Question about stock finish

[user 34300]

The US arsenals did deep fry 03 springfield stocks in BLO. Those stocks oozed in hot weather and when shot until hot. The oil in the stock never dried. The troops boned the stocks to burn extra time. The stocks were considered to be a piece of working wood and got the respect of a shovel handle. Do what you want but, when I spend 100 hours making a gun I can do better as my last step.

 

[SPQR70AD]

one guy that finished stocks for years tried everything and said he thinks minwax antique oil finish was the best

 

[springfield art]

Most builders have their "pet" stock finish and I have mine.....the stock is impervious to moisture , it wears well and has a very low sheen. Actually looks like there isn't any finish on the stock.

After the stain is dry { 1-3 Dangler stains are used}, the excess unabsorbed stain is removed w/ 0000 steel wool. The first "stain" always used is the orange toner which imparts a yellow undertone , Then the reddish brown and dark brown stains are applied....the Bucks County LRs use the reddish brown and the Lancasters the dark brown.

Actually my "finish" is 2 different finishes and 2 coats of each are applied. The first finish is LMF sealer and 2 wipe on/ wipe off coats w/ a soak in time of 10-15 mins w/ a complete dry between coats. The unabsorbed LMF is removed w/ 0000 steel wool.

The next finish is Wahkon Bay Trucoat which is applied sparingly w/ the fingers w/ a complete dry between the 2 coats. When fully dry, the finish is at first a little shiny but then turns dull.....a couple of mins rubbing w/ a fluffy towel brings out some sheen. Total time to finish the stock on a LR is 36 hrs. .....FredView attachment 83109View attachment 83110

Very nice!

 

[springfield art]

Many years ago the boiled linseed oil available in hardware stores contained lead which was added to speed drying. The BLO you buy today no longer contains lead so it takes forever to dry. Some say it never completely dries. Also the resulting finish is neither waterproof or durable.

There are many readily available stock finishes that are far superior to BLO. Chamber's Oil is my current favorite. It is easy to apply and produces a low-luster, durable finish. Over the years I have also used the following finishes with success:

Linspeed
True Oil
Permalyn

Springfield Armory ran into problems using BLO on early production M1 Garand rifle stocks so they switched to tongue oil. Recently I have started experimenting with tongue oil finishes out of curiosity but I'm not sure they'll out perform Chamber's Oil.

Tung Oil is good stuff.

Tongue oil........sounds like a product for politicians and lawyers

It's spelled "tung".

 

[excess650]

The US arsenals did deep fry 03 springfield stocks in BLO. Those stocks oozed in hot weather and when shot until hot. The oil in the stock never dried. The troops boned the stocks to burn extra time. The stocks were considered to be a piece of working wood and got the respect of a shovel handle. Do what you want but, when I spend 100 hours making a gun I can do better as my last step.

RAW linseed oil, NOT BLO

“Instructions to Bidders and Specifications Governing the Manufacture of the United States Rifle, Caliber.30, Model 1903.
Prescribed by the ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT, U.S. ARMY,, JULY 1, 1916, Washington Printing
Office, 1916. In the section covering fabrication of the stock, page 39. “After finishing, the stock and hand
guard are dipped in RAW linseed oil and allowed to remain in the bath about 5 minutes, after which they
are removed and placed in an vertical position until dry”. Note: nothing about the use of boiled linseed oil.
The next reference is from a semi-official US Gov. Pub,, is the July/Aug 1928 issue of ‘Army Ordnance’,
an article by Lt. J.E. McInerney, Ord Dept, covering the “Overhauling the Service Rifle” on page 41, the Lt
states that after being scraped and sanded the stock will be “immersed in RAW linseed oil for about five
minutes, after which they are removed and allowed to dry.

 

[JCKelly]

Not sure what "BLO" means but it is not oil made by pressing flax seeds, at room temperature, and then heating it until it boils.
If you want real, actual linseed oil that contains no additives for heaven's sake stay away from any hardware store. Their stuff is right for house painting, not gun stocks.
The REAL stuff is found in art supply stores. Actual linseed oil for oil painting is called just that, "Linseed Oil Medium" A 2 ounce bottle may run about $10
It does take a while to dry, speaking as one who does oil painting on canvas now & again. But it is a matter of days or weeks, not years.
"Stand Oil" is linseed oil which has been heated to 525 - 575F for some number of hours. This causes the oil to polymerize. It is viscous. I used some to finish a wooden box that turned out to have no use to me. Don't know how long it took to dry, seemed dry when I gave it away.
"Dry" by the way, does not mean that anything evaporated from the oil. It is a matter of that linseed oil reacting with oxygen from the air to polymerize. All the fussing over various forms of linseed oil has to do with how strong is the polymerized film when "dry". Pure, expensive artist's oil makes the strongest film. There are about 500 years of recorded history behind this.
Oh, you wanna thin it? Again please stay away from the hardware store. Pure turpentine from your arts supplier is far superior to the stuff used for house painting. And turpentine shortens time to "drying".
Dunno who's best but a few of these suppliers are: dickblick, cheapjoes, and jerrysartarama, all followed by dot com.

