Tru Oil Question

[mlhunter]

I'm re-finishing a "European" walnut stock made by Investarms. Its a very dense type of wood. Its been stripped, sanded with #320 and re-stained with LMF Walnut stain following their directions.

After the second coat of Tru Oil it looked great. I applied a third coat on it and it looks a bit nicer but not by very much.

When I look at it under a bright light or sunlight I see what appears to be the "grain" of the wood. When I look at factory finished stocks (TC, Remington, Intearms, Kimber Classic) under the same light I see the same type of "grain".

Birchwood Casy instructions state that the number of Tru Oil applications depends on the grain of the wood but it does not tell me how to know when there's enough coats on it.

My question is ... how does one know when it has sufficient coats to fill and seal the pores?

 

[Bill Hall]

Twist the stock around under a good light, so that light reflects off the surface at differing angles, and just look to see if the grain is filled. If not, keep adding coats. It's that simple.

Walnut has a very open grain, so it may take more coats than with a finer grained wood, such as maple. Most folks rub the finish back to the wood after each coat, using 0000 steel wool, so even with walnut, the grain will eventually fill without building up a thick "plastic" look. Just takes many many coats. I usually apply around 8 coats, whereas others go up to 15 or more. Hope this helps. Bill

 

[marsh trapper]

hotoSmile:

 

[mlhunter]

Twist the stock around under a good light, so that light reflects off the surface at differing angles, and just look to see if the grain is filled. If not, keep adding coats. It's that simple.

Walnut has a very open grain, so it may take more coats than with a finer grained wood, such as maple. Most folks rub the finish back to the wood after each coat, using 0000 steel wool, so even with walnut, the grain will eventually fill without building up a thick "plastic" look. Just takes many many coats. I usually apply around 8 coats, whereas others go up to 15 or more. Hope this helps. Bill

Bill, thanks for your input! I didn't use any wood filler on this stock. As you suggested, when I look at my stock with five applications of Tru Oil I see what appear to be minute reflections where the fissures are (I can see the small fissures with 50x magnification). It felt totally smooth after two Tru Oil applications and the three more applications have only made it a bit darker. I really don't want to make it any darker so I may just quit the oil finish where its at and use the Birchwood Casey Satin Finish Stock Sheen and Conditioner to finish it.

May not be perfect but it looks WAY better than the original finish!

 

[mlhunter]

hotoSmile:

I agree but I don't have a camera that can take 50x reduced photos.
:hmm:

 

[jdkerstetter]

Pobably too late now but for future reference, there are products available from Midway and Brownells used to fill the grain in walnut before the finish is applied if a smooth finish is desired.

Those big honkin' pores in some walnut just won't fill with the top coats. It's really no big deal, some people fill, some don't, personal preference.

J.D.

 

[MFordney]

Take some 320 wet-dry sandpaper, and dunk it in the tru-oil. Sand small areas on the stock until you have a slurry of walnut dust mixed with the tru-oil sitting on the stock. Then, take a piece of tissue paper or a fine cloth, and very gently wipe the slurry on an angle to the grain. This will fill in all of the pores and grain. Let it sit for a day, then come back and check it and repeat if you have to. Do this until your grain is all filled in, then continue with the hand-rubbing coats and you'll have a nice, shiny smooth stock with no grain or pores showing. :thumbsup:

 

[jdkerstetter]

There you go. Good advice. I've read that somewhere but didn't remember it until you posted it. Knew there was a simple solution.

I've been a maple and ash guy but will save this for future use.

Thanks, J.D.

 

[phoenix511]

See what Fordney says: oil, sand, wipe. It forms a sort of slurry. Oil, sand it, wipe, start another area. You don't need to do the entire stock at one time.

The sanded material ends up in the walnut grain. I've found four or five of these will totally fill the walnut grain, leaving a dull, smooth finish.

FWIW, I think most walnut looks great without any stain. It may tend to darken with increased coats of finish, but any curl will show up nicely.

 

[Kentuckywindage]

20 coats minimum for a stock refinish.


You may give the birchwood casey sealer a try, it fills and seals the pores and then once can wet sand with 600 grit and then finish off with truoil.