Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Wax for walnut stocks

Well Gents, I did not like the color of the checkering, some oil ran into the checkering which made it darker than I wanted and that was obscuring the grain in the checkering.

About 6 to 7 more oil applications left to do before drying it out so I can apply the Wax. I will do the checkering last.

Here is a question I have:

When applying the last application of oil before letting it dry, I am thinking of hand rubbing the stock until my hand heats up so much that I have to take it off the stock.

In my mind, this should help with the drying process and also heat the oil for full penetration. I watched a guy do this on YouTube, have any of you gents done this?

You'll find this interesting, I'm sure.

https://forum.accurateshooter.com/threads/traditional-oil-stock-finishing.4109043/

Thanks, Craigster, I was actually watching a YouTube video this morning about Alkanet Root.

Alkanet Root is a go-to technique especially for the British and a lot of their English Walnut stocks are finished with it to obtain the red and dark rich color, I like the look myself.

I will read the thread in its entirety tomorrow morning!

Have a great evening, Sir

Stick with the Flitz.....it's about the best out there.

Do you guys know if the waxing process fills fine/shallow pores?

In a word, no. If you manage to fill the pores with wax it won't stay there long with any kind of use. That is of course unless you plan to seal it in a glass case forever.

To fill pores there is only one time honored way and that is to fill them with a permanent substance such as, but probably not limited to, varnish or epoxy before the oil finishing protocols are begun. Slather the stuff on, sand back to bare wood, repeat until pores are filled. Filling with the finishing oil itself, by sanding in for example, may provide near-term satisfaction but oil shrinks with time as it fully cures, and often shrinks a lot. What looks good immediately may well not look good next year or 5, 10, or 20 years from now. Of course black walnut is the biggest culprit with its voluminous pores, and thin-shell walnut (ie: English, Circassian, etc. - the trees from which the "English" walnuts come from that we like to crack open at Christmas time) with its smaller tighter pores is much better in that regard.

If looking for a professional grade oil finish, fill the pores first. Trust me, that's what a true professional does. No one ever said it would be easy and accomplished quickly (except of course YouTube prophets), and any job worth doing is worth doing right as my Old Man used to preach to me.

Sound like the right way to do it gnoahhh.

Being my first refinishing job I knew nothing and thanks to you gentleman I have learned a lot.

Mine is French Walnut and I did not realize how porous it was well into the oiling stage, on oil application #15 now. The rifle is starting to look great, and when I wipe the excess oil with a shop towel, it feels like glass. When I run my fingernail down the butt end of the stock, that is when I notice the very fine, hair-like, vertical pores.

I am going to finish it with Pumice FF and FFF, as well as Rottenstone FFFF, then a final Renaissance Wax application and hope for the best.

This process has taken way longer than I expected, can't wait to see the finished rifle, and that will be sometime in late December. Tung oil takes a long time to cure, so I expect a minimum 30-day curing period.

Hello gentlemen.

This was driving me nuts, and I finally have the answer I have been searching for online for 2 weeks, it has to do with "Finishing the Finish".

After seeing a video about Finishing the Finish, with Pumice 2F, 4F, and Rottenstone 4F, I decided that I would do that method so I purchased all of the above.

I wanted to know, if you should you Finish the Finish if the stock was a Tung Oil finish and not a Varnish, Shellac, or Polyurethane finish. Everywhere I searched they all mention these finishes, but no mention of oil finishes.

So I called Mohawk, the company that manufactures these sanding agents directly and they answered my questions.

* Yes you can finish an oil-based finish with Pumice and Rottenstone
* While finishing with Pumice 2F and 4F and Rottenstone 4F, there is no waiting period in between finishes.
* When Finishing an oil-based finish do not use water as the lubricant, use oil, I will be using Tung oil.
* Waxing, he said that you can wax as soon as 24 hours after the Rottenstone finish.

Maybe this will help some like me in the future, sure was a pain in the azz trying to get those questions answered!

Cheers

Were you able to find a good video on using rottenstone to flatten a finish?? I'd like to learn.

Hi Tarquin, this is the video that gave me the idea.

Thank you.

I'll bet the respondent to your question assumed you filled the pores in the process of doing the oil finish. (And not with the oil finish itself as it'll likely shrink in the pores over time, if not almost immediately.) If that's not the case then there's the risk of minute traces of the rubbing compound showing as white highlights in the pores which will call for added effort to eradicate.

