I was asked to go over the steps I use to finish walnut.This would work for American or European.The rifles pictured below followed the steps in this post.
1:Most of my stocks are scraped rather than sanded.When I get to the finish stage I am scraping very lightly with a carpet/sheetrock knife blade.Once the rifle is finished and before any carving I whisker the stock several times.This is merly wetting the stock and drying it by running a propane torch lightly over it to dry.Then I carve and then whisker again.
2:Both of these stocks were then stained with aqua fortis.I make my own using 4parts water to 1 part acid with wrought iron dissolved until the reaction stops.My process is stain ,blush,stain again and blush.
3:Once the stock is blushed for the second time the grain is pretty raised(walnut almost never stops raising)I go over the stock with a scotch brite pad(Scotchbrite#7448)Then I use ammonia on a rag to neutralize the aqua fortis and pic up any dust from the scothbrite.
4:I then seal the stock with seed lac that I mix up in small batches as is has a short shelf life.This hardens any little whiskers so I again go over the stock with a scotchbrite.
5:I then put on my first finish coats.On these stocks I used good Spar Varnish.Once the first coat dryed completly I filled the grain with Constantines paste filler.I sand that back until just the pores are filled and proceed with the rest of my finish coats sanding between each coat with scotchbrite.I use high gloss Spar Varnish as the matting agents in the semi gloss and matte varnish cloud the final finish.Once I'm done with the varnish it's too glossy for my liking so I rub it back with rottenstone and oil.
I would be glad to answer any other questions!!
Mitch Yates
1:Most of my stocks are scraped rather than sanded.When I get to the finish stage I am scraping very lightly with a carpet/sheetrock knife blade.Once the rifle is finished and before any carving I whisker the stock several times.This is merly wetting the stock and drying it by running a propane torch lightly over it to dry.Then I carve and then whisker again.
2:Both of these stocks were then stained with aqua fortis.I make my own using 4parts water to 1 part acid with wrought iron dissolved until the reaction stops.My process is stain ,blush,stain again and blush.
3:Once the stock is blushed for the second time the grain is pretty raised(walnut almost never stops raising)I go over the stock with a scotch brite pad(Scotchbrite#7448)Then I use ammonia on a rag to neutralize the aqua fortis and pic up any dust from the scothbrite.
4:I then seal the stock with seed lac that I mix up in small batches as is has a short shelf life.This hardens any little whiskers so I again go over the stock with a scotchbrite.
5:I then put on my first finish coats.On these stocks I used good Spar Varnish.Once the first coat dryed completly I filled the grain with Constantines paste filler.I sand that back until just the pores are filled and proceed with the rest of my finish coats sanding between each coat with scotchbrite.I use high gloss Spar Varnish as the matting agents in the semi gloss and matte varnish cloud the final finish.Once I'm done with the varnish it's too glossy for my liking so I rub it back with rottenstone and oil.
I would be glad to answer any other questions!!
Mitch Yates