First off, you don't "fill the grain", you fill the pores. And the fact that you preach filling pores with finishing oil tempts me to walk away and have yet another beer.
One point you got right- good finishes don't happen overnight in the land of craftsmanship. As with everything else in life, what you get out of something equals what you put into it.
We have coasted along respecting each other's opinions (by and large), earnestly sharing good info, and debating/sharing smithing techniques in a gentlemanly manner (by and large) for quite a while now- I guess we're overdue a boob who still believes in old wive's tales and urban legends, and spouts them as incontrovertible law. I guess we're overdue a good old fashioned Campfire pissing match. It's good entertainment if nothing else. Or not....
"You can lead a man to logic, but you cannot make him think." Joe Harz "Always certain, often right." Keith McCafferty
I use Custom Pro Oil, a urethane/Tung oil finish from Brownells. I soak the well prepared wood with Pro Oil, wet sand in circular motions with 400 wet or dry, allow is to become a slurry. As it thickens, I wipe across the grain to fill the pores. I do that a couple of time, dry time, 24 hrs.
I then apply a number of Tru-Oil coats to finish the fill, then the last two coats with Pro Oil. I lightly wipe the Pro Oil with a blue shop towel, single layer.
This is an Old Army Clements custom 50 cal, burl rosewood grips with that finish. Rosewood can be oily with problem getting the finish to dry. Soaking in acetone pulls a lot of that oil out. The Ruger medallions originally had black background paint. Acetone took care of that. A silver medallion on a SS gun looks good, IMO. That was by accident.
My understanding from comments is most want a 1 day oil rubbed finish. It can take weeks to fill the grain alone but you want a custom stock in a few hours. Just paint with grey deck paint. Checker? I bet there might be one here that can do it, the rest will pay to have it done. I can tell with one question, when do you checker? "My stock has 50 coats of linseed oil, M1 rubbed every day so it must be thick." Brilliant! Have fun guys, I just chuckle over you that hate me, it shows a lack of smarts with no experience at all. Strange nobody shows pictures either. I would expect you would want to show your work.
Coming in as you did, so completely wrong, and arguing ridiculously in other threads is certainly setting a pattern...
Congratulations...
Mark Begich, Joaquin Jackson, and Heller resistance... Three huge reasons to worry about the NRA.
My understanding from comments is most want a 1 day oil rubbed finish. It can take weeks to fill the grain alone but you want a custom stock in a few hours. Just paint with grey deck paint. Checker? I bet there might be one here that can do it, the rest will pay to have it done. I can tell with one question, when do you checker? "My stock has 50 coats of linseed oil, M1 rubbed every day so it must be thick." Brilliant! Have fun guys, I just chuckle over you that hate me, it shows a lack of smarts with no experience at all. Strange nobody shows pictures either. I would expect you would want to show your work.
Where are your pictures?
Easy, peesy, too large to post. Restrictions to size prevents it. I have tried many times.
I agree, Nice job. I don't like shiny on my rifles and prefer hand rubbed but when I did my Tru Oil long ago and made the layers of dried coats then rubbed with rotten stone, I broke through a layer and only another coat hid it. But the last was still shiny. Coats are so thin that a rub through will be made. Lacquer finish works since solvent softens the first coats to make thicker. But not what we want on a gun. Tricky stuff. Dries so fast it must be sprayed and even the new stuff is hard to use. It was when I came to the use of a little spray gun and not letting each coat get full hard that I eliminated the rub through. Sanding between coats or using steel wool only abrades the surface so another coat will stick. The solvent in oil will not combine with the first coat if it is dry. The reason I use Tru oil to fill grain or pores as some say is so light makes the wood pop and if you turn a stock you will see the changes for the beauty of the wood. A filler hides that. If you use tung oil, also fill the pores with it first. Now a big bore revolver must never have smooth, shiny grips or you can't control the "roll". The gun should never "roll' in your hand. Looks don't make them shoot. They become safe queens to show off.
DF Nice pistola. Looks like you should wear a white Stetson and a silver badge when you shoot it.
I have been using a varnish/shellac mix as a filler. Baker, Parker and LC Smith used something similar on their shotguns. I initially wanted the garnet color of the shellac but liked how it improved drying time and adhesion so will do some more this way. If it lasts as long as it does on a Parker Shotgun say 100 plus years I will be happy with it. The shellac reduces the hardness of the varnish but not an issue since I sand it back to almost bare wood. For a rough use rifle you could reduce the shellac or omit it entirely and just use spar varnish as filler.
I use alkanet oil then Varnish/Shellac mix then more oil or what ever mix you like. The shellac helps insure most finishes will stick. Use the appropriate color shellac for the type wood. Like blonde on Maple, Garnet on walnut etc.
"When you disarm the people, you commence to offend them and show that you distrust them either through cowardice or lack of confidence, and both of these opinions generate hatred." Niccolo Machiavelli
Every photo editing program includes a "resize" button or slide. It allows you to keep the original and produce a second file with fewer pixels to post... mere seconds... and there are many, many such programs available free.
Mark Begich, Joaquin Jackson, and Heller resistance... Three huge reasons to worry about the NRA.
I agree, Nice job. I don't like shiny on my rifles and prefer hand rubbed but when I did my Tru Oil long ago and made the layers of dried coats then rubbed with rotten stone, I broke through a layer and only another coat hid it. But the last was still shiny. Coats are so thin that a rub through will be made. Lacquer finish works since solvent softens the first coats to make thicker. But not what we want on a gun. Tricky stuff. Dries so fast it must be sprayed and even the new stuff is hard to use. It was when I came to the use of a little spray gun and not letting each coat get full hard that I eliminated the rub through. Sanding between coats or using steel wool only abrades the surface so another coat will stick. The solvent in oil will not combine with the first coat if it is dry. The reason I use Tru oil to fill grain or pores as some say is so light makes the wood pop and if you turn a stock you will see the changes for the beauty of the wood. A filler hides that. If you use tung oil, also fill the pores with it first. Now a big bore revolver must never have smooth, shiny grips or you can't control the "roll". The gun should never "roll' in your hand. Looks don't make them shoot. They become safe queens to show off.
Sorry, but every time you post something it leaves everyone with a clue shaking their heads. Your basic comprehension of finishing is so badly wrong there is simply no way to correct it.
Mark Begich, Joaquin Jackson, and Heller resistance... Three huge reasons to worry about the NRA.
"When you disarm the people, you commence to offend them and show that you distrust them either through cowardice or lack of confidence, and both of these opinions generate hatred." Niccolo Machiavelli