Stock finish problems

V

vega

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Hey all, I recently maid up a batch of stock finish I read about a couple of years ago on here or Muzzleloaderforum or some such place. Consists of one third each of neatsfoot oil, beeswax and turpentine. Tried it today on an oil-finished stock, thinking that the turpentine might harden up the compound sufficiently to allow the beeswax and oil to take a fairly glossy polish.

No such luck. Came out just like any other decent oil finish, deep, good looking, protective, but dull.

Any ideas on what if anything I could add that would harden and dry the finish enough that the wax would buff up some so that it would more resemble a nice old french polish or old time high grade varnish look?

Thanks
 
"...maid(SIC) up..." Lose that(especially the neetsfoot oil, that's for leather) and use pure Tung Oil. Not Tung Oil Finish. Minwax makes it and you can get it in any hardware store. Last time I bought a litre, it cost me about $15. A litre goes a very long way though.
Your neatsfoot oil, beeswax and turpentine has to come off first. The beeswax will be the hard part. Try any varnish remover.
Pure tung oil, properly rubbed in, gives a hard, shiney, waterproof finish. The more you rub in, with a clean lint free cloth, the shinier it gets. Tung oil brings out the grain extremely well too. You must apply any stain before the first coat of tung oil. It soaks into wood to about 1/4" and it keeps everything out.
Light coats, with 24 hours drying time between coats. Rub it in until the wood gets warm to the touch. New cloth for each coat.
"...old French polish..." That is tung oil applied and rubbed into fine furniture with a figure 8 motion.
 
Sunray, forgive the misspelling, at my age the gray matter is not what it used to be and I've never been good at proofing my own writing.

Thanks for the tip on the Tung Oil. I was a bit nonplussed about it myself at first, as I do know it is for leather as I'm a leather smith and have used it for years in that context, but the recipe called for that specifically nonetheless, and was offered as a genuine old-time wonder.

You are right that getting the beeswax off is going to be a bear. But I will give it a go. If the Tung alone renders the results you say it will, that would be way cool as I have other wood working projects on the go and a simple one ingredient thing like that would be a boon.

I'll report back on my results.
 
Your original recipe is curious - it appears to be an adaptation of a common recipe for milsurp restoration, which uses boiled linseed oil rather than neatsfoot oil... This recipe is formulated to give you a dull finish - which is what you got.
Other posters have given you advice - Tung Oil will certainly give you a glossier finish. I've also had good luck with Danish Oil (Watco), which comes in various tints.
 
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