Maple & Beech, and getting dark stain to take!

I just finished re-finishing a beech stock. I used danish oil, in a dark walnut color. The finish is spectacular!

The method I use (was handed bown by a cabinet maker in the family..... He REALLY knew wood...) is to sand the stock with varying levels of sand paper. Start with 120 grit, then 220 grit, then 400 grit.

When you think you are done sanding apply a layer of the danish oil with a rag and then use a 600 grit wet/dry sand paper to "sand" in the oil. This works best if the "oil" is dripping all over the place, I highly reccomend using a pair of latex gloves. This needs to be done in a warm or hot room (your garage in Jan is no good) and I find it usually takes 10 to 12 coats to get a really fine finish. I also found that if you pre-heat the oil container in a sink of hot water it seems to work a little faster.

The reasoning behind the sanding while applying is that the oil heats up and really penetrates the wood, as an added bonus if there are any low spots or minor imperfections the dust from the sanding process gets right into the oil and acts as a filler. I have also tried 800 grit paper but the finish was not noticably different.

So far I have re-finished 5 stocks using this method and the results are very nice. As an added bonus the stock is water repellant (if that makes a differance to you) as well.

I have also foud that it is neccissary to let the stocks sit in a warm enviroment for about a week when completed to fully let the oil finish fully cure.

Here are a few pics of my latest attempt.

Good luck Levi

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Very nice !
Well I got it figured:D, Aniline baby !!!
wow, was down to LeeValley , and this dye is awesome, you get exactly the color, and the wood looks the part, holy crap , dead easy, instructions excellent, but for repairs on beech stocks,(mix 2 oz bottle water , hot, with 1 tea spoon of powder) a bottle of water 500 mil, and you split it up, one for raising grain, other for mixing stain. warm to hot water , in the mw,
I only used to coats , put on, wait a few minutes, rub off, re apply , wait, remove, done.
Then the tru oil goes on over, you get a bit dirty , but peanut butter fixes that.
You will notice the tacky tru oil bead a bit where heavy , just remove by rubbing, and when all even , and a clear coat is over that stained stock, its sweet.
Amazing stuff....
 
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The problem that I have run into when using a aniline dye & other types of stain is in the filling/wet sanding stage. If you want a super smooth finish and do the traditional "wet sand" to fill the pores the problem arises that it is very easy to sand off or thin the stain even with the utmost care and even with very fine sand paper. With a natural dark walnut, the process Iuse is to raise the grain and then wet sand with the grain -- wipe the slurry off across the grain with blue shop towels & using ever finer sandpaper ending with up to 1200 grit depending on the project. I finish by applying multiple coats of a mixture of tung,true & shaftol oils (applying and wiping excess off). After the final coat sits over night I buff with clean burlap and apply a coat of Mothers California Gold Carbuna wax (depending on the desired results)
Cheers
 
I hit it first time, on 2 guns, lucky me, the tru oil will seal it all up, the beech turned out like the HW guns, go figure, dark walnut.
As coats of tru oil were put on , and burnished in, the whole thing come together with an even color, and the dark fiddleback looks sweet..
I do want to stress, get the color that matches the gun on repairs,
go with whatever color you fancy on a complete gun, (stay away from the checkering, no sanding, just a liquid stripper is you want.)
 
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