I am thinking of refinishing a model 70 stock. I love the look and feel of the oiled stock but I am not sure about the protection in the field. I have oiled canoe paddles, but the oiled parts hardly ever get wet. How waterproof is a oiled stock, and most importantly how well will it clean off? I am worried about dirt rubbing into the wood and staining it. I will probably use tung oil, I hear it is the best. What are your thoughts?
oiled stock on a hunting rifle
- Thread starter StevieK
- Start date
blacktailslayer
Regular
- Location
- Ladysmith, B.C.
Tru-oil
I would use Birchwood Casey's Tru-oil.
I would use Birchwood Casey's Tru-oil.
Properly oiling a stock is a lengthy process and requires quite a bit of elbow grease. Part of the process is wet sanding using the oil (linseed or tung for example) and leaving the slurry (oil + fine wood powder) to dry. Sometimes this can take a couple of days. Then you repeat the process. You keep doing this until the dried slurry has nicely filled all of the pores of the wood. You can then start applying the finishing coats of oil.
As you can see the process can easily take a couple of weeks when you include the wait times. The finished product is, imo, far nicer than shiny laquers.
One other factor to consider is the porosity of the wood - the less porous the better. California Claro is usually very porous; a nice dense, fine grained old Turkish Walnut on the other hand is not very porous at all.
As you can see the process can easily take a couple of weeks when you include the wait times. The finished product is, imo, far nicer than shiny laquers.
One other factor to consider is the porosity of the wood - the less porous the better. California Claro is usually very porous; a nice dense, fine grained old Turkish Walnut on the other hand is not very porous at all.
NolanOsborn
Regular
- Location
- British Columbia
I think ( and I could be wrong ) that my Savage 114 Euro Classic is supposed to have an oil rubbed finish. Much preferable to the marshield laquer on my marlin. Considering that Oil repels water, I would think that it would be fine.. I used my Savage for rifle season in rain and wet snow and had no issues.
It's great for weather resistance and it looks fantastic. It does take more work to get it to look right but you can control how much lustre you want and it's easy to add a bit of oil during your cleaning process.
I have used Pure tung oil. The "tung oil finish" you buy at walmart/canadian tire is not the same stuff. Tung oil finishes take time and patience. You will find some good advice searching stock finishing with tung oil. In my opinion this finish is bombproof. When scratched, simply re-oil. When dirty, wiple clean and when really dirty, 600 grit wet sand with tung oil, rub off and your done. It appears to me to be the easiest way to maintain wood. But it does cost you time up front.
In comparison, any other finish with a "shiny" finish (typically some form of varnish) will need more sanding, some times back to wood for the whole stock. As for waterproof, again Tung is best over items such as linseed. Linseed may harbor fungus, where Tung does not. What Tung does not provide is UV protection, so if you like to store things near the window, not a good idea. But for the occasional visit afield, no worries. Enjoy the project, you will be amazed at how tung oil brings out the grain in your wood. Cheers.
In comparison, any other finish with a "shiny" finish (typically some form of varnish) will need more sanding, some times back to wood for the whole stock. As for waterproof, again Tung is best over items such as linseed. Linseed may harbor fungus, where Tung does not. What Tung does not provide is UV protection, so if you like to store things near the window, not a good idea. But for the occasional visit afield, no worries. Enjoy the project, you will be amazed at how tung oil brings out the grain in your wood. Cheers.
Wrong Way
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Prep: Sand the stock to 220 grit, wipe down with distilled water (will raise the grain), allow to dry, sand with 320 to remove the fuzz, repeat 2X more. Prepare to finish:
Mix: 1 part polymerized Tung oil (Lee Valley) with 1 part Polyurethane and 1 part Turpentine. Add a capfull of Japan drier (available at paint stores) and mix well. Flood the stock with finish, hell: put the stock in a garbage bag and pour the whole lot in, tie off and let er soak for a few hours....the key is to keep it wet.
Remove the stock and wipe off the finish, and continue wiping away any finish that weeps out over the next several hours....you want the stock "dry"
Allow to cure for 24 hours, then burnish the stock with 0000 SYNTHETIC steel wool (Looks like scotchbrite). Rub the crap out of it until you are sure you are done (be agressive)....then do it at least that much longer
Now switch to Tung.....place some on the stock and start rubbing with your bare hands...rub until it is completely absorbed, then let it dry.
Repeat the above every day until you have the sheen you want.
