True Oil not drying well

[Scota4570]

Be careful about warming a stock after you apply finish. The wood pores will blow air bubbles in the finish.

I have been using Deft lacquer sanding sealer spray cans for my filler coats. It dries fast and sands like a dream. Don't let it build up on the surface.

 

[Artificer]

Be careful about warming a stock after you apply finish. The wood pores will blow air bubbles in the finish.

That happened to me the first and only time I tried using a heat gun with Tru Oil. Had to remove it with Acetone and start over. :redface:


Gus

 

[Artificer]

I wonder if it's the UV light or heat in direct sun light that causes the Tru-oil to cure more quickly.
Any one ever try a heat lamp in cold or wet weather to cure oil?
I was under the impression that heat lamps provide both.

Never tried a heat lamp, but I have a 60 Watt Bulb in a flexible desk lamp that I have left close to smaller wood pieces with Tru Oil on them. I found you don't want to do that when the Oil is still "wet" but will work when it is tacky.

I suspect you are correct the UV in sunlight helps cure the Oil, from the way we used to hang stocks in front of windows that faced the sun.

Gus

 

[M. De Land]

One of the filling techniques I've tried several times on wood grips and seems to hold promise is the use of heat thinned epoxy made in to a sawdust slurry from sanding it in. When it cures it is knocked back and then Tru-oil is used for a build up of the final coats.
It appears to be one of the most water and dent resistant methods I have yet tried that finishes up as an all oil finish in appearance.
It also works well for a pre-checker finish as it supports the diamond points when the pattern is being sharpened up at the finish passes.

 

[don hepler]

I learned a little trick, a few years ago, from a wood working site. I forgot the name of the site. It had to do with using Tru-oil. I have several guns and pistol grips finished with this method.

You wipe a thin coat of Tru-oil on the stock, then let it dry over night. Then you can apply more coats, as necessary, letting each dry over night. After the last coat dries over night. Spray a light misting coat of Minwax satin poly over the stock. It finishes out in a soft satin sheen that duplicates a TC factory finish. I'm not a big fan of spray cans, but I know that this works and holds up, in hunting conditions.

Traditionalist, probably will object, but the fact is, it is as simple as it gets and it will duplicate a satin modern finish, like a factory TC, Ruger, etc.

My custom built rifles have hand rubbed oil finish. But for inexperience finishing jobs, this method will work.

 

[Scota4570]

Honestly guys, after finishing over 100 stocks, True oil is about the last thing I would choose. It has few good characteristics. It is slow to dry, does not build well, does not sand well, I could go on. A quality mat or satin spar varnish is light years ahead.

True oil has nothing to do with an oil finish. If you want a real oil finish, go ahead and rub it with linseed until your palms bleed. It is not much of a finish and will take forever. It will darken the grain and muddy the look of high grade wood.

If you want something that passes for an oil finish, fill the grain with the sanding sealer lacquer and sawdust. When nice apply linseed oil, maybe half a dozen coats. Finally apply wax.

If you want a performance finish use catalyzed urea formaldehyde resin. Like a Weatherby or a bowling pin. Fullerplast and Glasskote for instance. They are super toxic and require special equipment and precautions. Be carefull. I can finish a stock in one pass with this stuff.

If you are having fun and not particularly results oriented, do what ever you want, any time fussing with guns is a good time.

 

[Micah Clark]

This is my first time using True Oil ... I am not sure if I will use it again ... For some of the reasons you mention. I will say however it does look decent ... In the long run that counts, but it's been somewhat stubborn.

 

[Micah Clark]

Most other gun stocks I've finished have been with walnut and a urethane or polyurethane spray finish ... True oil is new to me but so is sugar maple !

 

[Scota4570]

Maple is different. I is not porous and does not need much filling. Maple is all about the correct stains. Chambers flintlocks can provide what you need to do a top flight job. They are very nice and will answer questions.

 

[M. De Land]

Oh Hog Wash! What do mean has nothing to do with an oil finish! Tru-oil is thinned linseed oil with some drying agents added.
It's light years ahead of pure linseed or tongue oil as a stock finish that will actually dry.
No it's not very weather proof unless one seals first with a thin epoxy or urethane that will penetrate but then it looks much better than sprayed on finishes and is very easy to touch up.

 

[Micah Clark]

This was the first time I had ever worked with maple and with LMF alcohol based stains . . .very impressed with them.

