I put silica moisture absorbents inside the take down case I use but now I'll put in several and keep an eye on the situation until I'm sure there isn't a problem- I haven't had that case for long. The safe is already desert dry itself, so that's not an issue.
Care and feeding of wooden stocks
- Thread starter Big Bad
- Start date
I put silica moisture absorbents inside the take down case I use but now I'll put in several and keep an eye on the situation until I'm sure there isn't a problem- I haven't had that case for long. The safe is already desert dry itself, so that's not an issue.
1963beretta
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Vaughan, Ontario
BLO is not like varnish....the trick is to use a tiny amount. A couple drops is more than enough for a stock. And it needs to be vigorously rubbed in with your bare hands until it starts getting warm.
1963beretta
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Vaughan, Ontario
I just waxed 9 of my firearms with the Conservators wax I purchased the other day. I do like the results and the minimal effort required. Now I just need to get the the rest of the guns....
Falconflyer
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Yeah, this could take a while...... 
I've tracked down where I picked up the idea of using walnut oil on oil finish stocks, it was in this video from The Gun Shop in Botley, outside of London, England. I find these guys quite entertaining, if only because they're big into double guns and also expose a whole different gun culture, that of the UK of course. But what the guy says here fits in with my basic ideas about wood, so it stuck with me. And for what it's worth, I started looking for one of those wooden English style cleaning rods after seeing this, still looking at least a year later. If anyone knows where they're sold in Canada....
Stock maintenance starts at around 7:35 here. That part is quite brief.
Stock maintenance starts at around 7:35 here. That part is quite brief.
Orvis, whose main store in Vermont I try to visit once a year, used to sell them in those nifty English style cleaning kits that come in the traditional gunroom decor boxes, but I haven't seen those there in quite a few visits, Orvis not being as Anglophile as they were for a while I guess. Some day though the rod of my dreams will turn up, or not.
...oh hey, I just visited the Conneticut Shotgun site and they have several. Now all I need is the money. Good tip, thanks, I may go for a whole kit if the Canadian dollar doesn't go below .50 on the dollar. But a rod for sure.
Check out Jeff's. Usually just as nice as CSMC but less money. And Jeff's has my favorite (for the money) toe under take down case.
I get to that Orvis in Vermont regularly. Tried to buy a nice German 16 ga on consignment for 18 months but it had a damaged horn trigger guard and broken stock. The owner had an unrealistic expectation of value for such a damaged gun. It did have perfect Krupp 31" barrels and that's what kept me trying. Orvis still makes great upland clothing. ....about my favorite.
Be careful if you get the rod.....it likely won't accept the standard NA fittings of brushes and mops etc. The English ones are threaded differently and you have to source the right attachments.
I get to that Orvis in Vermont regularly. Tried to buy a nice German 16 ga on consignment for 18 months but it had a damaged horn trigger guard and broken stock. The owner had an unrealistic expectation of value for such a damaged gun. It did have perfect Krupp 31" barrels and that's what kept me trying. Orvis still makes great upland clothing. ....about my favorite.
Be careful if you get the rod.....it likely won't accept the standard NA fittings of brushes and mops etc. The English ones are threaded differently and you have to source the right attachments.
Yes, once I was to give up on the fancy box to put everything in, Jeff's is the better buy, there is no doubt. Of course, Orvis sells a real fancy cleaning supplies box indeed, made in the USA, solid maple for around US$550, but it's sold empty, so if I just take the stuff from Jeff's...
1963beretta
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Vaughan, Ontario
Thats a lot of money for cleaning rods....I’d rather stick the ones I’ve been using and put that money towards another gun....
Checking out Jeffs I see sets that are at more like ammunition prices, which I don't mind paying. Lifetime investment and all that.
You may not be aware but if you were to buy one of the CSMC or Jeff's take down cases (like many of them) the cases have places to store the cleaning rod, the mops and brushes etc. You don't need a specialized cleaning case.
