Minwax to Seal Stock?

[ebiggs1]

I use Minwax products in my shop almost exclusively and for a long time now.
I know how they perform and what to expect, so stay with you know, right?
Another thing Minwax is available everywhere.

I use anyone of the commercially available strippers such as BIX to remove any finish. Be prepared to use rubber gloves and 00 steel wool and multiple coats. Have mineral spirits available. I also use the regular water hose for rinsing but am careful of splashes. I made a cheap 2x4 frame and put a large trash bag over it do this dirty work on my bench. Plus you can cover the stock with the bag and let the stripper work.
You need to stop sanding before the wood becomes so tight, it won’t accept stain or oil. I actually only use sanding for shaping and fitting the stock. Just a little sanding touch up to smooth it out (220 grit). Now, what most folks don’t do is burnish the stock with 0000 steel wool. I do this before staining and after staining and between each coat of tung oil.

One last note, on that last gun I used Minwax Mahogany #225 stain and Minwax Tung Oil. (0000 steel wool in-between) The thing about Minwax Tung Oil is the more coats you put on the glossier it will get. You can get it to the same gloss as lacquer or urethane. The first coat needs to be heavy and the succeeding coats light. (0000 steel wool in-between) This gun has three coats.

The brass is removed before tung oil and it got a coat of satin Minwax polyurethane.
Which won’t last a lifetime but helps keep it that way for a long time. The tung oil finish is extremely durable and easily renewable. Just dab some on if you get a scratch!
Hope this helps you and you have a beautiful rifle when you are through.
Please let me see it.

 

[Zonie]

"...You need to stop sanding before the wood becomes so tight, it won’t accept stain or oil..."
---------
Boy! You lost me on that one!

Never in my life have I seen sanding make a wood so "tight" that it wouldn't accept a stain.

I suppose it could happen with some of the exotic foreign woods but with Walnut, Maple, Birch, Oak, Mahogany and Ash to name a few I've not had a problem like this.
Then again, I do not use grits finer than 320 when sanding bare wood and I don't use fouled or worn paper.

I also do not use oil based stains. Perhaps that's the difference?

 

[Capt. Jas.]

Just a note about those who may be thinking they can use those minwax or oil stains on a piece of maple.
The pic above is of a walnut stock which has color in itself. You will NOT be able to achieve anything that looks decent or like a gun stock on maple.

 

[ebiggs1]

Zonie,
You got to remember I am a cabinetmaker that is trying to make a few gunstocks.
I am looking at this from that perspective, since it’s all I know.
“Tight” may not be the proper word but in our experience over sanding is a problem not a contributor to a finish. I never go past 220. We have used Minwax products for more years than I can count, so there again, go with what you know.

Just, Ernie”¦

 

[ebiggs1]

Just a note about those who may be thinking they can use those minwax or oil stains on a piece of maple.
The pic above is of a walnut stock which has color in itself. You will NOT be able to achieve anything that looks decent or like a gun stock on maple.

Capt,
I have made kitchen cabinets from maple. It is becoming a fairly common wood.
Our local Home Depot even has it. But I must say I haven’t made maple cabinets for some time, as quarter-sawn oak seems to be the "in" thing now. I don’t see any problem staining it, whatever. #225 Minwax won’t look the same on it but it will stain it.
EB

 

[Capt. Jas.]

What I meant was it will certainly stain maple but it will look like Minwax stain on maple. :thumbsup:

 

[ebiggs1]

You are correct there. That would be a hard one to refute!