Initial Walnut Stock Sealing

[Lee1000]

Hello, long time lurker here

I've bought a unfinished solid walnut Boyd's stock and plan to shoot it unbedded and then pillar bed it over the next week. Do I need to seal it as soon as it arrives on Monday or will it be fine left unfinished until after my bedding job is complete? I plan to finish it with raw/unboiled linseed oil. I've never finished or bedded a stock before. I worry that it will warp between now and finishing time.

Thanks in advance for the advice

[Dufus]

Take your time. It won't "warp". Just don't soak it in the bath tub.

Stock blanks sit untended everywhere with no ill effects.

What's the reason for using the finish that you have chosen??

There are a lot of more appropriate gun stock finishes available at reasonable costs.

[Doyle]

Raw linseed oil would be the last thing I would ever want on a gun stock. It would stay gummy for years.

[Pahoo]

There is; Filling, sealing and finishing. There is not much worry about warping at this time. You can seal it when you get it and won't hurt a thing or effect you plans. You can sand it anytime, after you seal it and then reseal later. …

What's the reason for using the finish that you have chosen??

I too wonder but it's your but it's certainly your call and good reason. ….

Be Safe !!!

[Lee1000]

Originally Posted by Doyle

Raw linseed oil would be the last thing I would ever want on a gun stock. It would stay gummy for years.

From what I've read it shouldn't stay gummy as long as I let dry and I have nothing but time right now. I was looking at BLO but just thought I'd try RLO first. If it doesn't work I'll try something else.

[603Country]

If you must use Linseed Oil, do not use the raw version. Use the BLO, and small amounts as you rub it in. I don’t use it any more. I’ve had good results with Minwax Antique Oil and Danish Oil, but neither is waterproof. Most recently I used Waterlox Original in satin. 4 or 5 coats of that looks great. Read up on how to apply it. I hang the stock from my workshop ceiling with string, with butt upwards. Use a foam brush and apply in very thin coats, so it won’t sag or run. That’s the short version, leaving out some details.

[Bill DeShivs]

Raw linseed oil doesn't dry! At least not for a very long time.

[T. O'Heir]

Wood is wood. You use the same techniques and products used on fine furniture. There are hordes of furniture refinishing books. Look in your local public library, book shops and on Amazon. There is no best one. Buy the one you understand best.
The whole thing isn't rocket science. It does require something called 'patience'(somebody said it was a virtue. They lied. snicker.) though. It's not a slap stuff on and let it dry thing.
"...worry that it will warp..." It won't if it's kept in a dry place. 'Dry' meaning low humidity more than out of the rain or bath tub. You'll be using a damp rag to cause the wood fibres to stand up for sanding anyway.
As mentioned, raw/unboiled linseed oil doesn't dry. If you want to be continually re-applying an oil finish Boiled Linseed Oil is what you want. If you want an oil finish that is hard, waterproof and brings out the grain, use Pure Tung Oil(NOT Tung Oil Finish) applied over several days with a clean lint free cloth every day with 24 hours drying time between light coats you rub in.
Oh and Pure Tung Oil is pricey stuff. Runs about $20 per Qt. One quart goes a long way though. And the brand doesn't matter as long as it says 'Pure Tung Oil' on the can.

[Pahoo]

Wood is wood. You use the same techniques and products used on fine furniture.

Respectfully disagree but your suggestion abut doing one's homework is important. Although I don't use Linseed oil on stocks, I have seen some very good results. There are some finishes that are not suitable for outdoor use and yes, there are plenty of fine protective waxes. I have to consider our Midwest weather. …..


Be Safe !!!

[603Country]

Years ago I had a Marlin 336 in 35 Remington. I decided to do a hand rubbed BLO finish on the wood. It took a long time and a lot of rubbing, but it was really pretty, and it held up quite well in weather. Every now and then I’d reapply BLO and rub it in. It isn’t a waterproof finish, but I never got it too wet for too long.

Today I’d use the pure Tung Oil, which can be ordered in small quantities online from Woodcraft. I do prefer it to BLO. But still not waterproof.

If waterproof is the objective, a film finish is needed. Like I mentioned, Danish Oil and Minwax Antique Oil are not film finishes and are not waterproof, though I’ll say they are water resistant. The Antique Oil is easier and quicker to apply and dries much faster. What I now use is the Waterlox Original in satin. It is a film finish. At least 4coats are recommended on gun stocks. One coat per day. Coat 1 looks awful. Coat 2 looks better. Coat 3 looks decent. Coat 4 looks pretty darn good, and coats beyond that look even better. I apply with a small foam brush. Go online for detailed application instructions. Note that the Waterlox is expensive.

