Post deleted by Claude

Used to be is a very vague term. When is used to be?

Origional guns were sometimes protected using bee's wax. It is still available today. Melt it, rub it in.

Latter, during the revival, it became any wax one could find. Johnson's paste wax, neutral shoe polish, furnature wax.

They used various varnishes and shellacs with stains incorperated, along with a multitude of oils on the origional guns too. It was all they had to work with.

If your gun has an oil finish you may wish to coat it with a wax for protection. You can even saturate the inletting and barrel channel.

If it is dipped and dripped in poly there is no sense in wasting the wax.

I would just as soon be shooting an in-line as poly coated wood on a sidelock. If you are that worried about "protection" go with plastic.

:imo:

15 people will have 15 opinions on this subject.
Old school, new school or hi-tech plastic stocked school. It take all kinds.

:front:

 

[musketman]

So, if you use a color regular shoe polish, could you stain and wax your stock at the same time?

 

[vradin]

And if it doesn't work out, you can recarve the stock Dutch style into a set of shoes.
:crackup:

kidding aside- what Ghost said.. lots of finishes for guns from various areas, and I imagine some high gloss deep-finish japanese black laquer that look like plastic but are fine wood with a few thousand microscopically thin layers of lac covering the grain.

:m2c:
vic

 

[LRB]

I use brown shoe polish regularly on my long rifle and Shilo Sharps. It darkens them a tad, kinda freshens up their appearance and seems to give some weather protection. It also fills in small scatches and dings.

 

I have used a high quality furniture wax on my stocks recently and like it. Learned that from a local builder. :front:

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Just a wax.

 

[hobbles]

This is a new stock,, got it bout 2 or 3 weeks ago, The wood looked like the $.25 airplanes gliders we used to buy as a kid real light.. all I use and have always used for my rifle stocks (and everything else ) it Saddle Soap, no color to it though, But it does darken it a lil and brings out the grain,,,,
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v323/hobbles/drop-em3.jpg

 

[Stumpkiller]

KIWI Shoe Polish (Paste) MSDS

A caution: It appears shoe polish contains several solvents (Stoddard solvent (volitile kerosene), Naphtha, benzene & two others too big to spell). I would wager these will attack any pre-existing oil or wax finish under the shoe polish, at least to the extent of softening it. That might or might not be a problem (new oil always softens old oil, otherwise it just wipes off). If the old and the new are incompatable, you'll possibly get a splotchy mess.

Test a spot that doesn't show much first and leave it set a week to see what happens.

 

[Le Mamou]

Old Salt,

The only finish my French Fowler has ever known: 1/2 bee's wax and 1/2 turp. curly maple stock, aqua fortis stain, let dry, heat gun to develop color, Arm & Hamer wash, let dry, Bee's wax / Turp driven in with heat gun.

I browned the barrel and use the same treatment on it.

Easy to care for.

I found a source for Carnauba Wax, I am mixing it with the Bee's wax / Turp. It's a harder wax. I wan't to see how it works.

Jim...

 

[Slowpoke]

In my opinion this stuff is the fantastic. You will not believe what it will do to wood. It protects your stock and it's all natural.

SP

 

[vradin]

Origional guns were sometimes protected using bee's wax. It is still available today. Melt it, rub it in.

Have you tried this or met anybody who has?

Yup, me. I melt/mix beeswax in mineral spirits to a thick paste and apply. The spirits act as a carrier for the wax and evaporate when the application dries. I then buff it out.

This rifle only has beeswax finish on it...

Beeswax is just about the only finish I use on my wood turnings too, especially anything that carries or holds food.

These are just beeswax rubbed in while still on the lathe- high speed high friction heat to carry the wax and buffed out with some old flannel...

vic

 

[TANSTAAFL]

I have come to use Howards Feed-N-Wax off the shelf at Home Depot. It is a beeswax, carnauba wax and orange oil mix, use it all over the flinters, wood and metal. Also works great on horns & leather, I have even used it with good results as a hunting patch lube.

No association with vendor, Just googled and used the first one to crop up.

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:2aBDD...n-wax&hl=en

 

[Zonie]

Saddle Soap doesn't have any wax in it. At least the can of KIWI Saddle Soap doesn't.
The can says it has glycerine and lanolin to make the leather soft and some sort of soap to clean the leather.
By the way, if your stock is made using suede, don't use it. :: :crackup:

I use Johnsons Paste Wax on my guns and it works well. I would guess that Shoe Polish would work about the same.

If your really into the PC thing, I don't believe any of the modern waxes are "Proper" because most of the mineral oils/ kerosines etc were not around in the pre 1800s.
The Turpentine and Bees wax sounds very proper as natural things like this were common then.
As for Carnuba and Trucknuba :: , I don't know if they even knew what they were, or imported them if they did know in the 1700s.

 

[hobbles]

Nope, no wax, but I was talkin bout Protection, and It ain't slippery after it dries, and if you put your weapon in the lake for a bit, it don't swell up either,, ( just take my word on that one)

 

[TANSTAAFL]

I have concluded that carring PC too far, is a PC too far. :crackup: :crackup:

 

[Herb]

If you don't like that light color, you can stain that stock with Feibing's Oil Leather Dye, Dark Brown. I use it. It will go right through oil finishes and stain the wood. I coat my rifles, both wood and metal, after the regular finishing is done, with beeswax. Rub it over the wood, and heat the wood with a propane torch (carefully), or a heat gun would work good. Soften the wax so you can rub it out, it will thin out and level off. On the barrel, I heat it until the beeswax rubbed on melts out. Then I wipe that out. Works on blued, browned, or white metal. Also do the locks that way, inside and out. Here is Randy with a full stock Green River (parts) Hawken that Neill made about 8 years ago. Traditional acid stain of some kind and linseed oil finish. The stock faded to about the balsa wood color you mentioned. I stained this by swabbing that leather dye over the finish, that simple. I probably waxed it too.

 

[hobbles]

What would you say European walnut vs ??.
Old Salt

Sorry boss, I can't help on that one,,


Hope the base closin's don't hurt you too much,,

 

[Slamfire]

I used to put furniture wax on all my rifles, the metal as well as the wood. It kept the rain of'n 'em for a couple days anyway. Nowdays with stainless/synthetics it is harder to justify. I suppose you could use one of the car polishes on the metal. It is a great way to become, and stay familiar with your weapon. Polishin' it once a week shows you all the imperfections it has picked up. :front:

 

[brubincam]

have a thompson center since 72 never liked the finish...removed it...for my finish i soaked tar in a cup of kerosene...until tar was dissolved....wiped and rubbed it into stock....has a very nice but dull finish ....dried not moist or sticky....i would do it again.... :results: :
:blah:

 

[roundball]

Does anybody use any other unusual stock or barrel protection. There's a gentleman here in SE PA that puts WD40 on everything, lock stock and barrel.
Dad always recommended gun oil the same way. Those weren't muzzleloaders though. Pity! Old Salt

Most of my life I've used G.I. medium weapons oil for everything external on all firearms...it's a mixture of light grease mixed/suspended in a medium oil...keep a wash cloth saturated with it on the work bench all the time...every time I handle a firearm, the last thing I do is rub down all exterior metal and wood with that oily cloth...my Grandfather always stressed an oil rubdown and I've always done it that way