Multiple coats of BLO applied as you prefer, finish up with a weatherproof seal of Johnson or Minwax paste wax.

 

+1 on BLO.

 

BLO is the way to go!

 

Good - I was leaning that way, too...

Curious - when would Tru Oil be more appropriate to use? A new model or something other than Walnut?

 

I have used tru oil on my 32 special with great results also used on my stocks i just refeinished on my 1895 with good results. I would imagine the BLO would be the way a true woodworker/refinisher would go. Many others favor this route, I had the tru oil available and went with what I had.

 

mrguvna- - that looks really sharp...! What age are the rifles?

 

The 32 special is a 1952 version that was in horrible shape from a pawn shop. bubba carved his name in the stock and forearm and I had to refinish because I could not walk around with a rifle with someone elses name on it. the 1895 is a remlin I bought about 1-1/2 yrs ago and was sent back to remlin to fix an apparent crack in the receiver (see sticky in 45-70 section I started the alert) I could not get any accuracy with the rifle and scout set-up so when I took it all the way down I decided the faux checkering had to go and I liked the perch belly on the 32 so I mimicked that when I did it. surely the wood is nicer than with the faux checkering.


My Pop's was a true woodworker/woodsmith and if he was with us today he would have told me I should have used the BLO I am sure, but the tru-oil was easy to work with and with many coats and steel wool in between it turned out better than I would have expected.

the 336 is a satin finish 9steel wool last step) and the 1895 I left glossy due to the pretty eagle cuff from MO member.

 

Building muzzleloaderes I used a combination of Boiled Linseed Oil and Tru Oil. The BLO takes longer to dry and Tru Oil is a Linseed Oil with an drying excellerator. As for walnut, Tru oil makes agreat finish and brings out the color. Also Tru oil is a fairly tough finish and scratches can be easily sanded out and repaired if no stain is added.

DEP

 

BLO is my choice.....

 

Do the BLO, I rub the wood with 000 steel wool between coats.

I usually am happy with 5-7 coats on most guns but will go up to 15 if I want the gloss to be a little shinier.

Good thing about BLO you can add more anytime you want, other finishes not so much.

 

northmn, thanks for the explanations. Just hope I can retain it for when I need it! You guys are great for sharing.

 

I've had very good results with Tru Oil but I like BLO also. Personally I think Tru Oil is a little easier to deal with but I think either one would look nice if you put the time into it. I heard somewhere that Tru Oil is a mixture of Linseed Oil and Tung oil but I have no idea how much truth there is to that.

Stu

 

In the process myself. This is off my New Rossi 410. Took off the shoe polish with 320. Moved on to 400 and ended almost 5 hrs later with 600 grit sandpaper. Put on a coat of English Chestnut stain tonight. Now trying to decide what next. I was thinking about 4 coats of Spar Urathane but now I may consider the BLO or True Oil. If this turns out decent, Im gonna do my other Rossi as well.

Hayden.

 

Tung oil is another option and a little easier to work with than BLO, ie, dries a bit faster.

 

That is what I like to use also!!!!I use the Minwax Tung oil.

 

If you do any sanding on birch or walnut you should give the stock a damp rag wipe between grades of sandpaper, stain application after thorough drying and before your final finish as a check. The damp wipe will swell some wood cells on the surface ("raise the grain") so your final wipe after your last sanding should no longer result in any grain raising. If you don't do this the BLO or Truoil or Tung oil will raise the grain and not allow a really nice totally smooth finish. So, don't raise the grain with your oil finish, do all that before the oil.

 

As Burk mentions you defeather any wood with a damp rag to get the best results. More so with the white woods as they are generally stained and the stain will not lift the grain. Stock finishing depends on what one wants to achieve and in some cases the wood itself. I do not often go much below 220 anymore but that is due to the work on Maple in ML's. You can get the wood so slick it does not take stain well, been there seen that. Also a plain Jane fairly straight grained stock has fewer issues than a fancier one.

DP

 

Tru-Oil has worked well for me.
Bob

 

I like the BLO in lue of Gun True Oil. Best of luck on the finish job. I love doing this type of finish work. Hope you will post progress pictures as you continue the project.

Enjoy the Journey
444GS2

 

The beauty of BLO is that it never really dries, therefore it can be refreshed without removing the existing finish.

I made a set of thumb rest palm rest stocks for Dad's Ruger Mk I in the mid '60s. Finished them off with TruOil. I do not remember how many coats, but I topped them off with Sheen. The pistol rode under the seat of his pick up most of the time until his death a few years ago. The Ruger came to me. The blue is almost gone but the finish on the stocks is virtually unscathed. That has to be some hard stuff.

I bought a Texan a few years ago with what I think is TruOil on the stocks. I need to dull them a bit, but they are well protected.

Your call, you can't loose.

 

I will restate. Tru Oil is BLO with a drying accelerator. A while back when I was still building ML's there was a discussion about BLO as a finish. Many consider the stuff that comes in a can from the Hardware store crap. What they do is they take it and reboil it with the addition of a couple 3 oxidized lead ball in it. The white oxidized coating combines with the oil as a drying agent. As long as you do not let little kids chew on your gun stock it is perfectly safe. I have used BLO in most of my builds as the initial coats. Any coloration advantage or penetration advantage is taken care of. Then to get the finish to dry I use Tru Oil as a final coating. Tru Oil is an old established stock finishing product that has stood the test of time and was developed for that purpose. As Papabear stated it is pretty tough.
For my first coasts I would put a small amount in the microwave and get it very hot as in boiling and then apply it hot. Gave better penetration. works wonders on ramrods and gives them more flexibility if applied hot also. Dont put the stuff in a container that is not microwave safe, especially if you have a wife. They get unreasonably upset about BLO spilled in the microwave.

DEP

 

Used to make ramrods with BLO, I would make them in the winter and put them in a steel pipe with sealed caps on them and leave them behind my wood stove for three days. They got a pressure cooked in BLO that made them almost as strong as a synthetic ramrod. Often thought of getting a big container to do the same with gun stocks.

 

Soaking the rods in a tube was a common way to treat them. Some even used coal oil, which kind of got messy. Your point about soaking gunstocks does point to to the fact that it really does not hurt to finish the inside of the stocks also to help seal them. I used to coat the interior of my ML stocks in BLO and Tru oil and also wax the bottom of the barrels using Turtle Wax. Helped a lot to avoid rust.

DEP