Purists might prefer to use the Waterlox gloss and rub it out later, which with Waterlox will be about a month when it finishes curing. If you buy the Waterlox, be sure to get a spray can of the gas (nitrogen?) that you can spray into the can at sealing, so that the Waterlox won’t skin over. It’s bad about that.

[weaselfire]

It sat at Boyd's before you ordered it. Unless you're not going to use it for a decade or two, it can sit fine at your house. If you can stand the humidity in your house, it can too.

Jeff

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[4V50 Gary]

Permalyn. Apply to fill the gaps. Lightly sand.

[Unclenick]

Lee 1000,

In his book, Understanding Wood Finishing, Bob Flexner lists oil finish properties on page 84. Linseed oil and boiled linseed oil are rated poor for protection. They are very old technology and not up to modern resins. The main problem is the ability of the shorter molecules in the resin to bond to water at their ends. That causes watermarks to form easily. I've seen that on guns that lay against a rain-dampened sling or a sweaty cheek for a while. Tung oil is also rated poor until you build up five or more layers, at which point its protection is medium. At the most protective end are the polymerized oils and wiping varnishes. These are oils like linseed oil and tung oil that have been heated close to 500°F in a non-oxidizing atmosphere for a temperature-dependent amount of time which causes the oil molecules to partially cross-link (cross-linking is what curing is) to form long molecular chains that are very good at resisting water. Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil is an example. The downside is a glossy finish, though you can add flattening agents to wiping varnish. like Watco Wipe-on Poly.

I have had good results from the Danish oil type products (varnish blends). They are not overly glossy and with several layers off protection that doesn't watermark easily and is fairly easy to repair. They are not hard, though, and you have to be sure to wipe off all excess after each application or it will be gummy. Compared to an adequate number of layers of tung oil to reach the same protection level, the main advantage is faster curing.

[Dufus]

This is all I have used in quite a few years. Easy application, good dry time, UV blockers, water resistant, and the whole 9 yards. I hand rub it with a lint free rag (I use paper rags that are lint free). To keep your fingers clean, I use disposable food industry gloves during application. The semi-gloss makes a really nice finish.

https://www.minwax.com/wood-products...-spar-urethane

[T. O'Heir]

Your Midwest weather has nothing to do with how one refinishes wood. The same techniques and products are used on fine furniture and wooden gun stocks. Makes no difference if the wood is shaped like a table or a gun stock. It's still walnut. The only difference between a table and a stock is a table can expand and contract until the cows come home and it won't matter. A stock needs to be sealed on the inside too.

[603Country]

I didn’t mention earlier that I am a hobbiest woodworker. Been doing it for decades. Like O’Heir said, the finish I put on walnut furniture is the same stuff I use on gun stocks. Since I use so many finishes, gathered over time, the best one is tough to say. The Minwax Antique Oil was recommended to me by my mentor, who taught high school woodshop for 35 years. It is easy to use and it dries fast. It’s a wiping varnish type blend, like Watco Danish Oil. The last couple of years, I’ve used the Danish Oil and Antique Oil about equally. I think, based on use, that the Danish Oil might be a slightly harder finish, but it’s slow to dry and I don’t think the final finish looks quite as good as the Minwax. I made the youngest granddaughter a Shaker style 4 poster (octagonal pencil posts) and used the Antique Oil - many coats- and it looks terrific. All that said, I didn’t know how those wiping varnishes would work outdoors in wet weather. At best, they work Ok. They sure do look good, but I wipe the water off and I haven’t had any water spotting.

What I am not going to use again is BLO or Tung Oil. I will say that if you take 90 days or more to apply a hand rubbed BLO finish, it can be truly beautiful, but it’s really hard work. And it needs maintenance from time to time, and I don’t feel like working that hard. But...if you just have to do a hand rubbed BLO finish, find a copy of The Shotgunner’s Book, by Colonel Charles Askins. The details are on pages 60 through 65. Do it that way.

These days I’m using the Waterlox Original, which contains Tung Oil. It’s a complex material. Goes on easy. I got that stuff from a pro woodworker that I know. He sells little tables for $6000. I just had to ask what that lovely finish was, and he told me he uses the Waterlox, but the first coat is Watco Danish Oil as a sealer. I’ve used it on all sorts of walnut stuff I’ve made, and in doing some research on the Waterlox, lots of people were using it on gunstocks. So I tried it. Looks great and has been durable. Supposedly it’s easy to repair, since each layer melts into previous layers and leaves no witness lines. I have not repaired anything yet, so I can’t confirm that it’s easy to repair.

Is it as good or better than TruOil? I don’t know, since I don’t use TruOil on furniture. Suppose I could though...