WW
Mix: 1 part polymerized Tung oil (Lee Valley) with 1 part Polyurethane and 1 part Turpentine. Add a capfull of Japan drier (available at paint stores) and mix well. Flood the stock with finish, hell: put the stock in a garbage bag and pour the whole lot in, tie off and let er soak for a few hours....the key is to keep it wet.
Remove the stock and wipe off the finish, and continue wiping away any finish that weeps out over the next several hours....you want the stock "dry"
Allow to cure for 24 hours, then burnish the stock with 0000 SYNTHETIC steel wool (Looks like scotchbrite). Rub the crap out of it until you are sure you are done (be agressive)....then do it at least that much longer
Now switch to Tung.....place some on the stock and start rubbing with your bare hands...rub until it is completely absorbed, then let it dry.
Repeat the above every day until you have the sheen you want.
WW
sir_springer
Regular
- Location
- East Kootenays
Done properly the oiled finish will outlast and outperform everything else.
I refinished a factory stock on a Remington Model 581 .22LR for my son-in-law, pretty basic wood, using urethane.
I stripped the original finish with a non-toxic remover. Do NOT merely sand it off, use a good stripper!
Then sanded with increasingly finer grits until I was satisfied with smoothness.
I only wiped the stock down with a dry cloth before staining. A wet cloth removes the fine sawdust that fills the pores, which I didn't want to do.
Then I went over with fine steel wool, then a coat of urethane, let dry, then steel wool and another coat, and repeated about 5 times.
Good enough finish, but all said and done, it will still show scratches easily enough because urethane doesn't soak into the wood the way oil will. And when you do scratch it, and you will, the oiled finish is easier to touch up than is the urethane.
...at least this has been my experience, albeit I'm certainly no expert on this.
There's some pretty good websites that explain how to do finish stocks. Quick surf came up with these, and there's lots more. Search "refinishing gun stocks"...
http://hunting.about.com/od/guns/a/aastockrefinish.htm
http://riflestocks.tripod.com/refinish.html
http://www.rifleshootermag.com/gunsmithing/RSgunsmith6/index.html
I refinished a factory stock on a Remington Model 581 .22LR for my son-in-law, pretty basic wood, using urethane.
I stripped the original finish with a non-toxic remover. Do NOT merely sand it off, use a good stripper!
Then sanded with increasingly finer grits until I was satisfied with smoothness.
I only wiped the stock down with a dry cloth before staining. A wet cloth removes the fine sawdust that fills the pores, which I didn't want to do.
Then I went over with fine steel wool, then a coat of urethane, let dry, then steel wool and another coat, and repeated about 5 times.
Good enough finish, but all said and done, it will still show scratches easily enough because urethane doesn't soak into the wood the way oil will. And when you do scratch it, and you will, the oiled finish is easier to touch up than is the urethane.
...at least this has been my experience, albeit I'm certainly no expert on this.
There's some pretty good websites that explain how to do finish stocks. Quick surf came up with these, and there's lots more. Search "refinishing gun stocks"...
http://hunting.about.com/od/guns/a/aastockrefinish.htm
http://riflestocks.tripod.com/refinish.html
http://www.rifleshootermag.com/gunsmithing/RSgunsmith6/index.html
As many have said, a good oil finish is as good as it gets.
If using tung oil, get the "Circa 1850 brand," pure tung oil. I have often suggested using tung oil, I think it is good, but not the best.
There is absolutely nothing like linseed oil to bring out the best there is in walnut. People always say boiled linsed oil, but it takes forever and two days to dry. I got some raw linseed oil, have experimented with it on walnut and it seems to dry much faster than does the boiled.
What was the best, (must have been, it was reccommended by Jack O'Connor!) was a brand of linseed oil known as Linspeed. It was as good as pure linseed, but dried over night for recoating.
I have done stocks in Birchwood Casey True Oil, and I think it is impossible to tell the difference between it and Circa 1850 Tung oil.
If using tung oil, get the "Circa 1850 brand," pure tung oil. I have often suggested using tung oil, I think it is good, but not the best.
There is absolutely nothing like linseed oil to bring out the best there is in walnut. People always say boiled linsed oil, but it takes forever and two days to dry. I got some raw linseed oil, have experimented with it on walnut and it seems to dry much faster than does the boiled.
