Ran across this last night.
Col. Townsend Whelen in his "The American Rifle", published 1918:
The ordinary stock on the straight American rifle is not polished. It is simply varnished. Some high-grade stocks are likewise varnished with a glass-like finish. A varnished stock is an abomination. It looks well when new, but a few weeks of field service covers it with scratches which cannot be obliterated by any amount of rubbing with oil. And when the varnish is worn off such a stock it absorbs water and warps badly. The best stocks are finished or polished simply by repeated rubbings in of raw linseed oil, this finish being given the trade name of "dull London oil finish." Well done in this manner, the stock shows its grain beautifully, has a dull, rich, velvet-like surface which persists, resists dampness splendidly, and if it becomes scratched the scratches can be almost entirely obliterated by a rubbing with raw linseed oil. This is the finish which all stocks and forearms should have.
