Youper:<BR> <BR>From A Troll!<P>Sitka is right about Linseed oil and Tung oil being hydroscopic. The major difference is that Tung oil IS a little more waterproof than linseed oil and will not darken the stock as much as linseed oil. Linseed oil in its natural state has a water content of about 6% if I remember right. Now if you boil it you get all the H2O out right?(BLO) Package it, take it home open the can and leave it open and guess what after a couple of hours ....6% water.My guess is that the Tung oil you've been buying up there in the UP, whether it say's Formby's or Minwax or Hope's has somewhere in the title the word 'finish'. If it does you can count your apples it's more varnish than Tung oil. If you want pure Tung oil, Brownell's has it And I have found it at some Pratt & Lambert Paint stores. The standard mix, if you want to duplicate the military look is a 50/50 mix with turpentine and additionally if you can find it, melt a little beeswax in a double boiler and add that to the mix. This will make it a little more waterproof. The Varethane finish is an excellent all-round finish on a new stock ( the Colorado School of Trades uses it in their 'smithing courses) but I have had compatibility problems on old stocks that had been stripped, My problem was that it took forever to dry!(a week between coats) I'm sure it was preparation problem on my part.Additionaly, I have found it extremely hard to find, even in a metropolitan area. I finally wound up special ordering it. Sitka is also right about a shortcut, I use one or two coats of polyurethane varnish, thinned 50%, or Thompsons Water-Lox,unthinned, sanded wet with mineral spirits between coats, and then finish up with a couple of coats of your favorite oil libation( not Budweiser or Mobil)<P>A short note on Michigan demographics and Trolls: <BR>Michigan is divided into halves: The Upper Peninsula and the Lower Peninsula. Two entirely different worlds! They are connected only by a bridge, The Mackinaw bridge. Trolls' live under bridges. So anybody who lives in the Lower peninsula is called a Troll. And if you live in the Upper Peninsula your'e a 'Youper', short for a UP'r. To paraphrase; There are only two kinds, them that are Youpers and them that want to be Youpers. ....oaklane