What was the best, (must have been, it was reccommended by Jack O'Connor!) was a brand of linseed oil known as Linspeed. It was as good as pure linseed, but dried over night for recoating.
I have done stocks in Birchwood Casey True Oil, and I think it is impossible to tell the difference between it and Circa 1850 Tung oil.
the circa 1850 is what I bought. I am aware of the lengthy process, but heck, it's january, I've got all the time in the world. Now, I've googled some steps on oiling the stock and many people advise to dilute the oil for the first few applications so that it soaks into the wood better. Is there anything that works the best for diluting it with?
I prefer a nice oiled stock too and have used Tung in the past. Seems you are already past that stage, keep us posted on how it turns out.
For you other guys with past experience, I find the carry point of my sheep gun gets a stain in it from sweat. Will a properly oiled stock still do this?
For you other guys with past experience, I find the carry point of my sheep gun gets a stain in it from sweat. Will a properly oiled stock still do this?
lineofsight
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Lower Mainland, BC
Currently finishing two stocks with Tru-Oil - first couple coats wonder what you're doing as after scuffing the coat nearly nothing there. Then have a couple coats where see improvement each time, then think nearly done do another coat and significant improvement, then do a couple more coats and notice only using about 1/3 of the oil to cover the stock than before - think nearly there.
Does take a lot of time - 24 hours drying time each coat... scuff, wipe, apply, clean up... Went inside the safe today and no other stock is as beautiful in terms of depth and sheen. Should also be simple to fix.
However... you asked for a hunting rifle... may find that (water based) polyurethane is a lot quicker to apply, requires less maintenance (expect with tung / tru-oil to add a coat annually), and is tougher.
---
Mineral spirits may be the solvent your are looking for. With Tru-Oil find it unnecessary. Poured it into a film container (for those of you that remember film containers) and applied just with finger tip (that way could leave bottle closed - it reacts with air fairly quickly). Found little circles to work better than strokes for avoiding streaking. Also found that once covered an area leave it, if go back to it then can end up with thicker / tacky mess to work with. Erring on less oil worked better than more oil. Good luck.
Does take a lot of time - 24 hours drying time each coat... scuff, wipe, apply, clean up... Went inside the safe today and no other stock is as beautiful in terms of depth and sheen. Should also be simple to fix.
However... you asked for a hunting rifle... may find that (water based) polyurethane is a lot quicker to apply, requires less maintenance (expect with tung / tru-oil to add a coat annually), and is tougher.
---
Mineral spirits may be the solvent your are looking for. With Tru-Oil find it unnecessary. Poured it into a film container (for those of you that remember film containers) and applied just with finger tip (that way could leave bottle closed - it reacts with air fairly quickly). Found little circles to work better than strokes for avoiding streaking. Also found that once covered an area leave it, if go back to it then can end up with thicker / tacky mess to work with. Erring on less oil worked better than more oil. Good luck.
I use boiled linseed oil. What I do is rub it with a terry cloth rag until warm to the touch. When the wood won't absorb anymore I wipe with a paper towel and let it sit for a week or two and repeat. It could take 2 or 3 times like this but when finished it makes a satin /non glossy, water proof finish that small scratches can easily be repaired by rubbing in a little oil.
Very time consuming but worth the effort.Just my .02.
Very time consuming but worth the effort.Just my .02.
Goose25: Nice 10/22. Looks nice, very nice. I have a stainless 10/22 that is my main gopher defence. I have an extra stock for it, and I may just give it a shot of something other than the standard Ruger finish.
I mix up a linspeed finish myself and have been using them for about 40yrs. A linseed based finish is indestructible. It laughs at the weather-thats why gun makers have been using it for centuries. Simple to fix scratches and it takes stain along with it. I have had a number of people ask me who the old smith is that did my stocks on occasion. First one I did was at 18 and nobody would believe I had actually done it myself except my dad. To clean you simply put some of the same oil on a bit of 0000 steel wool and scrub it clean or you can wax it once it is dry. Then you just rewax to clean. Purdy finish out in the sun. Its DEEP!
lineofsight
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Lower Mainland, BC
Here you go, pics dont really do it justice, photographically challenged... Just slid cheek piece back on for photos but is off during application.
Very different absorption rates between the two stocks.
I like the oil finishes myself, especially the ease of refreshing it with a few dabs of tru-oil. If a guy was to to be brutally practical though, just about anything seals better against moisture than oil. Oil finishes barely slow water down, never mind seal against it.
