Basically, linseed oil soaks into the stock as it is applied. Eventually, with light sanding between coats, it fills the grain and porduces a smooth, non-glossy finish. If there is a scuff to the finish later, it can rather easily be repaired by repeating the process over the scuff.

The other two build up a layer of finish on the outside of the wood. Repeated coats make the finish thicker. Both of these will effectively seal the wood, so that water will not soak in. However, a scuff or a scratch will create a divot in the finish. Not as easy to fill in and repair. There are differences in the character of the finish between tung and Tru-Oil, that I can't elaborate on. Both finishes are more or less glossy when done.

Then there was the guy that drank tung oil. He died, of course, but oh, what a finish!

 

Groan.

 

I can concur with HiKayaker, except I've never tasted Tung Oil..............

I have NO experience with Tung Oil...........

BLO..........is a nice finish that takes Many , Many coats to build a good finish, because it penetrates the wood so easily.......It dries in 10-14 hours, depending on humidity.......Clean up (your Hands) can be done with good soap and warm water......but you need to work at it.......

One of my stocks has 53 coats of BLO........... I finally had to seal it with 3 coats of Tru-Oil, or I'd still be applying the BLO.........

BLO is water resistant, but I wouldn't consider it waterproof,unless its well waxed, but the finish is truely spectacular...........Blo will darken the color of the wood a bit, too.

Tru-Oil....................Gives a really nicefast finish in about 6-8 coats. Drying time is about the same as BLO.

Tru-Oil won't darken the wood as much a BLO........ Tru-Oil is more of a varnish base, with fillers to fill the pores of the wood faster........

I'd consider Tru-Oil to be MORE waterproof than BLO.

Cleanup (your hands) will require Mineral spirits. Terpentine or gasoline.

All three are best applied by hand rubbing the finish well into the wood, until it seems to disappear.........and then, letting it dry overnight in a warm room.

Light polishing with 0000 Steel wool between coats and a good air Blow and use of the Tack Rag will be required with all three.

All three can be finished off with a good Wood Wax, such as Rennisance Wax, Butchers Floor Wax, Johnson's Floor Wax or any other Wax made for wood.......But NOT Car Wax!

All three can be re-touched to correct a scratch or scrap, but as another member stated, the thicker the original Oil finish, the more coats are needed to do a touch up, in severe cases...........But no touchup is really difficult with any of the three..........

The trick to a beautiful finish is to have well polished wood, and that means EX FINE sandpaper and 0000Steel wool as a polishing material. And an Air hose and a Tack Rag to make certain the wood surface is absolutely free of dust and wool particles.......


Hope this helps, its worked well for me, for years.

Tom

 

Have you tried bronze wool ?

 

Tom, I've always used BLO on all my stocks but they've been all older vintage especially my Winchesters. With my recent purchase of newer Marlins what to do with the Mar-Shield finish? I just haven't any experience with Mar-Shield Finish and I'm not having the same affect as I used to with the older vintage stocks.

Jack

 

I've used tung oil once, I didn't like the gloss or the hardness. I used Tru-oil on my first project,and it turned out great. But again the finish was hard and too glossy for me. I've been using boiled linseed oil since 1975. It takes a whole lot longer to apply and months to really dry, but the finish is worth it. With a hard finish I feel like I'm handling plastic. With a good linseed oils finish I can feel the wood, its warmth comes through. I refinished a few rifles and shotguns and sold them through a local gunshot. The owner tells me that the wood sold the gun.
Anson

 

I've used tung oil once, I didn't like the gloss or the hardness. I used Tru-oil on my first project,and it turned out great. But again the finish was hard and too glossy for me. I've been using boiled linseed oil since 1975. It takes a whole lot longer to apply and months to really dry, but the finish is worth it. With a hard finish I feel like I'm handling plastic. With a good linseed oils finish I can feel the wood, its warmth comes through. I refinished a few rifles and shotguns and sold them through a local gunshot. The owner tells me that the wood sold the gun.
Anson

BLO does indeed take a long time and you also run the risk of it staying sticky. It can be a real mess.
I'm a Tru-Oil fan followed by Tung Oil.
Bear in mind there's two kinds of Tung Oil - 100% and a mix.
Tru-Oil most people don't read the instructions - rub it in by hand - literally with your fingers.
That's important.

 

Jack,

I forgot to mention in the above post....................That is really only for RAW wood!.............You'd need to remove the Mar-shield or other finisg to allow those Oils to get into the wood, and build a finish......


IMO.........If you try to use any of the Oils over a sealed Poly Type finish, the oils won't penetrate, or adhere very well to the surface............I've never done this myself. I've always worked with stripped/polished raw wood........