[Doyle]

Speaking of Minwax, I've done a few "field grade" stock refinishes using Minwax Tung Oil Finish - which probably contains very little real tung oil and is in reality, a wiping varnish. Nevertheless, it goes on super easy and builds up a nice hard and durable finish. Seems to be pretty waterproof too.

[Pahoo]

The same techniques and products are used on fine furniture and wooden gun stocks.

If nothing else, I now have greater or at least, equal respect for my bar stools. …..


Be Safe !!!

[Scorch]

A few little tidbits learned over the past 35 years of gunsmithing:
1- Never use linseed oil. Never. Especially raw linseed oil. It will not seal the wood, and it makes the wood soft. Sure, it worked 200 years ago, but there are better choices today.

2- If you don't at least get one coat of finish on the stock to seal it before you start handling it and shooting it, it will be filthy before you get around to finishing it.

3- Put a finish on it that gets into the wood and dries hard. Choose one, there are dozens (TruOil, Permalyn, LinSpeed, Waterlox, Varathane 686, teak oil, you choose).

4- Finish the stock (including bedding it) before you start taking it out and playing with the rifle.

[Pahoo]

2- If you don't at least get one coat of finish on the stock to seal it before you start handling it and shooting it, it will be filthy before you get around to finishing it.

Excellent point as most stocks are made of Harwoods and secondary-hardwoods. When you apply an initial coat of sealer you protect it from the environment and the oils from your hands. When these oils get in their first, They soak in just light a stain. You may not see the effect until you apply your finish coats. Had to learn this one, the hard way ……

Be Safe !!!

[Doyle]

I don't want to derail this thread too badly, but does anyone use a "sanding sealer" as a first coat? I've used seriously thinned shellac as a sanding sealer for furniture and it came out nice. I'm thinking of trying the same thing the next time I need to do a stock.

[603Country]

Doyle, I’ve never tried using sanding sealer on a gunstock, but I’m thinking that it would work just fine.

[SGW Gunsmith]

It's true that gunstock "blanks" sometimes do sit for quite some time, but if you have ever bought many gunstock blanks from a reputable seller, you will quickly see that the butt-stock end grain has been completely sealed as is the fore-end tip of the blank.
The duration of drying these blanks, if done correctly, takes several years for the moisture content in the wood to reach 8%. The wood end grain contains the wood capillaries which are now hollow, and they are what carries sap up and into the leaves. A raw gunstock still thinks it's a tree and will try and draw any and all moisture into those capillaries if left open, so that's why the ends are sealed during the stock blank curing & drying process.

It's good to read that you plan to "pillar bed" your gunstock. I do that with every wood stock I inlet, and here's why. Some folks just relieve some wood in the action and then dump some bedding compound into the stock and then clamp the barreled action into the stock until the bedding sets. Here's why I don't care for that method. The capillaries in the wood underneath the bedding can still collapse and cause the bedding to go sour when the action screws are torqued properly. The pillars, between the receiver and the bottom metal arrest the tightening of the action screws and keep the bedding solid, without any distortion of the bedding, so accuracy remains over time.

I much prefer "Permalyn" gunstock finish because it penetrates deeply into the stocks surface. For my work I want the stock to have a smooth, flat, pore filled surface so that the tops of the checkered diamonds are tough and able to take handling of the working rifle. Once the checkering has been cut to full depth, there are three coats of hardening finish applied to the checkering, one coat a couple of days after I know that the finish has completely hardened up those diamonds:

[gwpercle]

Originally Posted by Doyle

Raw linseed oil would be the last thing I would ever want on a gun stock. It would stay gummy for years.

Agree !!!
Much better products have been invented since the old raw linseed oil finishing method of
Apply: one coat a day for a week, one coat a week for a month , one coat a month for a year and one coat a year for the rest of your life.

The problem is there are no driers what so ever in raw oil.....in Louisiana on a hot humid day you can feel the tackyness...they never really dry down deep, just a thin surface oxidation.

Any stock finish sold by Brownell's will be so much better. At least use True-Oil , it is linseed oil based modified with driers so it will dry completely and form a hard surface film. I have used it for decades on stocks ...But

Now I have discovered a finish I like even better than True-Oil.
It's Min-Wax Tung Oil Finish . It has a Tung oil base and is modified with driers so it will harden , easy to build up a nice deep finish and I think it looks better than a Tru-Oil finish. I refinished an antique oak dining room table and 8 chairs , the finish looks great and holds up to wear...so I thought hey, this stuff would make a good stock finish, done several and I like the stuff.

Don't listen to the you have to use pure linseed oil or pure Tung oil bunch ...modified oils give a better finish , it drys faster and builds up a hard surface film.

Gary

[603Country]

Beautiful stock by SGW.