Hand rubbed finish

[kevthebassman]

I've been thinking about stripping the finish off of my TC and replacing with a hand-rubbed linseed oil finish.

Now, I was originally just going to sand down the finish and start going at it, but a fella told me about a pretty interesting way that he prepped his stock. He said that he took broken glass and scraped the finish off, using glass from a jar so that it was slightly curved, and using it just like a planer. Sounded interesting so I thought I'd run it by y'all to see what people thought.

Another piece of advice I ran across is to use a mixture of 1-1-1 boiled linseed oil, turpentine, and beeswax, melted together over gentle heat, then allowed to harden and worked into the wood. Has anyone tried anything like this?

This will be my first crack at doing any kind of stock refinishing, so I'm looking for any advice I can get.

 

[GobblerKnob]

I would recommend a cabinet scraper to a piece of glass. The broken glass will almost certainly have an irregular profile which will transfer to the surface of your stock. You can buy cabinet scrapers from wood working supply houses. Hope this helps. Rick

 

I've never used beeswax, but I do use BLO and Turpentine mixed 50/50 on walnut. It takes a lot of coats to fill in the grain and build up a good finish that will luster up.
Occasionally I will use carnuba(sp?)wax as a final coat, but carnuba has to be re-applied regularly.

Hope this helps

C

 

[bwhoffman]

I just stripped a cva stock I came across. used jasco jelled remover, several coats and scrapings with plastic scraper AND then followed that up with a good soaking/rub using straight acetone.

worked ok, but not as good as bare, raw wood. acetone does a good job on pulling out pre existing oils!

I applied multiple coats of BLO over 4 applications of dark walnut oil stain.

beech sucks. now I know why cva did their stocks the way they did!

 

[BadHorse]

interesting that you mention the glass, i remember my dad telling me about finishing his m-1a gerrand that way when he was in the marine corps.

karwelis

 

[BLAHMAN]

I've used beeswax.....what I do is apply about 4 coats of oil (can't remeber the name of it, but it comes in a little plastic bottle with a yellow wrapper on it). I buff with a cotton cloth between coats....then I buy a toilet bowl wax ring and smear the wax into the finish, wipe off the eccex and buff it to a nice soft sheen. Works great.

The way I look at is, if that wax ring can stand thru my punishment, it's gotta be ok for a water proof finish

 

[Pork Chop]

if that wax ring can stand thru my punishment,

Thanks for the visual. :barf: :haha:

 

[Coltsmoke]

There is no need to scrape anything. Why risk scratching your stock. Buy some paint and finish remover and just follow the directions. It will do the work for you. Very easy to do, then apply whatever new finish you wish.

 

[SAJones]

I've made scrapers out of an old hand saw; lets me make contuours & size as needed. Also keeps me from cutting myself on the glass & adding a new stain to the wood. Hardest part is "Sharpening" them, ie, putting the burr back on the edge. I use a steel 1/2" drill blank pressed on the edge (scraper held in a vise). When I do a TC stock, I usually remove a lot of wood also, as there is way too much on the factory stocks, so varnish isn't a problem. I have used chemical removers for old military muskets/rifles (saves the stampings) and plastic finished modern stocks. But for what you want, I think scrapers are better. I use tung oil for a final finish, but takes a week or so to get four or so coats on. Like it better than other finishes I've tried.

 

[renovato]

I second Coltsmoke's suggestion of using stripper. It's fast and very easy to use. The only sanding you'll need to do is if the wood itself needs it. Beats trying to scrape off the old finish.

I'll add the recommendation to consider using a prepared wood finish if this is your first try. Dunno bout the rest of you, but I dispise linseed oil. It's a pain to apply, doesn't dry well, doesn't waterproof well, etc. I'd suggest something like tung oil, or maybe Tru-oil or Permalyn. Tru-oil needs some hand work to knock down the plastic like shine, but it's a good finish. Tung oil is just a gorgeous finish all around and you can get it from satin to gloss.

 

[BLAHMAN]

if that wax ring can stand thru my punishment,

Thanks for the visual. :barf: :haha:

My pleasure......