boats from wicking through the gel coat, but with a stock finish you are dealing with a smaller, more easily controlled surface. It works amazingly well.<BR>art<P>------------------<BR>Life is too short to hunt with an ugly gun.

Isothalic resin is in the polyester family and will cross link naturally but takes years. By using Methel Ethel Keytone Peroxide, MEKP, along with other chemicals in much lesser proportions you can speed up that process to minutes.<BR>The reason I ask is because I have access to it from my work place, by way of clear gel coat. Do you think thinning it with acetone would have a negative effect, because in it's natural state it is quite thick? I'm only talking like 10-15%.

Would not use the acetone because it evaporates and leaves tiny holes in the process. When used in epoxy to coat wood the result is a finish which does a good job of sealing the wood, but nothing like as good as unthinned epoxy.<BR>art <P>------------------<BR>Life is too short to hunt with an ugly gun.

Just bringing this to the top for ease of locating it, should anyone be looking, as a result of JJ's question on the big game thread.<BR>art

Sitka Deer:<P>Riggggghttt. You might as well admit it, you like stirring the pot, and I don't mean gumbo. LOL

SSSSSHHHHH!!!!! Don't blow what little cover I might have!<BR>art

Sitka Deer:<P>You've got about as much cover as some of those dancers in those all nude bars that I HEAR they have in the big cities. If I ever get to a big city I will give you a further report, purely for intellectual investigative purposes, of course. If you pay the bar tab, I would give you my notes and photos and maybe you could write an article on it, something like "Nudity Exposed".