 

[user 34300]

RAW linseed oil, NOT BLO

“Instructions to Bidders and Specifications Governing the Manufacture of the United States Rifle, Caliber.30, Model 1903.
Prescribed by the ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT, U.S. ARMY,, JULY 1, 1916, Washington Printing
Office, 1916. In the section covering fabrication of the stock, page 39. “After finishing, the stock and hand
guard are dipped in RAW linseed oil and allowed to remain in the bath about 5 minutes, after which they
are removed and placed in an vertical position until dry”. Note: nothing about the use of boiled linseed oil.
The next reference is from a semi-official US Gov. Pub,, is the July/Aug 1928 issue of ‘Army Ordnance’,
an article by Lt. J.E. McInerney, Ord Dept, covering the “Overhauling the Service Rifle” on page 41, the Lt
states that after being scraped and sanded the stock will be “immersed in RAW linseed oil for about five
minutes, after which they are removed and allowed to dry.

Good catch. Raw linseed is even worse. What a stupid specification. It is amazing that somebody else studied that information.

 

[Hatchet-Jack]

I like Tried and True Oil Varnish. It is linseed oil and resins. All natural, no toxins. Apply very thin coats, let completely dry, burnish, reapply. Humidity slows the drying process. Sun light really speeds to the drying process.

 

[GREENSWLDE]

Forget BLO and RAW LO. Use Refined linseed oil, available from artist suppliers. Keep oiling till the wood won't take any more then add a coat of RLO + a small amount of Terebine, a drying agent used in paints. OLD DOG..

 

[Bobby44]

With decent success, I have used Boiled Linseed Oil with turpentine; tung oil, and TRO. The best I can say is go slow. rub lots, wax when done. There are many formulations out there and most are variations on the oils. I believe it is not worth going with the 'lowest bidder' at this stage of your project. Get some and try it out on a small piece of wood similar to your stock.

 

[Vaino]

In my previous post I stated that it takes me 36 hrs to stain and completely finish a stock for a LR. ....just wondering how long it takes to use some of the other finishes mentioned in other posts? My frustrating experience using BLO {months to dry, if ever} made me aware that some finishes are very slow to dry and some even need sunlight.

I'm not an impatient person but really don't want to spend 1/3 to 1/2 the build time to completely finish a stock......Fred

 

[fjrdoc]

I thought that I would post a picture of what Eric's traditional brown varnish looks like on my original 1902 suppository pump shotgun. I stripped the plastic appearing finish off of the stock and I've been slowly applying the finish to try and give it a more traditional appearance. I'm happy with how it has turned out. The secret is very light applications with curing in sunlight. It's a slow process but I think that it has been worth the time.

The wood on this shotgun is beautiful. Sorry if the lack of sunshine reduces the quality of the pictures.

 

[NorthFork]

I'll stir up the hornets nest and add what I've been using for a couple of years. I mix it and store it in a pint mason jar with a lid of course. 50% by volume 'hardware store' BLO, 50% by volume Old Masters Tung Oil. Now this tung oil is supposed to be mostly tung oil with a hint of a drier added. It's old and I don't know if it's the same as what they sell now. I think all they sell now under the Old Masters brand is a tung oil finish, which has little actual tung oil in it. Then I add the appropriate amount of Japan Drier. I don't remember the exact quantity with out looking at the jar. Mix well. It dries slowly, penetrates well, is reasonably durable, does not seem to be affected by moisture (vapor or liquid), and is easy to touch up. Dries to the touch and can be steel wooled and recoated in 24hrs. I happened upon this 100% by accident/trial and error. Gives me the traditional look of an oil finish (cause it is!), reasonable recoat times, and decent durability. And I have a lifetime supply of all 3 ingredients. Stores well in the mason jar without drying out or gumming up. I didn't add the drier at first but the ended up doing so to shorten the drying times. I wanted to use just BLO but drying times were very long. So I added the tung oil (has some driers in it) to speed up drying times. It did but still was taking longer than I wanted. Hence the Japan Drier.

 

[oldwood]

Linseed oil anything , and tung oil w/o driers are very poor choices for gun stock finish. Not water proof . Hunting in damp conditions proves this out. For a more lasting finish , use a thin penetrating sealer first and let it dry on hard for a week. In hot sticky weather , the initial sealer coat may take longer once it soaks in well and reaches saturation. In dry heat , all this works best. Applied over that , my choice next is a gel polyurythane , four coats minimum. Allow to cure and get hard. Then a super light butterfly wing light application of 0000 grade steel wool. And oddly , a thin wipe down with the initial sealer. This wipe down serves to fill the near invisible scratches from the final steel wool application. Lastly , a maintenance coat or two of Minwax Special Dark furniture wax. The wax is what wears off with use , and is easily put back in place when the gun is on the rack. I've used this system the last 30 + years , once I figured out single application finishes didn't perform well. I came up with this compound finish technique to emulate the look of early rifles like the ones produced for the famous Bicentenial series rifles done by John Bivins , and Jack Hough. Rumor has it , they used a spray booth application of a finish still on the market , and I found if the same finish used just with rub on wipe off method simply doesn't look the same , and has no depth. Sorry I got so far into the weeds.....................oldwood

 

[NorthFork]

Funny thing is my range/cleaning rods are hickory that I finished with the BLO/Tung/Japan drier and they show NO signs of water issues. I mean if repeatedly used to clean muzzleloaders with water and soap does not seem to faze the finish or the rod I think I'm good.