Grain filler after Tru oil?

[reddog]

I recently aqquired a stock that had been sanded and a coat of tru oil applied without any grain filling.

Normally I use French Red walnut to fill grain before finishing and it works well.

My question is: Does anyone know if I can successfully use this AFTER Tru Oil has been applied? It has dried for a pretty long time now, when I got the stock, it looked like it had just been done.

 

[rich pierce]

I don't think it will stick.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Yeah. The filler should be before, or as part of, the first few oil coats that then get sanded down to fill the pores.

Your results may vary, but annually I rub in a drop of boiled linseed oil at a time in with my hand with my gunstocks and it does smooth out the day-to-day scratches accumulated from hunting. I have done this over Tru-Oil. It is less shiney than Tru-Oil alone, for better or worse as your tastes go.

 

You might try something I've done when refinishing walnut stocks and grips. Wet sand the stock with true oil. I generally like to use 400 grit paper, just wet the stock down with the true oil and wet sand two or three times. I used tung oil, but the idea is the same. Don't know how it will work since the true oil was put on first and aloud to cure, but??? :hmm:

Any way the idea is that fine saw dust gets mixed with the oil and fills the voids. With work and enough coats you can make it look like glass.

 

[reddog]

You might try something I've done when refinishing walnut stocks and grips. Wet sand the stock with true oil. I generally like to use 400 grit paper, just wet the stock down with the true oil and wet sand two or three times. I used tung oil, but the idea is the same. Don't know how it will work since the true oil was put on first and aloud to cure, but??? :hmm:

Any way the idea is that fine saw dust gets mixed with the oil and fills the voids. With work and enough coats you can make it look like glass.

Yes, I have done this before and it works, but slow,,I was thinking that was my only choice, but I thought I would ask.

Thanks guy's, I'm not going for glass, but I do want the grain filled.

Time to start coating and sanding...

 

[Bill Hall]

I agree with Blademaker, your best bet is to build up the tru oil, then sand it back down, and keep doing this until the finish is flat. Takes many coats, as walnut has such an open grain. I've seen some instructual videos on youtube that demonstrate how to wet sand the finish. Don't remember how or where I found the videos, so you might hunt around for those.

If you apply filler now, the next coat of tru oil will just wipe it away. Good luck. Bill

 

[BrownBear]

Yup, wet sand with the Truoil. If you want the fill a little darker than the rest of the stock, add a touch of stain to the Truoil you're using for fill.

 

[reddog]

Yup, wet sand with the Truoil. If you want the fill a little darker than the rest of the stock, add a touch of stain to the Truoil you're using for fill.

And what would you use for staining the oil??

 

[jerrywh]

Virtually all the modern custom gnmakers in the American custom gunmakers guild today use the method described by Blademaker. I do also. Just sand the dust into the grain with 400 grit wet and dry. Rub it in against across the grain and let it set. Use a fresh bottle of true oil and it will dry fast. Sometimes I thin it a bit with mineral spirits.

 

[reddog]

Virtually all the modern custom gnmakers in the American custom gunmakers guild today use the method described by Blademaker. I do also. Just sand the dust into the grain with 400 grit wet and dry. Rub it in against across the grain and let it set. Use a fresh bottle of true oil and it will dry fast. Sometimes I thin it a bit with mineral spirits.

Thank you Jerry,,That looks great!
As I have said, I have done it that way before, but what do I use to darken the Tru oil with?

 

[Stumpkiller]

Laurel Mt. Stains (Track OTW sells them) - but if you hand rub you'll need a Clorox hand rinse.

I have also put darker stain in just the last application and rubbed it hard. Snaps any carvings out visually.

 

[jerrywh]

What kind of wood do you have??

 

[reddog]

Walnut,,,it's a T/C stock.

Tru oil does darken the wood to a certain extent, as I'm sure everyone knows, but I want a little darker. I was looking at the LMF Ebony and wondering if a few drops in the bottle might darken it some.

I never leave my wood glossy, I always knock it back to a soft satin.The last one I did I used the French Red walnut filler and tung oil. It came out too light and glossy.

 

[BrownBear]

I was looking at the LMF Ebony and wondering if a few drops in the bottle might darken it some.

It will, but I'd stop short of adding it directly to your bottle. I'm too clumsy and tend to go too far on such things, so I pour a little TruOil into a separate container and add my stain to that. A very little goes a long way when you're putting on multiple coats. Be ready to switch back to plain TO once you get the shade you want in the wood.

 

[reddog]

I was looking at the LMF Ebony and wondering if a few drops in the bottle might darken it some.

It will, but I'd stop short of adding it directly to your bottle. I'm too clumsy and tend to go too far on such things, so I pour a little TruOil into a separate container and add my stain to that. A very little goes a long way when you're putting on multiple coats. Be ready to switch back to plain TO once you get the shade you want in the wood.

Only have about a third of a bottle left,,and it's locally availiable and cheap enough, gonna cost more for the stain and shipping from TOW.

Whatever I have left I can use for 1st and second coats on the next one, and I have two more to do.
But they haven't been "worked" on yet.

 

[ebiggs1]

You can get a small can of Minwax Ebony stain at Home Depot. It works fine. I ditto the sanding with either tung oil or Tru-oil. I was surprised how many folks had never heard of this practice when I mentioned it a a woodworkers show. It isn't as successful with non-open pore woods though.

 

[jerrywh]

I really don't like ataining walnut but some of the guys will add lamp black or tempra powder to the oil when filling the grain.

This will not color the wood but it will color the holes in the grain. It sounds scary to begin with but leaves a very nice looking stock when finished. Tempra powder can be bought in a variety of colors at art supply houses and mixed to obtain almost any color desired. I even use it to color epoxy at times. Oil colors from art supplies works well also and will mix with the true oil. I only use that stuff on the filler coats. I wouldn't mix it with the finish oil because t will cloud the finish and look like the wood has no grain.
There is no substitute for good wood.

 

[reddog]

Thanks for the help fellows,,,

I'll get it worked out!

 

[hoochiepapa]

I and my friend Joe had a small gunshop in my garage back in the 70's, and he had gone to gunsmith school in Trinidad. That's how they taught finishing a walnut stock, and he could do some miraculous things with Tru-oil.

 

[reddog]

Just a little update for those that may be interested...

I had a can of dark walnut minwax stain, added 4 drops to a capful of tru oil. It looked way to dark in the container, but I figured "no guts no glory"
so away I went. Two coats brought the color in perfect! and the grain was more defined!

As far as filling the grain, it finally got there, now it looks like glass. Ordered some pumice and rottenstone yesterday. I think the finish should be hard enough by the time it gets here.

This particular stock has a lot of grain feature for a T/C stock, so as long as I'm at it, might as well make it look good.