I would experiment first with a gray 3M Scotchbrite pad (the very finest "grit" that they offer). Try it on a small area and decide if it yields the same effect as the pumice/rottenstone. Either way don't go crazy with this protocol, you can easily un-do a lot of your previous hard work.

Thank you for that tip gnoahhh!

I did not do the "Slurry" method to fill the pores as I was advised not to do that with a French Walnut custom stock. I do not want to "Muddy Up" the grain. I would have no issues doing the slurry method on an average off-the-shelf rifle with A Grade wood.

My stock is still very porous, after working on this stock for over a month, the last thing I need to do is undo all of the work I have done! Maybe I should just wax it after the 30-day curing period and call it a day.

I can test on the bottom of the stock with rottenstone in a small area to see how it looks, I do like the way Rottenstone darkens the wood, maybe I should just do the Rottenstone Rub Out??

Or maybe after it cures work it over lightly with 600 wet/dry sandpaper and wax?

This is what I have been using in between oil applications as a member here warned me not to use steel wool because of the metal shards getting into the wood and rusting.

I just read this on a Forearms Forum. I'm going to finish my rifle as described, forgoing the Pumice to avoid the white particle residue. I will go with a single finish of a Rottenstone Tung oil paste I will make.

"Now we wait 4 days and we then checker the stock or do the following rub down. I mentioned earlier about using Linseed Oil on the stock and we are at that point now. This finish has been based on using Pilkington’s Classic Gunstock Finish. If you bought some of his oil you should have also got a bottle of his Classic Linseed Stock Rubbing Oil. Even if you have use a different finish you can use the Linseed Rubbing Oil for a finish. This oil is used in future years to renew your finish. To finish the stock we take some of the Rubbing Oil and add some rottenstone to make a past. We lightly rub the stock with the rottenstone and oil mixture covering the stock very quickly with out rubbing the stock with any pressure. Set the stock aside for 30 minutes and then lightly remove the finish with a clean cotton flannel cloth. The finish is now done. The wood will have a beautiful luster to it but it won’t be real shiny."

I will wait 30 days to let the Tung Oil cure before I do this since there are no additives and dryers in the Pure Tung oil I used. Can't wait to see the finished stock, it is my Christmas present to myself lol

Full forum Post: https://www.firearmsforum.com/firearms/article/3037

Well Finally down to the Final Strokes.

After watching a ton of videos on checkering I did not like the outcome of any of them. So I decided to go my own way. I purchased a Professional Artists Paint Brush 1/2" wide and flat with natural boar's hair to apply the first coat of oil, which I did with a 10% Mineral Spirit 90% Tung oil solution. I will only do 1 more coat because I do not want to lose the grain in darkness. This will be done with 100% Pure Tung oil.

I can tell you guys that if you are doing checkering, try an artist's brush for total control. I let it sit in the checkering for an hour then I remove all of the excess oil.



Honestly, I have had a blast doing this project, lots of fun taking a stock in bad condition and getting it back into tip-top shape.

what do you think?

Before an After

For some of you guys that have been thinking of using Pumice or Rottenstone. I found this on the internet, really good info.

Scroll down to: Home made wood fillers, Pumice and Rottenstone.

https://www.lumberjocks.com/threads...inishing-some-of-them-i-also-use.324342/

You can watch a million how-to videos but at some point you gotta turn off the screen and get your hands dirty. Arm yourself with as much knowledge as you can and then just roll up your sleeves and gain your experience. Sometimes empirical knowledge is the best knowledge.

Looking in on this thread is like driving past a car wreck - you can't help but slow down and look! (Not that the OP's efforts are a wreck, not at all. It's merely an analogy!)

Back to the drawing board, can you believe it?

After all of my work, I simply did not like how porous and open the grain felt on the Butt Stock, so I sanded it down with 600 Grit Waterproof sandpaper with water and hopefully filled the pores with the slurry to make the butt stock feel like glass. Everything else is perfect. Ignoring this issue would be half azzed and accepting a half azzed job is not in my nature.

If it isn't perfect when I am finished, especially after all the work I have done, I will not be satisfied. You guys are shaking your head. lol

Persistence trumps all!

Any finished pics yet? So far it’s looking great!