starting another gun kit to replace one stolen. Southern mountain rifle from track. in maple. Watched the James Turpin video on gun building. He recommended a mix of boiled linseed oil and danish oil over an acid stain. I assume he is referring to aquafortis as the acid stain. Anyone have any idea what the proportions of danish to linseed are?
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oil finish
- Thread starter BCBruce
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I'd be kind of wary using linseed oil straight from the store. It is not as good as the old stuff (not enough lead, I believe), and the one person I know who actually uses the stuff on guns reboils it and makes varnish out of it. Does Turpin say anything about adding anything to the oild before mixing? I assume that anyone who can put out a video has a pretty good idea what he is doing, but it might be a good idea to check on that.
Another alternative I can recommend is Jim Chambers Traditional Oil Finish. Honesty compels me to admit that Jim is a friend of mine, so I am biased, but I have used it on a rifle, a dulcimore, a knife handle, and several powderhorns, and it has worked very well every time.
Another alternative I can recommend is Jim Chambers Traditional Oil Finish. Honesty compels me to admit that Jim is a friend of mine, so I am biased, but I have used it on a rifle, a dulcimore, a knife handle, and several powderhorns, and it has worked very well every time.
Many Klatch
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If you are going to use linseed oil you need to mix it 3 parts linseed oil, one part vinegar and one part turpentine. This will break up the waxes and allow it to dry in a reasonable time.
Many Klatch
Many Klatch
Out of all the BLO warnings, horror stories, etc., I've never had a problem with the ACE brand BLO I purchased from my local Ace Hardware. I'm sure it has additives, etc., but it seems to work just fine on my wood. Tung oil works well also it that is what you like.
I use to use mixes but have gone away from that. If your going to mix varnish with BLO then you might as well just use varnish. For oil finishes, tung or danish oil works well and has alkali resins that help speed up drying (though danish oils and scandanavian oils still tend to be a linseed/varnish/thinner mix). I've been using linseed based timber decking oil with great success. It's cheap, has these alkali resins, is applied like an oil finish and dries in 24 hours if applied very thinly. Also has UV filters and is intended for outdoors.
I refinished my Renegade stock using a mineral oil/ tung mixture in different proportions depending on what step I was working on. Sealing the grain, filling the grain and final finish. I used vinegar for whiskering. I think it came out pretty good.
Here's a link on refinishing that got me in the right direction.[url] http://riflestocks.tripod.com/refinish.html[/url]
Here's a link on refinishing that got me in the right direction.[url] http://riflestocks.tripod.com/refinish.html[/url]
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Shelby Skinner
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I have used lots of different finishes on gunstocks over the years--Linspeed, Tru-oil, BLO, Permalyn, Tung Oil, Polyurethane, Jim Chambers Oil, and a few others. Of all the above I keep coming back to Tru-0il. It never seems to get gummy as others can. It can be thinned with some mineral spirits. And some of the best gunsmiths in the business still use it...Doug Turnbull does all his wood stock restorations with Tru-oil.
Having said that I was at Dixsons Fair this summer and caught Eric Kettenberg's talk on traditional gun finishes and I can see myself trying my hand it making my own varnish in the near future. Its the most original finish used by old gunsmiths as evidenced by the list of items left by Gunmsiths at their time of death. Some of the more common things included Seedlac (Linseed oil). WHite Lead (which is added to speed drying) compound, Mastic and other resins which are added to boiled varnishes to improve their water resistance and durability.
All of these ingredients are readily available from some traditional arts supply houses and if you aren't really interested in making your own you might want to consider buying some violin varnish (which also can be bought tinted red or orange) from several specialty varnish makers online (do a Google Search). It seems originals were most commonly varnished and left shiney.
Our modern sensibilities often leads us to different ideas of what is correct. But I'm of the opinion that we over finish our contemporary muzzleloaders with ultra fine sandpaper, and steel wool, and other modern tools our forefathers simply didn't possess.
As usual YMMV--two words that shouldn't be used in connection with muzzleloaders--always and never!
Having said that I was at Dixsons Fair this summer and caught Eric Kettenberg's talk on traditional gun finishes and I can see myself trying my hand it making my own varnish in the near future. Its the most original finish used by old gunsmiths as evidenced by the list of items left by Gunmsiths at their time of death. Some of the more common things included Seedlac (Linseed oil). WHite Lead (which is added to speed drying) compound, Mastic and other resins which are added to boiled varnishes to improve their water resistance and durability.
All of these ingredients are readily available from some traditional arts supply houses and if you aren't really interested in making your own you might want to consider buying some violin varnish (which also can be bought tinted red or orange) from several specialty varnish makers online (do a Google Search). It seems originals were most commonly varnished and left shiney.
Our modern sensibilities often leads us to different ideas of what is correct. But I'm of the opinion that we over finish our contemporary muzzleloaders with ultra fine sandpaper, and steel wool, and other modern tools our forefathers simply didn't possess.
