Finishing a wood gunstock - 11/09/16
Part 1:
In the custom guns forum I am documenting the steps in building a high end blued and walnut .280 Remington, based on a Mauser action. (See .280 Remington thread.) I have been getting some PM traffic about the details on how I am finishing the stock and have decided to start a thread here on my technique. Part of my reason for doing it is that discussions of stock finishes have a tendency to get opinionated, behind perhaps only optics and politics. I don’t want to derail the other thread.
Let me start by saying that there is no perfect stock finish. Tom Turpin, in his lovely book Modern Custom Guns writes “A perfect stock finish though, is the Holy grail of the custom gun business. I don’t know any custom makers who are happy with the finish they use. Each is still looking for the perfect finish.” More evidence of the range of finishing techniques comes from David Wesbrook’s book Professional Stockmaking, which I regard as an essential reference to the beginning stock maker (but unfortunately is out of print and becoming quite expensive on the used market.) Wesbrook includes two finishes himself—one for utility applications and one spare-no-effort hand rubbed oil technique more suited to show pieces. Wesbrook goes on to include essays from 5 other top flight custom gunsmiths, and they lay out the detailed steps of their stock finish over several pages each. No two techniques are the same, although there are important similarities. With that in mind,one ought not become too wedded to their technique as the only one worth using.
At this point I want to acknowledge the epoxy-based finish that Sitka Deer (Art) uses and advocates. I understand the benefits of getting the epoxy penetrated into the wood. There may be no better seal to to minimize water movement in and out of the stock. I have even used his approach a few times, including on a English walnut stock for a Browning T-Bolt and a Claro stock for a .35 Whelen. But I have found the finish is beyond my limited talents. I simply cannot sand down the epoxy without repeatedly cutting through it down to bare wood. On the Whelen I think I had to re-apply epoxy six different times to fix sand throughs and simply swore off the technique as too difficult. If other people can use it, more power to you.
In reviewing all of the techniques in Wesbrook and other sources I have, I have broken stock finishing into four distinct steps: sanding, sealing, filling, and top finishing. There may be systems that combine or skip a step, but that is not how I approach it.
So the bare wood on this stock was pretty pale...
Let's see how the appearance changed as the steps unfolded.
Sanding—The purpose of sanding is to get a perfectly even, uniform surface.The secrets to sanding are to scrupulously maintain the flowlines of the stock (Wesbrook’s book has ever so useful photos on this,) use a range of sanding blocks to get into corners and avoid rounding corners, change your paper out often, and don’t rush.
A critical part of finish sanding is whiskering—applying a little bit of water and then warming the stock over a gentle heat. The water will raise the grain, and then your sanding will remove more material. My technique on this stock was two different whisker/sand cycles at 150 grit, and then a final one at 220 grit. Some makers sand all the way to 400 grit, but I think you can polish a wood surface too much and impede the way the finish adheres and soaks into the wood. I did use 3M Pro Grade synthetic backed sand paper, which lasted way longer than any paper-backed I have used in the past; my local Home Depot carries it.
For me, doing one whisker/sand cycle takes an hour. You have just got to have good light, take a lot of time and be thorough. Even then, when I did subsequent steps I found sanding marks and flaws that I had missed.
Sealing—The purpose of sealing is to get finish way down into the fibers of the wood. The sealer I used comes from the woodworking firm Lee Valley. It is paired with a finish that is noticeably thicker. You likely could never get a built up final coat using their sealer, and the finish is too thick to penetrate. A number of the gun makers in Wesbrook’s book use a similar two-product technique. I went with Lee Valley because their products work well for me.
The standard way to use a sealer is to brush it on quite heavy, and then wipe off the excess after 30 minutes. Be sure to coat the interior surfaces with sealer, but make sure it is not pooling in the corners of the inletting, or you will be grumpy later. About three applications of sealer is sufficient; stop when it stops absorbing and the surface starts to look shiny.
Even so, the stock after sealing looks dark and murky. I have to admit to being worried at this point that I had buggered things up.
