Proper way to look after Walnut stock?

[Jetjock]

I owned a nice Win Model 70 with a nice figured stock for years. Faithfully rubbed it down with gun oil after each trip and it looked great. 300 Win Mag that shot a true MOA. Then, dropped it against a large boulder when I slipped coming down the mountain and it broke in two! The wood inside the stock was dry and looked like old kindling. I have replaced the stock with a synthetic one but wondering if treating it with oil was a mistake. Have a couple of Weatherbys and don't want them to face the same fate. I hunt in Alberta and it is very dry averging around 30 % humidity per year. Old fasioned still love the Walnut stocks...

 

[Hitzy]

I don't know if it's the correct way to do it, but with stocks like that...thick heavy sealed outside finish M70's and the like, the inletting is usually unfinished so once a year I'll brush in some linseed oil to keep it from getting too dry.
I've done this with 60-70 year old HVA stocks that were dryer then bones in the sun (good soaking inside and out on those as they had a basic oil finish anyway) and so far no cracking anywhere after shooting 8x57/30'06/9.3x62.

 

[Hank44]

The interior should be dry, dry wood is stable. Petroleum based oils are non hardening and not meant for wood. They can and most likely will cause the fibers to swell, deteriorate and soften. There are a few "gun" oils that are OK to do this but it would appear the factory finish protected the wood and prevented this as the oil thankfully didn't penetrate. It was a mistake in the sense that it didn't do anything. Boiled linseed oil is a great way to seal the unfinished areas of the stock, furniture wax is also great way to seal and protect wood stocks. Easy to reapply and water proof as a ducks butt.

 

[Rod]

The idea is to keep the gun oil away from the stock . . Gun oil turns the wood punky and allows it to break . . This the reason some like to store their guns muzzle down, butt up. .

 

[kamlooky]

Ol` Mr. H. has me sold awn that stinky chit............Fluid Film.
Works great on stuck threads and I do wipe my guns down with it.
Take a piece of clean bare wood and spray/wipe one side down with it and
wartch wuh'appins.

G96 is also good medicine.

Gun wax seems to do short term appropeeate werk too.

 

[Ltbull01]

I use double boiled linseed oil on my HVA stock. Apply it about every three months or after a long hunt. At the end of the season, I take the rifle off the stock, clean everything well and then apply the linseed oil to any interior wood that I don't usually get at.