Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Sitka Deer's Stock Sealing Method

Rimshot
If I remember correctly, the best I found was a blend of varathane and boiled linseed oil. Generally, any linseed oil that is applied to build a surface finish requires additional drier. What I do is apply it like an oil finish (heavy application, 10-15 minute soak and rub completely dry) and wait overnight between coats.

A surface film on a wood sword would likely fail due to excessive flexing in use. The varathane will give it a little extra hardness, though how much would be a good question on something like hickory or other good sword wood.

Most commercial "oil finishes" are a blend of resins and oil to end at the same place. I prefer to avoid them because they include a lot of wax, too. Spar varnish is a good choice to start with and mix an ounce or two with an equal volume of boiled linseed oil to start.

If it gets too sticky to rub off after a short wait, add a bit more oil for the next coat. If it does not appear to leave anything after the soak add a bit more varnish. Only a few coats should be needed.
good luck
art

Sitka- Thanks for the reply, was just curious.

Thanks for the advice on finishing wooden swords. I have another related question. My buddy and I are going to make another sword out of some poplar. The wood has a subtle kinda' fiddleback pattern that I would like to highlight. Do you have any ideas on how I can accent or draw attention to the fiddleback?
Thanks
Rimshot

Japenese "suge"... have seen it spelled about anyway you can imagine and a bunch I cannot! Carefully singe the wood until quite black. A hot fire with minimal flame and quite a bit of smoke will make it easier.

Like some kids with marshmallows that get them perfectly golden brown... The idea then is to polish the wood to take the less cooked long-grain back to a lighter color and the deeper black on the more end-grain sections stays dark.

It takes some practice to get it right, but that is the traditional way. Some poplars do very wierd things with commercial stains, so if you take the easy way out and go with stain do a test piece before hand or it might come out butt-ugly green...

If you decide to stain, I prefer oil-based stains, thinned a lot with the proper thinner (usually mineral spirits) and done in thin layers until it is exactly what you want...
art