Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles School me on stock refinishing

Buy a tiny can of spar varnish and some fresh oil from a paint or art supply store. Apply the spar varnish full strength for the first coat. Let it stand for about 15 minutes and wipe dry with a clean rag. Apply another coat the same way then refill the can with the oil and stir well.

Continue applying the finish and then refilling with oil every couple coats.

You will have a spar varnish finish underneath and oil on top. It will look like oil, fill like spar varnish, and be very easy to repair.

Thank you for the info Sitka deer. I'll grab a can of marine grade spar and a fresh bottle of Tung Oil.


SD

Do not go to any extra trouble to find Tung if they have good linseed oil. Despite advertising, there is no real difference between the two and they are used interchangeably in the industry in finish blends.

Tung is not used in food as there is a high incidence of people allergic to it... linseed oil is used in food and sets the grade a little lower for linseed as the best oil goes to the food industry. The best tung oil goes into finish... The problem is the oil you can buy is usually not the best grade of tung either.

Not good at all. The first time you take it out in the rain will ruin the finish {I've seen it personally}. It says "for interior use only" on the can and they mean it.

Thanks guys, I'll post some before and after shots once complete.

SD

The advice to use Antique Oil is good. I've done two walnut stocks with it, and both look great. Do sand with up to 600 grit, then raise the grain and repeat a couple of times. Thin the oil on the first coat foe max penetration.

That said, I just made a few wooden things for a niece and I used pure Tung Oil instead of my old standby, boiled linseed oil. One item was in walnut and the other in Cherry, and I was stunned at how nice they came out. Tung Oil filled wood pores far better than BLO does. Next gunstocks I refinish will be with Tung Oil.

As for Antique Oil and Tru Oil, they and several others are just versions of the same thing, which is a mix of varnish, mineral spirits, and an oil, which can be Tung Oil or BLO.

So if you buy Tung Oil, I'm talking about the stuff Woodcraft sells, which is pure Tung Oil. The Watco Tung Oil is a mix like Tru Oil is. And if you want to use the Antique Oil, but can't get it, buy and use the Danish Oil in the original version.

And then there's the real oil finish, which can take months. If I was going to try that, I'd use that pure Tung Oil. Should look terrific.

Steve... Don't be too afraid of it... Get a book on gunstock finishing and go to town.. If you want advice go down to see Frank in Eatonville. He is the kind of gunsmith that will help you out. Good honest man...I'm not claiming to be an expert but he thought me a lot..

Reread my post or this one.

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/3329114/1

Ed, I read your post again and went to the link. The Custom Oil looks like a fine idea. It's nothing new, being just another version of the Oil/mineral spirits/varnish blends. I certainly do approve of Tung Oil, now that I've has some good success with it. As for just an oil finish on a stock, I've got one that I did 20 years ago. Looks great. Lots of ways to do a stock, though I'm not a fan of a layer type finish like spray on varnish, even though that's one of the best of keeping out moisture.

Of all the statements you made about finishes only one is correct... I leave you to guessing which one that is.

Sitka, I reread all of your posts. Your refinishing ideas are somewhat less than terrific. We will agree to disagree.

You were the one that suggested that as much of the original finish be left on as possible. That's why I had to go back and reread what you wrote, since I had quit reading when I saw that first poor suggestion.

As someone frequently consulted for finishing issues on a wide range of wood substrates, a great deal of lab time working on better finishes, and a ton of practical experience over many years, please feel free to guess away as you have been.

To suggest you have any insight over the simple suggestion to leave as much finish as possible, when you have no idea about any other aspect of wood finish is amusing.

Especially when you have no idea which of your statements about wood finish is correct. Read some of my posts for the past 10+ years here and learn a little something about the facts and myths in wood finishing. Anyone suggesting they have used BLO more than once on a non-military stock is a fool, period.

There are many that should be asking advice, not giving it...

I've been doing finishing for a long time, as you apparently have. I suppose we all have our favorite techniques. Being a woodworker, I am constantly trying new finishes, with the ideal finish being the best finish for the least amount of work. I've used, and been happy with Antique Oil, and have had no blotching issues, though I haven't had it snowed on yet. That was, compared to an old style hand rubbed oil finish, pretty easy. These days I'm thinking that using Tung oil in place of BLO might speed up the process of the hand rubbed oil finish, which is my favorite stock finish.

What I don't normally like on a gunstocks are the old style film finishes, like the one you suggested could be repaired. It didn't look that good to start with, so I saw no logic in keeping it.

As for your 10+ years of posts on finishes, good for you. I'm sure you are good at it, but maybe...just maybe...you aren't the only person worthy of an opinion, as your manner would suggest is the case.

And...it just occurred to me that I do have a bolt action that could use a new finish. It presently has a hand rubbed oil finish that's probably25 years old. If you will, please outline the finish you would recommend. I'm quite serious, in that I will consider using what you recommend. I'm out of woodworking projects at the moment and could use a new one. Please outline it stepwise, so that I don't miss something. Maybe I'll learn something, and will then give you the respect that you demand. Ok?

I do not want, let alone demand anything from you, and least of all your respect. You come in here posting a bunch of utter garbage finishing advice and send lots of folks off on all sorts of bad roads.

BLO is, was, and forever shall be junk as a quality stock finish. Your comments show you failed to notice the very obvious...

