Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Finishing a walnut stock.

There are a 1000 different way's to finish a wood stock. Some way's are well thought out and some are just pure voodoo. I'll share my way. It's simple and gives decent results.

After I finish shaping and sanding the stock down using 300gt paper, I stop the sanding process and seal the stock with Permalyn stock sealer. I'll let this dry for at least 8 hours. After that I'll fill the pours in the wood. The way I do this is I'll make a "mud" using rotton stone, bone black and Permalyn stock finish. I mix 3 parts rotton stone to 1 bone black and then mix it with the stock finish until it becomes a paste. Get and old Tee shirt and start rubbing this paste into the pours of the stock. When you do this the stock is going to turn black from the bone black. Don't worry about it, you're going to sand it off later. Let dry and repeat this process a few more times until you feel like you've got all pours filled. IMPORTANT: If this stock is already checkered don't let this paste get in the checkering. If it does use a toothbrush and some mineral spirts and brush it out before it dries. After the stock is dry it'll be completely black and gray. Get a bucket of water and some 300gt wet/dry sand paper and start after it. Keep going until you get all the bone black sanded off the exterior of the stock and it's only in the pours. I usually go over the stock one last time with 500gt paper and call it finished. This will give your wood a VERY rich look to it.

After that I let the stock dry a day or two inside the house. When I feel it's dry I'll seal the stock again with the Permalyn stock sealer. After the sealer is dry I'll hand rub about 3 coats of finish on. I don't do anything inbetween coats but let it dry. After 3 coats are on and dry I'll wet sand VERY,VERY,VERY lightly. Just enough to knock the "fuzzies" off. Be very careful not to break the finish.

When that stage is complete, here is where I vere off the path a little. Most people will rub every single drop of finish on a stock, I don't. the way I do mine is I'll smear the finish on very heavy on about half the stock. I'll let it sit for a minute or two then I buff it off with a Tee shirt. I'll repeat this process about 10-15 times. Enough finish stay's on that it builds up but doesn't leave shiny or dull spots you can get when you hand rub sometimes.

I really like the Permalyn stock finish. It looks and works like an oil but it's a poly finish and is extremaly durable.

Permalym sealer & finish, Rotton stone & Bone Black can all be ordered from MidwayUSA.

Here are some results of this technique. Notice the black purs, it's a nice touch.






Hope that helps,
Terry