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The “boss” has her standards.

DF

Low, though they obviously are!

Need him here to scare the mice away.

Just show them your methods of stock finishing... that will scare anything and everything!

Yeah it is so hard a spear thrower might be baffled. Yet they put up 20 ton rocks to make buildings. Now you want a 20 second finish to look like months of work. The spray gun makes it easy but you can do it by hand too.
Do you know T Rex bones are radioactive and need special pant on them? I had to prime walls before painting but now we have paint to cover with one coat and prime too.
I only scare the ones that have no brains. Too complicated for so many.

ok, well I did end up purchasing a stock that will need final fit and finish (not the stock mentioned in original post). It is American black walnut.

Can someone lead me to the steps to take to final finish. I understand it takes patience and doing a little at a time. I guess first is fitting the barreled action with follower and floorplate. Then onto any shaping if desired.

Then ONTO the final finish work????? sanding, stain, sealer, etc etc......

Good luck. Those here will overcome all of what you need to do to even fit the action. A smith is not born and the net will lead you astray fast. I have built hundreds of stocks from planks of wood, Not pre cut. Chainsaw a plank from a tree and season to make a rifle stock. A missing fore arm from a double shotgun and the missing metal. The guys do not understand finish at all. Over 10 minutes is too long. Smiths do not get rich. Takes months for a stock. I confuse the stupid.

yeah, I am starting to get a little confused...

Will reread this tonite after a couple tequilas.

Ahhh... the explanation! You confuse yourself!

Yes, you are right, getting the wood ready to finish comes before finish, and after final fitting.

Get it inserted by smoking the barreled action and inserting it to look for soot spots. Use action pins to guide the metal into the wood. Remove the sooty spots and repeat until the action goes into the stock halfway. Make sure the bore centerline is exactly aligned with the top of the fore end.

Then shape the outside. Then block sand with progressively finer sandpaper right down to perfect. Keep the edges crisp!

Good walnut does not need stain.

Red lip stick works well instead of sooting. A tad faster too

I agree with the other opinions offered here. I would avoid boiled linseed oil- it usually has contaminants floating around in it. Depending on how dark you want the stock to be, you can just use Tung Oil or Danish Oil.

Here is a Danish Oil finish on a Remington 721 which I glass bedded into a Remington 78 stock. Remington had soaked it in their idea of a good stain, and none of the grain showed. I took all the Remington bastardization off and, after final sanding, rubbed Danish Oil in using a small square of 600 grit paper. I think it ended up wearing 6 coats, and it looks good. YMMV

I use Canode inletting blue. It washes off with water. I do not want greases or oils in my inletting since I seal them.

Haven't been this entertained in quite some time. brf reminds me of someone, but for the life of me I can't remember his handle. Anyone remember the handle of the guy who went on the free African hunt with Saeed? This guys sounds just like him...

Does anyone remember what the original question was? Or if the OP is even still around?

As far as finishing, might as well scrap this thread and start over again, or do a search on stock finishing. You won't learn anything from the back and forth on this thread without knowing who knows what they are talking about and who doesn't. I do know the personalities, but that would just confuse you even more....

As far as the finishing/shaping goes, you can do it yourself but be prepared to get a few good tools if you want to do a good job. A barrel channel cutter or scraper(s) would be good, along with a few very sharp chisels of different shapes. Some good quality sand paper and various flat sanding blocks and a few flexible sanding blocks for the rounded corners. Inletting black is handy but not required if you know how to soot your metal. A good wood working vise with soft jaws to protect the wood is essential. I put a piece of very heavy felt in my jaws to protect the wood. If you are really ambitious, get yourself one of the stockmaking books by Westbrook, Linden, or Kennedy and read up about stockmaking and finishing.... one thing to remember is patience is a huge virtue in stock making, shaping, finishing.

Okay, let the entertainment continue...

Bob

Larry Potterfield has some great gunsmithing videos. A few of them:

Gunsmithing - How to Reshape a Rifle Stock Presented by Larry Potterfield of MidwayUSA

Gunsmithing - How to Inlet a Semi-Inletted Rifle Stock Presented by Larry Potterfield of MidwayUSA

Gunsmithing - How to Sand a Rifle Stock Presented by Larry Potterfield of MidwayUSA

And here is a link to a thread on finishing. You might see some familiar User ID's on this thread:

Rifle stock finish

And here is a link to custom google search for the 24hourcampfire forums. You can do a search for more stock finishing threads:

24hourcampfire Custom Search

Edit to add link to NEW MEMBER PRIMER AND OLD MEMBER REFERENCE - FOR READING ONLY, NO EXTRANIOUS POSTING thread at the top of the Hunters Campfire forum which has a bunch of reference links to previous threads, many of which deal with stocks and finishing:

Stocks, stock finishing and re-finishing

Russel E. Taylor.

Yes. I'm still around...just posted earlier today on this thread.

Some good links here is what I'm looking for. My first time doing a wood stock, it's already semi inletted, just need to fit my barreled action. Then finish the wood.

Looking for a nice finish that will look good

Probably the easiest finish to get right is Truoil. A drop or two on the finger tip rubbed into a small area and move to the next area and so on. Several coats (4-6) will get you where you want to go after filling the pores of course. It will be pretty glossy after about 4 coats. If you don't want the gloss, let it cure for 30 days and knock it down with rotten stone or some other finish rubbing compound.
The best sealer and base for any finish is Shellac. Fresh if possible. It isn't very robust so it doesn't make a good final coat, but will seal almost anything and any finish known to man will adhere to it.

Another quick and easy finish that will come out great if you take your time and use light coats is a good spray lacquer. Most of the factory stocks are some type of sprayed on lacquer with a color additive to give it that red tint you often see in factory stocks. I prefer it clear and semi gloss. Be careful of following some "experts" and their "miracle finishes", usually including Super glue or armor all and any finishes that include silicone in their list of ingredients. Beyond that, it is mainly a matter of practice and patience.

Good luck with the project. Pictures will be required.

Bob

What did he just say??