Protecting wood finish?

War Song

War Song

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I just got my first gun, Winchester 1892 Short, blued and in walnut. Long story short, I was trying to clean off the packing grease using alcohol wipes and mineral oil (all I had), and found that the wipes were coming out reddish when I wiped the greasy wood areas. I thought it was the wood finish coming off, got scared that the alcohol or mineral oil was destroying the wood, so I probably dug myself a bigger hole by wiping the wood in a damp hot dishwash soaped rag.

The wood on the grips feel a little rough or gritty now when I run my fingers across it. Water getting into grain? Anyway I can fix this? And is there something I can apply to prevent further damage?
 
Canuck, I searched up lemon oil on other sites, most shooters say its good, but not as good as pure tung oil from what I can gather. Canadian Tire sells this brand called Wieman's, advertises to be wax and silicone free. I'm probably going to try the lemon oil out, seeing how tung oil apparently takes a long, long time to dry.
 
You should be able to find Tung & Linseed oil at any Lowes, Home Depot, or Hardware store. If you want to try to find pure Tung oil (if its even still available) I'd try Lee Valley tools.
 
War Song said:
Canuck, I searched up lemon oil on other sites, most shooters say its good, but not as good as pure tung oil from what I can gather. Canadian Tire sells this brand called Wieman's, advertises to be wax and silicone free. I'm probably going to try the lemon oil out, seeing how tung oil apparently takes a long, long time to dry.
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Lemon oil is good to remoisturize the underlying wood and prevent cracking. It does not take very long to dry and penetrate the wood surfaces. If I were you I would start with multiple coatings of lemon oil.
About 6 or 7 applications and allowing 24 hours between each. After the last use of lemon oil and a drying cycle, use Minwax Tung Oil for a top coat. At least two separate applications IMO.
Should come out very nice. But you first have to get down to bare wood with 0000 steel wool. Only enough to bare the wood grain. Then clean the bare wood with soap and water, then dry out, before the first use of lemon oil.
 
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Hi. Neither alcohol wipes nor mineral oil will hurt the wood. The oil might affect the stain, but not likely. It may have polyurethane on it anyway. New rifles don't need any other stock work unless you don't want whatever is on it out of the factory. Usually some kind of varnish or polyurethane(Remington's really shiney stocks are polyurethane).
Other than that wood is wood. Use the same products used on fine furniture. Soap and water won't bother the wood either.
Tung oil is not a top coat kind of thing. It's a finish all by itself, when applied correctly. No 0000 steel wool either. That'll scratch the wood and the current finish.
Pure tung oil can be had in any hardware or paint store. Read the label and do not buy tung oil finish.
 
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