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How Often to Linseed Oil a Traditional Rifle Stock
- Thread starter TDDredge
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I like to give my guns a light rub down with Tru-oil or linseed oil just before the season, and after.
Phil Coffins
69 Cal.
I quit useing linseed oil when I found out that it is a part of what was used on a finish back in the day. Straight it never seems to dry and smells. Tru-Oil uses linseed as does other good finishes.
Okay so about twice a year. I just got the rifle, so maybe I won't give it that treatment just yet. Wait a good half year or a bit more.
Does your rifle already have an linseed oil finish? If it is a modern finish such as on a factory made traditions or Pedersoli gun then linseed oil will not soak into the stock. It will just make a sticky mess. If it’s an original linseed finish that’s been on there for years then a very light coat once a year is fine but not necessary. If it is an oil finish with a varnish or poly topcoat it will not soak in oil either. If it’s a modern finish I suggest using a stock wax. I personally use Howard’s feed and wax on all my guns. Modern and oil finished. Linseed oil over time soaks up dirt and grime and makes a gunstock almost black.
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Ditto on the wax.
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Never
Make sure you use boiled linseed oil. Raw never dries - though that was what was used on British long arms through WWII.
I use a boiled linseed oil wipe - maybe semi-annually - and wipe down with Bri-Wax a couple times a year.
I use track of the wolfs origanal oil finish that’s linseed and pine oil. Really like it. Give a coat whenever I clean and about once every couple of months
Once a day for a week. Once a week for a month. Once a month for a year. Then Once a year. Works wonders on my axe handles!
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If you are using linseed oil......... when the stock is completely dry and the wood pores are not filled. I prefer tung oil, it is not gummy like linseed, and drys much quicker.
Larry
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Pedersoli uses a good finish on the stocks , I don't know what it is, but Linseed Oil may not penetrate it. If you mix different kinds of finish it can cause wood "crazing".
I'd just shoot it and enjoy it, and if it ever needs oil on the stock worry about it in the future. I have Parker-Hale rifles from the 1970s-80s that I bought used and the stocks don't need anything.
I'd just shoot it and enjoy it, and if it ever needs oil on the stock worry about it in the future. I have Parker-Hale rifles from the 1970s-80s that I bought used and the stocks don't need anything.
rafterob
62 Cal.
I think it has already been said, but if your original finish is sealed with wax then you should not have to re-oil it. If you have any unsealed areas like the lock inlet then add some oil there a couple times a year.
As I had mentioned earlier, use a good linseed oil based finish with driers, such as the artists' boiled linseed oil (with driers) or Birchwood Casey's True Oil or Tried and True Oil. Some of furniture finishing Tung oils have driers and they work too. The oil finishes over some varnishes such as applied by Pedersoli won't be good. Wax may be the recoating application to choose.
Whatever refinish you choose, try it first in some part that is hidden from view, such as the barrel channel or the interior of the lock mortise.
Whatever refinish you choose, try it first in some part that is hidden from view, such as the barrel channel or the interior of the lock mortise.
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And Cyprus and Aden, Korea, the Malaysian Emergency, WW1, theSecond Boer War, and the other wars in Africa, including the Zulu war, and The Great Indian Mutiny, and the Crimea..........in fact, until the arrival of plastic furniture for the SLR/FAL, BLO was the other smell that hit you in the armoury when you walked in.
hanshi
Cannon
I'll use paste wax maybe every 2 to 4 years. Each time I clean one after shooting that day I wipe the stock (and barrel) down with a rag dampened with Type F tranny fluid. Been doing this for a couple of decades and the stocks remain in exceptional condition.
BEP
40 Cal.
I have two muskets with boiled linseed oil as a finish, as well as several unmentionables. I know it's a linseed oil finish because that's what I've been putting on them for some decades - one for more than 40 years. Once a year I give them a coat of what's called "gunny paste". It's a mixture of equal parts by volume of mineral spirits, boiled linseed oil and beeswax. I use a double boiler steup to melt them together. (Hint - don't make it on the kitchen stove unless you're not married, or no longer wish to be.) I rub it on with a soft cloth, then buff to a low shine. I enjoy making my own tinkery, time wastey things and gunny paste is one of these.
If you're asking if it's necessary to do this once a year, well, maybe not. Probably not. But I enjoy doing it, so I'll continue to do so.
If you're asking if it's necessary to do this once a year, well, maybe not. Probably not. But I enjoy doing it, so I'll continue to do so.