Tom

 

Precisely my problem, the oil just isn't getting through to the wood. Heck, never experienced this before but I've never had any stocks finished with poly before either. And I'm just so old school I don't know anything else.

Besides chemical removal of the Mar-Shield finish, what other method does one have other than scraping it off?

Or, would I be better off using a wax good for wood over the Mar-Shield? I suppose this is what I get for purchasing newer Marlins. HA! But I do love them.

Jack

 

Never tried Bronze wool........

Re: the Gloss....................After any of those Oil finishes have dried for week or two, you can knock down the Gloss by very light rubbing the surface with 0000 steel Wool, but always rub in the same (Long) direction, with the grain.............

Same for the wax.........the wax will bring the Gloss back, so build multiple layers of wax, and then lightly knock down the gloss with the 0000 Wool.........

Best to do all that with the wood off the gun, too.........

Oh, and apply the Oils over the PG cap and the Black Hard rubber Butt plate, too.......The Oils will polish and seal those parts very nicely

Tom.

 

I like tru-oil over BLO only because BLO darkens the wood some, and tru-oil is a tough finish. You can knock the gloss down with steel wool

 

TruOil is boiled linseed oil...

TruOil is actually a product of boiling the linseed in water and skimming the oil.

Boiled Linseed Oil that is bought in bulk or by the can at the local paint store is "chemically boiled" linseed. TruOil is a much better product for finishing fine wood, i.e.; gun stocks and fine furniture. Thus, the difference in the tone of the wood.

 

I used Danish Oil on my 336 a few years ago. Stripped all the finish off with "off the shelf stripper", lightly wet sanded with 200....400....600 wet dry paper, then started the Danish oil and worked it in with 600....1000....1200 wet dry paper. Last couple of applications I used paper coffee filters to apply/polish. I wasn't in a big rush, so I probably did at least a dozen oil applications.

I've used Tung Oil before on furniture, but the Danish Oil went far beyond my expectations.

Last year I bought a Rossi R92 .44 mag ( just could not find a Marlin of vintage quality that was affordable), and "treated" the wood. I didn't even remove the wood, but water wiped the crappy stain off the Brazilian mystery wood and started rubbing in "Dark Old English" furniture polish (with 600-1200 wet dry). I did this over the course of several days, then finished by using a tiny bit of the furniture polish and the old faithful coffee filters. Very nice slick, non glare, finish that has the wood well protected.

Lots of ways to skin a skunk

JD

 

I wouldn't use steel wool as there is too many fine particles of steel that get worked into the grain that will eventually deteriorate. Using fine/very fine grit wet/dry paper to work the oils into the wood will work the "finings" into the pores that will harden with the oil finish and seal/slick up the pores.

I'm certainly not an expert wood worker, and not trying to start a ruckus, just passing on what the "old folks" tried to teach me.

 

I build walnuts stocks, and only use tung oil on them, and NO stain.
It soaks in, and leaves a hard shell finsh, while making the wood look like furniture

 

I have found that Eli Chaps hit the nail on the head in his treatise on re-finishng stocks. He basically applies several initial coats of the tru oil mixed with mineral spirits as a thinner to fill the grain of the wood. Eventually moving to several coats of 100% tru oil to finish and lightly hitting it with 0000 between coats to knock down the shine. I have now done several in this manner and all have come out great.

 

Agree Tomray, tried BLO on a cz 22 hornet that needed to touch up and ended up with a tacky mess, but was able to clean up with a little work. Don't know what the finish is but would need to completely strip for BLO to work. Now on other hand, my son has an older Marlin 336 and it would take the BLO...applied couple coats and knocked back with light sanding and looks like new...beautiful walnut grain...don't see in guns today unless you pay high dollars for it. Amazing what they are putting out these days in stocks and the average guy has no idea between a birch or fine walnut...just must look cool and like the guys on the shot-um-up movies they go see.

 

I use the combination of boiled linseed oil and tru oil on the muzzle loaders I build. There have been quite a few discussions like this one on a muzzle loading builders forum as to the best finish. Basically the BLO is used to penetrate the wood and then the Tru-Oil to finish it off as the BLO takes a while to dry. BLO is considered one of the best finishes for walnut as it does bring out the color and grain.

DEP

 

I use the combination of boiled linseed oil and tru oil on the muzzle loaders I build. There have been quite a few discussions like this one on a muzzle loading builders forum as to the best finish. Basically the BLO is used to penetrate the wood and then the Tru-Oil to finish it off as the BLO takes a while to dry. BLO is considered one of the best finishes for walnut as it does bring out the color and grain.