As usual YMMV--two words that shouldn't be used in connection with muzzleloaders--always and never!
continuing to explore
aqua fortis seems to be a good way to stain curly maple. can get some from track of the wolf
as to the final finish came across two old recipies
from Traditional Varnishes by Eric Kettenburg
online at [url] http://www.muzzleblasts.com/archives/vol5no2/articles/mbo52-1.html[/url]
recommends
A Common Brown Oil Varnish
1 pint double-boiled linseed oil
4 oz. good-quality rosin
4 oz. gum benzoin
1 cup to 1 pint turpentine
or
1. A Common Violin Varnish
1/2 pint alcohol
6 oz. manila copal
4 oz. mastic tears
1 cup turpentine
Dragon's blood as necessary
anyone have any experience with these?
aqua fortis seems to be a good way to stain curly maple. can get some from track of the wolf
as to the final finish came across two old recipies
from Traditional Varnishes by Eric Kettenburg
online at [url] http://www.muzzleblasts.com/archives/vol5no2/articles/mbo52-1.html[/url]
recommends
A Common Brown Oil Varnish
1 pint double-boiled linseed oil
4 oz. good-quality rosin
4 oz. gum benzoin
1 cup to 1 pint turpentine
or
1. A Common Violin Varnish
1/2 pint alcohol
6 oz. manila copal
4 oz. mastic tears
1 cup turpentine
Dragon's blood as necessary
anyone have any experience with these?
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Seedlac is the bug-product used to make shellac from, not Linseed oil.
On another note, I am surprised that you prefer Tru-oil to the Traditional Oil Finish. I have tried both and the TOF seemed to give a deeper, more durable coat. Each to his own, I guess.
Heh. Here is a link describing the process of making shellac Shellac Oh, the humanity!
On another note, I am surprised that you prefer Tru-oil to the Traditional Oil Finish. I have tried both and the TOF seemed to give a deeper, more durable coat. Each to his own, I guess.
Heh. Here is a link describing the process of making shellac Shellac Oh, the humanity!
greg zechman
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where do you get dragons blood at? people just laugh at me when i ask about it..thanks greg
some of the health food/ new age stores have it. It is used for some medicinal herbal remedies
Dragon's blood is a bright red resin that is obtained from different species of four distinct plant genera: Croton, Dracaena, Daemonorops, and Pterocarpus. The red resin was used in ancient times as varnish, medicine, incense, and dye
Dragon's blood is a bright red resin that is obtained from different species of four distinct plant genera: Croton, Dracaena, Daemonorops, and Pterocarpus. The red resin was used in ancient times as varnish, medicine, incense, and dye
I finished a hard maple stock recently. I used home made AF for the stain. Steel wool and nitric acid, ...about 20% acid. Over that I used Ace Hardware BLO. I laid on a sloppy coat and took off the excess with a rag. I put on a second light coat a couple days later. It came out fine. Maple is very dense and does not absorb as much as walnut. No filling is necessary. No sticky and it has a sheen. Good enough, I wanted an old time look, not a piano mile deep perfect gloss finish.
Lots of old guns were done in varnish. You can certainly float on a coat of goood old Mclosky varnish with a sabel brush.
IMHO lots of folks over complicate finishing wood. 90% of it is about proper prep. On walnut fill the grain first! IF you want a mile deep shiny finish fill the wood and use spray lacquer or varnish. You can use catalized urea formaldehyde, AKA. Fuller-Plast but that is not appropriate on a ML. That stuff is how Remington and Weatherby do it. It is noxious and toxic, forget it. For a dull finish, fill if needed and use BLO or tung oil. Tru oil does not build well and is not suited to the shiny piano look. Used sparigly, like real oil, it leaves too much shine for me. Haven't touch the stuff in 20 years.
It is fun, or used to be anyway, to lovenly run a zillion coats of oil on the wood. It is not really necessary and indicates you did not fill the grain. Oh, PS: fill the grain with sanding dust made with 320 grit paper and diluted spar varnish. A close second is commercial paste filler that is tinted dark.
Lots of old guns were done in varnish. You can certainly float on a coat of goood old Mclosky varnish with a sabel brush.
IMHO lots of folks over complicate finishing wood. 90% of it is about proper prep. On walnut fill the grain first! IF you want a mile deep shiny finish fill the wood and use spray lacquer or varnish. You can use catalized urea formaldehyde, AKA. Fuller-Plast but that is not appropriate on a ML. That stuff is how Remington and Weatherby do it. It is noxious and toxic, forget it. For a dull finish, fill if needed and use BLO or tung oil. Tru oil does not build well and is not suited to the shiny piano look. Used sparigly, like real oil, it leaves too much shine for me. Haven't touch the stuff in 20 years.
It is fun, or used to be anyway, to lovenly run a zillion coats of oil on the wood. It is not really necessary and indicates you did not fill the grain. Oh, PS: fill the grain with sanding dust made with 320 grit paper and diluted spar varnish. A close second is commercial paste filler that is tinted dark.
Had disastrous results using off the shelf BLO and now use LMF varnish sealer as under coats and Wahkon Bay Trucoat for top coats to cut the shine. Ace's version of BLO must have dryers because the BLO I used never dryed even when very thin coats were applied. Don't think I would ever use any brand of BLO again seeing there are so many superior products that are more moisture proof and don't require long periods of applications that require "time in the sun" because of the slow drying time. Just my experience and others might have different experiences.....Fred
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I finish my rifles with LMF sealer. about 4 to 6 coats rubbed back to fill the grain. One final coat to even out the sealed finish. Finally I use 2-3 thin coats Tru-Oil by Birchwood Casey to finish. It takes about a week or so while the parts are browning.
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