Any interior blended finish such as Minwax Antique oil, Danish oils, and such are light years away from Tru-Oil. Your suggestion on the compositions of them are not close and miss the big issues. They will blotch and badly when used in bad weather.

You suggest maximizing penetration by thinning with a solvent. You obviously have never done it on a test board and then cut the board in half to see how much deeper it didn't take the finish. I have many times just to show what happens.

You obviously do not understand what happens to the finish as the solvents leave either.

I do not have to post opinion as I can rely on facts. When it is an opinion I note the fact.

If you do a search you should find lots of examples of finish suggestions I have made. There are lots of choices in finishes and opinions about which is best for a given set of circumstances. As long as the underlying facts about a particular finish are true and understood they may be chosen by opinion based on those facts.

There are several other folks here that have a very good handle on finishing and give outstanding advice. And there are plenty of the clueless sort that continue to fail to understand.

Tru-Oil, which I think you seem to like, is just a wiping varnish like Antique Oil, Formby's, Watco Danish Oil, Waterlox (my favorite, by the way). Wiping varnishes vary in % composition, so they can be a bit different in final appearance or drying time. If the oil is Tung, it'll dry faster than if the oil is BLO.

Tru Oil is 56% mineral spirits or turpentine, 33 % oil varnish, and 11% oil (Tung, I think, though some say it's BLO).

So all I get from you is just a superior sounding blather. Tell me your favorite finish and I might give it a try if I like the way it sounds.

You would do well to actually know something before posting it... Your Tru-Oil composition is amusing and so far from reality it is laughable. The MSDS should show about those numbers for mineral spirits, but please enlighten me on where you get the idea turpentine could be interchangeable and just exactly what "oil varnish" is.

Now, read this carefully, because you are posing and in the worst way. There is no difference between tung and linseed oil in any meaningful way. BLO is never used in a commercial blend as it is a different product made with linseed oil, usually. BLO is where the worst grade of linseed oil goes. Many polymerization inhibitors are used to keep it from curing on the shelf or in transit. There are also curing catalysts, but poor ones.

Tru-Oil is made with whatever oil is most economical and meets Birchwood-Casey's grade that week. It is often a mix but may be either.

I could go on, but you get the point, maybe?

I suppose that you aren't going to give me your favorite stock finish info.

Oil varnish differentiates it from a water based varnish (as in "oil based paint"). Tung Oil dries faster than BLO and sets up harder - making it better for water resistance, though Oils and Wiping Varnishes aren't that great at repelling moisture. That said, some of the very finest gunstock finishes are hand rubbed oil finishes - tung based or BLO based.

Hate to be confrontational. Would rather be nice. However, if you've been spreading your 'info' on this forum for over 10 years, you haven't been doing many favors to budding stock finishers. Though I suppose that if you just pointed them to Tru-Oil you've done a good job. But...it's just a wiping varnish, like Antique Oil.

And why the reluctance to share your favorite stock finish for Walnut? I really would like to know what it is. Learning, at any age, is good. That's why I drove a couple hundred miles to spend a few days with a real woodworking professional some years ago. I did learn a few things, but the good thing that I learned is that I wasn't doing anything particularly wrong. He was, at that time, in the process of making some small side tables from various woods and in various styles, and selling them for $6000 each. Once I got my hands on his finishing process, I made a side table for my wife. Just lovely, it is, and about as nice as what he makes and sells. Makes me happy just to look at it. What doesn't make me happy is that walnut stock on my 220. Give me your finishing secrets and I'll give it a go. Thanks.

Last time... You are pretending to have a clue. I pulled out the MSDS for Tru-Oil and find you have the numbers exactly right, proving your source for the "info" but you substituted several things to sound like you have a clue.

Why would a finish manufacturer use a completed finish as an ingredient? Hint, they wouldn't.

Why would the varnish solvents not be listed under the solvents? Hint, they wouldn't.

How would proprietary modified oils compare to that oil varnish as a component? Hint, wildly different...

I have typed out many different formulas for different woods as gunstock finishes and even showed specific test results from at least a hundred different finishes. They are all here and very easy to find.

My personal favorite is a slow-cure epoxy with any number of oil finishes on top, but I do not suggest it be used for refinishing.

I think it is wonderful you are a hobby woodworker and have fine results with indoor finishes on indoor goods... doesn't mean you have a clue about stock finishes.

My personal favorite is a slow-cure epoxy with any number of oil finishes on top,

Sorry if I am misunderstanding you but, you would put epoxy on first and oil on top???
Sorry but I don't think that will work. If you go the other way as I have and use something like Watco then put a satin urethane on top, that and makes a nice durable finish.

Blacktailer;
Good afternoon to you sir, I trust this finds you doing well on the last Friday in August.

Obviously I'm not Sitka deer, but I will say that based upon some his advice I've done at least three stocks now with a base layer of slow cure epoxy - G2 in this case - followed by successive layers of Tru Oil.

This stock was done for the watch Sargent of a good friend - the maple spacers and rosewood tip and grip cap were his specific instructions.


Sometimes actually I've found that G2 will work a bit like shellac in that it will seal an oily wood like such as some exotics tend to be and allow a nice even finish done with oil after.

Anyway that's been my experience with using that method. Hopefully it was useful information for you or someone out there.

Good luck on your stocking projects whichever way you decide and on your hunts this fall too.

Dwayne