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i rub the oil in like shoe polish for the first 5 or 6 coats, then, depending on the grain of the wood, i will use 1500 grit paper and oil to work more oil into the grain. i have found this to be the easiest way to fill in the grain. once the grain is filled, i sand flat the rifle with 1500 grit paper, using water as a lube with the paper. once sanded flat, oil is wiped on with a piece of cotton t-shirt
then let dry. add one coat at a time untill you are satisfied with the depth of the finish. allow a couple of weeks for the oil to cure fully, then polish. as to the durability of tung oil, i have in my collection a 7.7mm arisaka that was sportered in the 60's by my father, that rifle sees 4 to 6 weeks in the woods and 10 or 15 trips to the range a year, both in his posession, and mine, for more than 40 years, and the finish is holding up very well.
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Hundreds of years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove... But the world may be different because I did something so bafflingly crazy that my ruins become a tourist attraction.
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