can anyone suggest a good oil for shotgun and rilfe projects

modernworrior

modernworrior

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Hi there , i have several shotguns and rifles that need some wood refinshed can anyone point me to a good oil/stain that would work to preserve and seal the wood nicely. These only look like they need some sanding and that might be about it. I'm new to this. I've only done this on one rifle before it turned out ok, but not drop dead beautiful in my eyes but thats ok, it is only going to see hunting conditions. These other examples are different i want them to look amazing. Thanks for any help and advice

Mw
 
Birchwood Casey has some good products, i use the tru oil. For one or two stocks they work very good and they sell stains as well. Most gunshops sell this stuff. If your doing a lot of stocks then there are other products cheaper in large amounts.
 
Second on the Birchwood line, and don't forget the stock wax when you're done, add's a nice finish and durability to the project.

For stripping old finish, I've had great luck with the 1814 spray on stripper. Usually a light sanding or steel wool rubdown afterwards is all that's needed.
 
I also like tru oil and recently tried the spray which worked well for me. Try to avoid sanding as much as you can as it is easy to round of edges that should be sharp, instead as mentioned use a stripper (the gel not the dancer :) ) to remove the finish. If there are dents put a drop of distilled water on the dent and let it soak a bit, then put a wet cotton patch over the dent and apply a hot iron over the patch. The resulting steam will raise the dent enough to make it unnoticeable in most cases.
 
I have a really neat option..... Analine dye is a water based wood dye that comes in a bunch of colours and is available at most woodworking stores. Colour intensity is determined by how much water you add to the colour flakes. Slap it on as there is never any overlap but watch for variations in the natural colour of the wood. I did 3 guns in yellow and they came out a beautifull honey colour and I sealed it with plain old Diamon Coat polyurethane from Home Hardware. I also did one in red and the effects were not as pronounced as the yellow but it really accented the red wood that the stock was made of. Light coloured woods are far more affected than dark ones but you can recoat over and over and never get overlap or streaks. For natural I use Teak/Tung oil by Minwax.
 
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I use Tung Oil from lee Valley. makes a nice oil finish that can be touched up each year with another coat and a light buff. It gives a soft oil finish.

True Oil has some kind of hardner in it and makes a harder finish. it too can be touched up.

The True Oil is a utilitarian finish, Tung Oil more traditional.
 
There are three finish's I have used over the years with good results depending what type of end result your wanting.

Lin-speed oil: basically linseed oil with dryer additives. This a very good product. Takes time to apply properly. Gives a semi gloss finish. Google it to learn more.

Pure Tung oil: when in the pure stage it contains no dryers or additives, is more water resistant than linseed oil. Produces the "oil" finish that folks talk about as it dries to a sheen not a gloss. Takes time also to apply the necessary coats to get the desired results. Never completely dries hard like varnish etc.

Polymerized Tung oil; Tung oil with drier's and additives can be built up and eventually dries like the Lin-speed product. Again takes time and patience to get the desired results.

I have used the Birchwood Casey Tru oil and it's okay. Hope this helps.
 
Oh, and how could I forget, I used pure Linseed oil once. It was very time consuming, but the results (quilted Maple) were great. Took about 10 weeks iirc.
 
I also like Tru oil. It dries fast and sands easy to get back to the surface and keep the grains fulled.

After stripping a stock of the old finish, and sanding out the defects, just rub on 3 coats of Tru oil with your fingers (let dry over night between coats), and then sand smooth to the surface with 400 grit sand paper (600 grit for very fine sanding if you like), and then rub on 2 or 3 thin coats with your fingers to bring out a nice smooth semi-gloss look, or use the spray can of Tru oil at this point for a more glossy look. Again, let it dry over night between coats either way. Tru oil also does an attractive job in darkening woods such as walnut types. It really makes the job of finishing a stock simple.

Linseed oil works very well in touching up dry spots on a stock, but I found it more work to completely finish a stock than Tru oil.

I Found Tung oil to take long periods of time to dry completely, staying kind'a sticky for days.

Lin-speed is one I never tried, but I liked Tru-oil enough to stay with it.

Now remember these are oil finishes, meaning they protect the wood from drying out, but are a soft finish and can scratch easy at the surface. In this case you sand out the scratch and cover it again with the same finish.

Now a poly finish is much more resistant to surface scratches, and it's a hard finish (Brownings are a great example of Poly finishes), but they are more difficult to achieve and are almost like applying a hard coat/paint on a custom vehicle.
 
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I have mostly used the Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil.
A couple of weeks ago I went to Wholesale in Winnipeg to pick up a fresh bottle, along with some cold blue, but they had nothing on the shelf.
When I enquired about it, I was told that hey can no longer bring it into Canada.
 
Moose Masher said:
I have mostly used the Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil.
A couple of weeks ago I went to Wholesale in Winnipeg to pick up a fresh bottle, along with some cold blue, but they had nothing on the shelf.
When I enquired about it, I was told that hey can no longer bring it into Canada.
Click to expand...

what is this world coming to! did they give you a reason?
 
Moose Masher said:
When I enquired about it, I was told that hey can no longer bring it into Canada.
Click to expand...

That seems to be the standard answer when they are out of stock on stuff. That, or, 'we have it on order'.

Hit the home stores and look over the various oil finish products there. Most seem to be available in small tins or containers.

I've used Boiled Linseed Oil. Be patient! It takes a while to dry some times. A bud swears by a mix of BLO and Walnut Oil, IIRC. All from the local home store.

Cheers
Trev
 
Moose Masher said:
Was told it was due to shipping restrictions related to the chemical nature of the products.
That doesn't necassarily make it true, just what I was told by "the guy" at the gun desk.
Click to expand...

It's true that some BC products can no longer be imported but my understanding is it's because of their reluctance to use bilingual packaging. No issue with their targets which we continue to bring in.

-Frank
 
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