Having said all the above in numerous posts, what I mostly do is use a full length brass rod chucked into an old drill. I have a wire brush on the end and either use the wire brush as it is, or wrap it in shop paper wipes (name escapes me at the moment) cut to fit. At my gun bench I have a vice set up to hold my barrels and 2 mins of effort at the barrels are gleaming. The wood rods I use for a quick clean afield.
Being that I'm neither a restorer nor a big fanatical cleaner, I would never ever use a drill for the job. I was brought up to believe that with non corrosive ammo cleaning can do more harm than good, and often does. This applies to barrels, not to actions, or not as much. And anyway, the British style stuff has a pleasantly genteel quality about it, if that's the word I'm looking for. It certainly looks good next to a double barrel.
Londonshooter
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- SW Ontario
I went to the building center and bought a 3' maple 1/4 " dowel. Well actually they come in 4' but I needed a foot for something else. Carved a slot in the end to accommodate a strip of 3M pad. Chuck that in the cordless drill, coat the pad in Hoppes or ballistol, and leading/fouling disappears. One minute each barrel. Polish the chambers too. Smaller gauges use shorter piece of 3M pad. I don't do that every time I clean bores but when faced with a neglected one or after a few regular nylon brush cleanings. Bob's your parent's sibling.
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I'm a Tung oil fan myself.My grandfather made coffins back in the day and he used blo as his finish. Those left behind expected the coffins to last forever. He would combine blo and beeswax 4 to 1 and double boil it, let it cool overnight, then apply and buff, several coats over the blo bottom coats. I've been told his caskets glowed! I do it the same with a twist! I use tung oil bottom coats and double boiled with bees wax for the annual preservation finish. HTH.
PS this beeswax is the 100% pure stuff.
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LOL, no offense intended but I pass on guns regularly that were owned by the people who taught others to think that way....dirty barrels are just fine and cleaning them may cause harm. What a crock. The reason I pass is because the barrels are pitted. Might be fine for a year.......70-80 years of neglect, not so much. And when buying a vintage gun, everything can be fixed.....except the barrels. When the barrels are done, its time to throw out the gun.
BTW, Genteel is the word I would use and I have all the accessories to outfit my cases and complete the look, when I feel like it.
After trying different combinations for refinishing and touch up I have settled on circa 1850 low lustre tung oil finish. It is basically tung oil with some drying agent to speed up the process a bit. You can add a bit of stain to it to get the colour of finish you want and wet sand with 400 to 800 grit to fill in the grain then wet sand and wipe with up to 1500. For the last grain filling step add ~ 10 percent home hardware marine spar varnish. Not the synthetic one but the one with old fashioned resins. You can also add a sparing amount to the last hand rubbing out coats to get what amount of gloss/ protection you like. Several drops in a couple of tablespoons worth of the tung oil makes a good restoration/feeding mixture to rub out like in the Purdy video on older guns. It seems to be compatible with my Webleys and older Belgian guns. Not they they are worth worrying about or collecting���� I suggest stock piling some of the home hardware spar varnish before everything goes non oil based synthetic
I'm mostly thinking of accuracy through rifled barrels, and of chromed shotgun barrels. But always of gentle cleaning. No drills. Actually I have one of those barrel length pile covered quick cleaner and oilers and certainly use it if a shotgun barrel has been out and exposed to any moisture whatsoever.
Tung oil definitely imparts its own colour and that might be OK, but not for, say, Grade 5 wood which is the stuff I would really worry about.
Having moved on from oil finished stocks to varnished ones, I can really see the advantages of applying the conservator's wax. Applying it and polishing a couple of hours after a quick swab and rub with walnut oil, why those stocks are just beautiful again.
You are right....different story with rifled barrels. And BTW, I like those full length mops or whatever they are called. I don't have one but a couple clubs I shoot at always have a few laying around and they are fast and good enough.