DEP[/QUOT

I do the same

 

Wow! Lots of good info and ideas. I did several stocks in true-oil a long time ago. I wasn't as happy with it (too glossy). I do believe I built it up too quick tho and ended up with too thick a finish. I got into refinishing furniture and got very proficient at hand rubbed tung oil finish. Both are a very HARD finish with too much gloss for my taste on a gun.

I did a walnut table once and sprayed a clear lacquer finish (semi-gloss, if memory serves) that I always thought would look very nice on a walnut stock. I do not know how it wears tho.

Thanks guys, good topic.

Mop

 

I've posted on this several times and only have experience with BLO but all my experiences on M1's, Springfields, Mausers, muzzleloaders in originals and kits have been excellent by removing all oil finishes with Murphy's Oil Soap, varnish-like finishes with half and half mineral spirits and denatured alcohol, 200 to 600 grit dry sandpaper with water wipes between standings to raise the grain. Then many many hand applied coats of BLO to reach the finish level you like.

 

My father refinished a pre-1935 Stevens 66B with (I think) raw linseed oil in 1960 before he gave it to me for my 12th birthday. He had me buff it with the same piece of terry cloth followed by a cleaner piece every day for a month. I've passed it on to my son and it still looks and shoots great. It has been shot so much that the crown has a concave about .04 across from gas erosion. It never failed to eject for me. IIRC he applied it hot and buffed it with fine steel wool before the 2nd and 3rd coats and he did it all in one afternoon. When he apprenticed and became a journeyman painter they made their own paints and varnishes - I wish he had given me the formulae he knew.

Wild

 

I'm working a stock right now using BLO. It's the first time I've done anything like this and so far I like how its turning out. The wood is from a Remington Model 8 made in 1907 that had virtually no finish left. I gave it a light, quick sand with 150 grit then finished it with 400 grit and it smoothed up nicely. I made sure to leave the character marks to preserve the history if the wood since it was my wife's great grandfather's hunting rifle. I applied the 4th coat of BLO this morning and its hanging to dry right now. Between coats I have just been burnishing with a micro fiber cloth.

 

great thread. I am fixing to restock my 30AS 356w rebore and have several different stocks to choose from. I bought an NOS beautiful uncheckered walnut forearm but it looks like I will be stripping it along with a stock to match color etc. I want the lumber to be dark so I also picked up a couple different colors of stain (also unopened). I used tru oil 30 years ago on my Remington 870 and it was and still is way to glossy. I have heard god things about the BLO but don't want it to take forever to dry.

I bought a can of tung oil but have not opened it. I am considering cutting the first couple of rubbed in coats of tung oil with mineral spirits as well. I am also going to rub it in with the 600, 1000, and 1500 grit wet/dry paper I have on hand. I was planning on posting some pictures in a thread once I get the process started. I am not a woodworker but fairly handy with stuff like this. I need to pick up some scuff pads today for raising the grain scuffing ect.

PTGarcia.....that stock is beautiful. Makes me rethink the BLO proposition.

 

Here is one with the third coat on Tung oil dried in. This was well beat up and required steaming out 12 or so compression dents and smoothing some deeper gouges. It has been de-wiskered twice and polish sanded with 600 grit before first coat applied. The Tung oil was mixed two parts citrus solvent to one of Tung oil. It is starting to take on a warm glow, and has 9-10 more applications to go.

Sorry, I should a fessed up earlier. The stock is for a Winchester 75, that I will use as a utility stock. The original on the rifle is in too nice of condition to bang up, so I picked up this beater stock to use on it and preserve the original one for later.

 

That citrus solvent looks interesting

 

The advantage is that it provides the same function as the mineral spirits, but it's low VOC allows greater versatility as to where you use it, and clean up seems to be easier too. I know that this time of year makes it harder to these types of projects with more volitale
compounds. I think that if you wanted to, you could do your project at the Kitchen table, and your wife would just think you were peelin oranges.

 

If you have enough BLO you can soak your stocks in it for about a week then start after drying with a good 000 steel wool and another applied coat.

The steel wool should be cleaned with thinner to remove the oil if it has it.

 

The steel wool should be cleaned with thinner to remove the oil if it has it.

Thanks, I never heard that before!

 

Where does one find the boiled linseed oil?

 

Any hardware store, Paint store, or even K Mart or Walmart..........Or other Big Box store Paint department.

Its relatively inexpensive, compared to other finish oils that actually contain BLO as their base........

Usually find it in Qt cans.

And its like Twinkies....It lasts for decades, too

Tom

 

Got mine at Lowes.The local hardware store carries it as well, its usually in or near the paint and painting supplies. Minwax Antique finish is good as well.

 

Got my BLO at a wood working store near me called Rocklers.