Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Best and easiest gun stock finish?

There's lots of good oil finishes, as long as the gun won't be subjected to much extreme weather. For best protection in the elements a good barrier finish is way better.

The secret to any finish though is as Tejano said- prep, to include pore filling, and final treatment. Merely sanding to fine grit, slopping on a couple coats of oil, and walking away from it will give a serviceable finish but it won't look very elegant- and if you've invested a few hours of work what's a few hours more to do do it right?

Regardless of the oil used, the very last thing to do is apply a good paste wax. It'll bring up a luster after rubbing out but primarily it'll actually provide a modicum of water resistance that an oil finish denies you.

Depending on how pricey the gun is dictates what kinds of finish I use. As to your question as to best and easy, those two words don't go together. But I've done quick and easy, on occasion using Pro Custom Oil spray. It turned out pretty nice.
Phil

Recently I have been using Timberluxe. www.timberluxe.com

It works particularly well on finish repairs and is easy to blend.

Minwax Helsman Spar Varnish with a touch of good Tung oil from an artist shop as Art explains.

This can be a really great finish if applied properly but I don't use it much for one simple reason that is strictly personal- for the most part Varnishes give a very amber tone to everything you put them on. And over time they will darken. My personal preference has always to finish wood as natural as possible, especially highly figured wood. I find that Truoil , and lately Water based Urethane give a more natural color and look to the wood and leave the natural colors. I did a Fiddleback Maple stock recently and really wanted to keep it as light as possible so I sealed it with several coats of water based Urethane. then after sanding I applied Truoil to get a smooth finish and ended up with just the color I wanted. For some reason, no matter how hard I tried those spray cans of Urethane simply would not go on smooth and even so I had to build it up layer after layer until the wood was sealed, then switch over to Truoil for the surface finish and gloss...

Bob

I agree, the water-based urethane is nearly blue and will not yellow. The spray cans are tough to get right. Thinning it way down and shooting it with an HVLP gun works very well. Another tip when using them is to get Norton Nor-Zon sandpaper. It is blue and is far better than other sandpaper for the purpose.

Thanks for the tip on the Nor Zon paper Art... what do you thin the water based Urethane with?

Bob

To me, wood is a traditional material that calls for a traditional finish. That would be BLO or Tru Oil. I would also wax it after finishing it with oil. Canauba wax or Rennaisance Wax, both of which are just a temporary protectant. To me, this is the way stocks should look. Sealing them and polishing them to high gloss does not appeal to my senses. Obviously, these traditional finishes are not state-of-the-art for protection and carefree service. For that, I would take a synthetic stock.

I also think it's important to recognize that we're talking about a DIY job here. If I was buying a Purdey or H&H, I would be glad to let them decide how to finish it and I think I would be happy with their decision.

Gunsav'r Satin on top of Herters French Red grain filler is pretty much the standard of the gunsmithing colleges. No big learning curve or crazy labor expenditure of the old finishes.