How to refinish a maple stock?
- Thread starter freddygotarf
- Start date
What sort of final finish do you want to work toward? It's still wood so what you use is based on the final results you have in mind.
Truoil is going to work up towards a shinier finish than tung. But if you're using a polymerized tung oil which isn't thinned down a lot then it can build a pretty shiny finish with enough coats as well. An example of a thinned tung oil is the Minwax furniture finishing product. This is highly thinned down and soaks in a lot. But due to this there isn't a high gloss to it unless you go to great lengths to get there.
A thicker oil only finish such as sold by Lee Valley as their "Polymerized Tung Oil" comes out of the can with the consistency of honey and builds a film and shine much faster. And when used right where you rub in a small amount will build up a pretty shiny finish with the right amount of work.
Truoil shares much of this same feature except it builds the film up a little more quickly.
There's even this one video about using plain old boiled linseed oil to achieve fantastic results.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEBBc7O8nYQ
And if after you watch that one if you do your own You Tube search for "gun stock oil finish" you'll get a bunch of good videos to watch which might aid you in figuring out which way you want to go.
One thing for sure. It's not so much about WHAT you use but HOW you use it. None of these are a "slap it on and let it dry" one step sort of deal. To get good results requires multiple applications done correctly. The results that fellow gets from "just" boiled linseed oil shows how important your technique is.
Truoil is going to work up towards a shinier finish than tung. But if you're using a polymerized tung oil which isn't thinned down a lot then it can build a pretty shiny finish with enough coats as well. An example of a thinned tung oil is the Minwax furniture finishing product. This is highly thinned down and soaks in a lot. But due to this there isn't a high gloss to it unless you go to great lengths to get there.
A thicker oil only finish such as sold by Lee Valley as their "Polymerized Tung Oil" comes out of the can with the consistency of honey and builds a film and shine much faster. And when used right where you rub in a small amount will build up a pretty shiny finish with the right amount of work.
Truoil shares much of this same feature except it builds the film up a little more quickly.
There's even this one video about using plain old boiled linseed oil to achieve fantastic results.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEBBc7O8nYQ
And if after you watch that one if you do your own You Tube search for "gun stock oil finish" you'll get a bunch of good videos to watch which might aid you in figuring out which way you want to go.
One thing for sure. It's not so much about WHAT you use but HOW you use it. None of these are a "slap it on and let it dry" one step sort of deal. To get good results requires multiple applications done correctly. The results that fellow gets from "just" boiled linseed oil shows how important your technique is.
Maple can be rather plain .... but if it has figure and grain you can't beat Aqua Fortis to make the grain and figure pop. Aqua Fortis is easy to apply and realy brings out the best in maple. Follow this with many coats of Tru Oil for a lot of eye candy.
I just finished a maple stock with Tru oil. Tru oil really brought out the grain compared to the original finish. I briught it to a satin finish which is what I wanted. This was the first time I Tackled a stock and it was rediculously easy with the Tru oil.
maple leaf
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- SW Ontario
x2 for Truoil. Use fine steel wool to change the finish from glossy to satin. enjoy
Be patient and let your nose suggest when to re-coat. Oil finishes change their odor when the oil kicks off. You can use this to gauge when to recoat. The warmth of the area plays a huge part in how fast an oil finish "dries". If you're doing this in an unheated garage the cure time on the Tru Oil will be greatly extended over what the instructions say.