In the custom guns forum I am documenting the steps in building a high end blued and walnut .280 Remington, based on a Mauser action. (See .280 Remington thread.) I have been getting some PM traffic about the details on how I am finishing the stock and have decided to start a thread here on my technique. Part of my reason for doing it is that discussions of stock finishes have a tendency to get opinionated, behind perhaps only optics and politics. I don’t want to derail the other thread.
Let me start by saying that there is no perfect stock finish. Tom Turpin, in his lovely book Modern Custom Guns writes “A perfect stock finish though, is the Holy grail of the custom gun business. I don’t know any custom makers who are happy with the finish they use. Each is still looking for the perfect finish.” More evidence of the range of finishing techniques comes from David Wesbrook’s book Professional Stockmaking, which I regard as an essential reference to the beginning stock maker (but unfortunately is out of print and becoming quite expensive on the used market.) Wesbrook includes two finishes himself—one for utility applications and one spare-no-effort hand rubbed oil technique more suited to show pieces. Wesbrook goes on to include essays from 5 other top flight custom gunsmiths, and they lay out the detailed steps of their stock finish over several pages each. No two techniques are the same, although there are important similarities. With that in mind,one ought not become too wedded to their technique as the only one worth using.
At this point I want to acknowledge the epoxy-based finish that Sitka Deer (Art) uses and advocates. I understand the benefits of getting the epoxy penetrated into the wood. There may be no better seal to to minimize water movement in and out of the stock. I have even used his approach a few times, including on a English walnut stock for a Browning T-Bolt and a Claro stock for a .35 Whelen. But I have found the finish is beyond my limited talents. I simply cannot sand down the epoxy without repeatedly cutting through it down to bare wood. On the Whelen I think I had to re-apply epoxy six different times to fix sand throughs and simply swore off the technique as too difficult. If other people can use it, more power to you.
In reviewing all of the techniques in Wesbrook and other sources I have, I have broken stock finishing into four distinct steps: sanding, sealing, filling, and top finishing. There may be systems that combine or skip a step, but that is not how I approach it.
So the bare wood on this stock was pretty pale...
Let's see how the appearance changed as the steps unfolded.
Sanding—The purpose of sanding is to get a perfectly even, uniform surface.The secrets to sanding are to scrupulously maintain the flowlines of the stock (Wesbrook’s book has ever so useful photos on this,) use a range of sanding blocks to get into corners and avoid rounding corners, change your paper out often, and don’t rush.
A critical part of finish sanding is whiskering—applying a little bit of water and then warming the stock over a gentle heat. The water will raise the grain, and then your sanding will remove more material. My technique on this stock was two different whisker/sand cycles at 150 grit, and then a final one at 220 grit. Some makers sand all the way to 400 grit, but I think you can polish a wood surface too much and impede the way the finish adheres and soaks into the wood. I did use 3M Pro Grade synthetic backed sand paper, which lasted way longer than any paper-backed I have used in the past; my local Home Depot carries it.
For me, doing one whisker/sand cycle takes an hour. You have just got to have good light, take a lot of time and be thorough. Even then, when I did subsequent steps I found sanding marks and flaws that I had missed.
Sealing—The purpose of sealing is to get finish way down into the fibers of the wood. The sealer I used comes from the woodworking firm Lee Valley. It is paired with a finish that is noticeably thicker. You likely could never get a built up final coat using their sealer, and the finish is too thick to penetrate. A number of the gun makers in Wesbrook’s book use a similar two-product technique. I went with Lee Valley because their products work well for me.
The standard way to use a sealer is to brush it on quite heavy, and then wipe off the excess after 30 minutes. Be sure to coat the interior surfaces with sealer, but make sure it is not pooling in the corners of the inletting, or you will be grumpy later. About three applications of sealer is sufficient; stop when it stops absorbing and the surface starts to look shiny.
Even so, the stock after sealing looks dark and murky. I have to admit to being worried at this point that I had buggered things up.