I'm an absolute maladroit with tools. I have a Ruger M77 Tang Safety 6mm Remington which I had re-barreled and refinished in the mid 1980's by Frankonia Jagd in Wurzburg Germany. The stock came out beautiful with deep oil matte finish into the grain. I was told their refinishing method included suspending the striped stock into a barrel of the hand mixed oil for 30 days. On leaving Germany the Frankonia Gunsmith Shop gave me a small bottle of the oil they used with instructions to periodically put a few drops in my palms and handrub it into the stock. I carried that bottle around for 20+ years not using it once. Now I can see minute signs of the stock drying out and would like to get some new oil into the surface. Of course the bottle has disappeared into the debris of several PCS moves. Can someone recommend a commercial product to use to restore and maintain my oil stock finish. TIA
Don Boyd
Does the name Schaftol ring any bells? It's a very commonly used finish on German rifles. The appearance of the finish is basically flat with little to no lustre. It takes a lot of work to get it right by itself and in my opinion it is not very water repellant, and may fall into the hygroscopic category of oil finishes. Ongoing maintenace is a given. It's best use is over a water sealed surface such as obtained by Sitka's epoxy method.
It is just as well the old oil is gone, as 6 months is far too old for most oil. It starts to polymerize the instant it gets oxygen to play with.
It probably had flattening agents added but I do not have anything to go as to which particular agent would have been used.
Assuming you did nothing foolish with the stock, like putting car wax on it, or any other part of the gun, a wipe down with the finest Bear-Tex pad:
http://www.nolansupply.com/bysubcategory.asp?category=Abrasives&supercategory=Surface+Conditioning+Pads&subcategory=3M+%26%23153%3B+Scotch%2DBrite%26%23153%3B+Hand+Pads+%2D+Out+Performs+Steel+Wool%2C+Wire+Brushes+and+Other+Pads%26nbsp%3B&type=False&specs=True
Know nothing of the site , it is just what Google led me to first.
A little rub with mineral spirits should get the junk off from the light sanding and then apply oil.
Do not wet-sand with the oil. Some do so when filling pores, but you are way beyond that stage.
Any oil finish is going to be fine, but I would go with straight "tung oil", to avoid complications. Tung oil is actually linseed and/or tung, as there is not a bit of real difference between them.
As Stocker pointed out it is a hygroscopic finish... It is less effective at keeping atmospheric water out of the wood than bare wood.
Tru-Oil has quite bit of plastic resin in the finish and will give quite a bit more shine. It is a bit more for waterproofing, but far from great. It will also give you more luster, which can be wiped down.
My general preference would eb to apply quite a bit of fresh oil and allow it to sit for about 10 minutes and then rub dry with a clean, non-linting rag. Several coats may be added each day as applying the next coat before the last is fully polymerized will aid in bonding between coats.
If it ends up glossier than you like, knocking the shine off with rottenstone on a felt pad with mineral oil will produce an extremely nice low-gloss finish.
art
http://www.ind.nortonabrasives.com/...ocuments/BearTexHandPadBrochure-6323.pdfOkay a different link... The gray silicon carbide UF is the right one...
The maroon is also quite good for the purpose.
Thanks to all. I should have known I would have to get my hands dirty. Sitka, I'm going to try and follow your abrasive pad and tung oil combination. If I screw it up I'll just send it back to HCR for a professional refinish. (Just got the rifle back from HCR for a barrel re-contouring, rebluing and accurizing service. Satisfied customer so far (0.60+ 3-shot group).
The gent saying that tung oil and linseed are the same is nuts. Linseed is not waterproof.
Largemouth1
If one makes comparisons between Linseed and Tung oil using off the shelf products, one's results will be totally invalid. What passes for "tung oil" in the Hardware/big box stores is actually a blend of tung oil (maybe), varnish resins, solvents and usually driers. In effect, the stuff should more properly be called "rubbing varnish." One has to look far and wide to find pure tung oil, but even then it is only slightly more "waterproof" than linseed so as to make the difference purely academic. Both make for pretty finishes but both suck on a rifle stock carried outside on a rainy day. The proprietary finishes calling themselves "oil finishes" aren't much better.
http://www.woodcraft.com/Family/2000768/2000768.aspx100% pure, no driers and no resins. Just oil.
The $12.99 pint will be all you'll ever need. for rehydrating your stock.
Woodcraft seems pretty proud of their stuff. $13 for one felt pad? I usually throw them away after one time use.
I've gotten some thick felt pads from my podiatrist neighbor. Some are sticky on one side, so you can attach them to a backing block.
Paul
It looks more like a sanding block sized pad.
Wash it out and reuse it. Or find pads somewhere else.
The gent saying that tung oil and linseed are the same is nuts. Linseed is not waterproof.
Largemouth1
Bass
Guilty as charged, to be sure! But lab tests prove there is absolutely zero difference in waterproofing between linseed oil and tung oil. In the industry they are allowed to interchange them at their whim in finish blends. Both are actually hygroscopic, picking up atmospheric water faster than bare wood.
Everything you see about tung oil superiority is advertising hype. Because of differences in handling everything you find in a particular batch of oil may be reversed in the next batch of oil. In general finish oil is not the best oil and ends up as finish because of issues such as cleanliness or color.
As gnoahhh pointed out, "finishes" are no indication of tung oil properties.
I suggest one not buy a pint of oil for a single stock. It will go bad long before the bottle is used. Keeping it around will lead to problems that one simply does not need...
art
I have a few old Eyedrop bottles.
Perhaps mailing him some in a small bottle would be more condusive to getting it right short of refinishing the whole thing.
That would be more in line with what he needs for the current project. Fresh is everything with oil!
Don, if you need oil, send me a message, and I'll try to get you a little bottle.
Savage2005, Thanks a group for the offer. PM sent with snail mail address.
Don
Savage 2005, Just to sorta close this out, I got the little bottle you sent me and finally had time to rub some in my two dried out stocks. You should see the difference (remember I'm not even a qualified amateur) in the stocks. The Ruger 77 and Anschutz M54 just stand out in any crowd. Had a guy offer to buy the Anschutz already after only seeing it once at my new shooting club. Reply was, Neither rifle's for sale. Can't thank you all enough for the help and Savage sending a generous supply of oil to a stranger rocks!
Don Boyd
I have had great results lately using Dembart checkering oil. I have done several new stocks and refinished several others. Tru Oil is a bit too shiny for me. I used to use the Old Herter's French Red Filler and Leige finish with a wet sand and buff out with Rottenstone, stocks done with that method 40 years ago look amazing even today. Too bad that product is no longer available.
I have used a mixture of turpentine, beeswax, and linseed oil when finishing or refinishing BP rifles. hand rub it in let sit for 20 minutes then remove excess with a lint free rag, repeat and repeat increasing the amount of turps very slightly in the mixture with each application. I never counted but I don't think I ever did less than 30-40 applications before I was satisfied. This process makes a truly beautiful finish.
I like teak oil. A sealer can be applied over it after it has dried for 72 hrs. A hand rub with rottenstone will make any sealer look great. I've even made Rems and weatherby "poly dipped" stocks look hand finished with the rottenstone treatment.
Rottenstoning the Brownings and Rems can do a great deal to drown out that "Nylon 66" look they have.
I have noticed that Browning likes to use dyes in their finishes to match stock sets that are a little out of synch with eachother.