Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Spar Varnish

Can this be applied over a tung oil finish or the does the tung oil need to be removed? Also, what type of spar finish do you recommend? Looking to get my rifle ready for a sheep season and want to make it as waterproof as possible. No comments about getting synthetic...I'm taking the wood. Thanks, JAB

I went to Alaska several times around Ketchikan, it doesn't get much wetter than there. I took wood stocked guns and once a stainless gun. When I had the wood stocked guns I got Birchwood Casey Gun Stock Wax and put several liberal coatings on the wood and metal. It helps keep the gun from too much weather.

As long as the tung oil finish is fully cured you shouldn't have a problem. I've used Minwax Helmsman Spar Urethane in the rattle can. I like the clear satin version.

I would just use Johnsons paste wax.

Spar varnish can be used over tung oil if the surface is roughened a bit with sandpaper.

It will have to be a full refinish job and will have a few complications:
Checkering will be either finished around or covered and recut. The chances for "easy" and "goodlooking" are not as high as your local bar... OOPPPPssss just noticed you are also in AK... will be about as tough as your local bar... And goodlooking will probably be the tough part!

Adding a built-up finish layer, like spar varnish, will mess with wood to metal fit at the edges...

Silicone from gun gun socks and car waxes, among other sources, may give you finishing fits. Fish eyes can be a real bummer to deal with in refinish jobs...

There are other considerations, but those are the biggies that come to mind.

On the plus side you will get better weatherproofing of the wood, but a proper coat of wax will do a lot and with a little care the wood will be fine enough for your ordinary AK needs...

Damaged areas in the finish are the big problem and if you have many the refinish would be a good idea. Short of that, I would live with it until the finish is compromised....
art

As long as the oil is well and truly cured, you can do it. You'll have to scuff the entire surface with fine (320 grit) paper to get good adhesion, and make doubly sure you wash any trace of wax off first with solvents. To guarantee adhesion, a wash coat of shellac applied next will help. Not Bullseye Shellac off the shelf of the big box store, either. Get blonde shellac flakes and dissolve in alcohol, only as much as you'll need. No guarantee that the stuff in the can is only a day or two fresh!

If the gun has been subjected to "protection" with WD-40 or (shudder) Armor-All, forget it, even if only applied to the metal. Just wax the heck out of the stock and use it. The silicone in those products is insidious stuff and even sanding it down to bare wood won't dismiss all of it. You'll get fisheyes in your varnish finish.

As far as varnishes go, get the very best you can find. Around here, where boats and varnishing abound, Epifanes is the all-time favorite. Very high in solids content and remarkable UV protection. Also rather expensive- $30-40/qt., but it's the best IMO. How much money do you want to save when the protection of your pride-and-joy stock is the issue?

Spar varnish is better by far than urethanes. It's more pliant and as a result will not craze if (when) the stock moves from radical shifts in environmental wetness/temperatures.

I have finished stocks with spar varnish that uninformed folks thought were done with a "hand rubbed oil finish." It, like most things in life worth doing, requires more than a lick-and-a-promise-then-reach-for-the-Tru Oil-approach. The end results are worth it though.

These are my opinions, and to some may not be worth a bucket of warm spit! It's all good.

No, I think your insights are both right on the money and very good.

Thanks folks. The only treatment the stock has had is the tounge oil finish that came with the gun. It's a Kimber select grade and very nice looking. Rebarreled to a 308 and getting setup for this year. I was thinking of going the Tru-oil route until reading about the Spar Varnish. Sounds like worth the effort. Keep the tips coming on what to use. I'll start looking to see what is available locally.

What about a spar and oil mix? Will that improve the toughness and waterproof qualities enough to be worthwhile and still be compatible with the original finish?

Does the shellac base coat introduce any cracking, crazing or wrinkling problems?

Spar and oil is okay, easier to apply for a good looking result, but not as waterproof. It will not improve toughness. A very thin wash of shellac will not cause any such problems... it is there to prevent them. And it does that very well.

You may be referring to my solution for a middle of the road, foolproof, decent finish, which is spar varnish cut gradually through the coats with oil.
art

Get some of this stuff, it's Tung Oil modified Urethane and tougher than spar varnish. www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=5531/Product/PRO_CUSTOM_OIL_GUNSTOCK_FINISH

It will apply right over the tung oil. (does the stuff Kimber use contain a urethane component?) Apply it thinly and rub it down with a lint free rag, let it dry, reapply.

I stopped using spar varnish reduced with equal parts of turpentine as a wood sealer when this stuff came out. Now I seal raw wood with either this product or pure urethane semi-gloss reduced by half with mineral spirits, wet sand with the mix and finish with straight Pro Custom Oil Finish.