 

[dave_person]

Hi Mac,
I am not a fan of Tru-oil but it is fine for what you are doing. The finish that Scota4570 is describing looks totally inappropriate on a flintlock muzzleloader regardless of how "performance" it is. Any linseed oil-based finish is not the best with respect to water resistance and aging. True tung oil is better particularly if it is polymerized like Tru-oil but most original guns were finished with a linseed oil based varnish. Many high quality English guns were finished with boiled linseed oil with lead dryers added but that finish took months. Longrifle makers usually sped up that process by mixing linseed oil in with a resin varnish. I use polymerized tung oil from Sutherland-Welles but I think the best commercially-made match for original finishes is Tried and True's linseed oil varnish. Tru-oil can get you to the same place and it can be built up and then rubbed back to a satin or low gloss.

dave

 

[Micah Clark]

Dave,

Thank you, that is very helpful . . I am kind of stuck with True Oil having already put three coats on the stock and I like the color of the stain and look of the wood. It will all work out, but these posts and this thread is teaching me a lot.

Thanks again,

Micah

 

[Scota4570]

"Oh Hog Wash! What do mean has nothing to do with an oil finish!"

Truoil is only 10% linseed oil. 60% solvent and 30% "modified proprietary oil". The last one is a varnish.

Spar varnish is better in every way. You could finish with thinned spar varnish as described below. Put a little linseed on a the end to make it smell good, and be way ahead of the game.

The truth is that the appearance of a finished stock is based 90% on the skill of the finisher. You can make it look different using the same material and using different techniques. Mostly, for traditional appearing guns you don't want to build up a lot of material on the surface.

A real linseed oil finish is made by applying boiled linseed until it gums. Next sand with #320 or 400 using paint thinner or turpentine as a lube. Leave the mud in the pores.Let it dry a week. repeat until the grain is totally filled and level. Put a final coat of oil and then wax the stock.

There is nothing magic or desirable about a linseed oil finished stock. It comes from a time when that was all they had. It is now totally obsolete. That is my opinion based on finishing over 100 stocks and getting paid a good chunk of $ to do so.

Yes, I would never put fullerplast on a ML.

 

[Micah Clark]

Well it seems sufficiently dry now, after spraying it on Saturday.

I cut it back lightly - this time with a grey scotch pad rather than steel wool then rubbed it with an old tube sock till it got to what I would call a low shine hand rubbed look . . . funny though, it will shine right back up with the white pad If I work it . . . almost as if it was not cut back.

Still seems a little tacky, maybe it is oil in my hands that make it drag or something, but I'll see what it does now before for I assemble the rifle in a few days.

this is my first build, and I am going to have my coach who's been helping me take a look at it and advise me on this too.

Thanks for all the help. (This may be the last time I use True Oil. . it's not terrible, and it has some nice points, but it didn't wow me with what I encountered. )

 

[M. De Land]

True-oil's primary ingredient (on the bottle label) is Linseed oil mixed with other non-specified natural oils and petroleum distill-ants (drying agents). It most certainly is an oil finish.
Lin-speed is pure linseed oil also formulated with drying agents.
Both produce fine looking oil finishes that can be built up.
They are not very weather proof by themselves but neither is any other all oil finish unless the wood is first sealed with a penetrating water proof agent such as urethane or thinned epoxy usually accompanied with some heat.
An all Varnish finish, like lacquer, tends to crack and turns dark over time and is much more difficult to repair than an oil finish as neither penetrate very well in my opinion.
I like both Tru-oil and Linspeed for pointing up checkering patterns as it helps keep the diamond points from breaking off or fuzzing up.
When the patterns are done I like to use spray urethane with a tooth brush to seal them and then when dry, brush in some
Tru-oil or Linspeed for the final passes.
Checkering, stippling or carving introduce some new dynamics to the finish that have to be considered and I feel oil is better suited for them than is varnish, lacquer, epoxy or urethane, except used as sealer coats underneath.

 

[Scota4570]

https://www.birchwoodcasey.com/Resources/Safety-Data-Sheets.aspx

Tab down to the MSDS for the ingredient list, it's 4% Linseed oil in the aerosol type.

 

[M. De Land]

Another point I forgot to include is that when a bottle of Tru-oil or Linspeed gets old and drys up hard there is a whole lot more material in the bottle than the ten percent quoted. It's more like 60-70 percent of the original liquid by volume.
This is the hardened linseed and non specified natural oils after the drying agent have evaporated.

 

[M. De Land]

I have never used aerosol Tru-oil and can imagine it would have to be formulated differently than the bottle variety.
I do know that when the bottle drys up their is far more hardened oil in the bottle than 4 or 10 percent.

 

[don hepler]

I guess you're not convinced on the misting of Minwax spray poly over Tru-oil to get that satin finish.

I'm trying to help you out of a jam, not play Monday morning quarterback.

I am not a fan of Tru-oil and I don't like the spay Tru-oil at all. But...I have used the wipe on Tru-oil on TC's, Winchesters, Remingtons, and I always use the Minwax poly trick, to get it back to a satin finish. Try it on scrap wood and you will see.


Coulda, Woulda, Shouda, ain't worth a hoot when you already got it on the stock.