Finishing up a stock now, and surprisingly it is really turning out nice!

I am using True Oil and am wondering the best method to end up with a satin finish it looks real good but it is glossy.....and I would really prefer satin.


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Pumice, rotten stone I've also used a fine scotchbrite

ramrod's suggestions are good. I use #0000 steel wool very gently then buff off with fine pad.

0000 steel wool then coat it with Johnson's paste floor wax and buff it out with a soft rag...

Are you going for an in-the-wood satin oil finish or a pore-filled satin finish? If you are going oil, then I recommend mixing the Tru-Oil 50:50 with turpentine or mineral spirits in a small bowl. Leave open to the atmosphere for 30 minutes or so. This will allow it to absorb a little moisture. This moisture will help cut the gloss. Hand rub on in thin coats. If you are doing pore-filled then make sure all pores are completely filled or you will end up with shiny spots after steel wool or rottenstone/oil. Another alternative is to top coat scuffed Tru-Oil with boiled linseed oil. My preference is to do a Tru-Oil sandwich with BLO. Seal and color with the BLO, build finish with T-Oil, then finish with BLO top coat. Cure for three weeks and wax.

I would be very careful with steel wool and make sure it is not the kind that crumbles and impacts on the wood. Leaves tiny shiny bits on the wood & will have to be sanded off completely. A real PIA.

I did my 6.5X54MS stock with Truoil & I diluted it with mineral spirits and sanded it in with 400, 600 & 1000 grit paper.

The finish is a really nice semi gloss / mat finish IN THE WOOD. Less shiny at 600 grit I suppose.

I find that using a cloth with Truoil and also using it straight from the bottle give a gloss finish and it sits ON THE WOOD.

Before putting on the Tru-Oil I wet sand in 2-3 coats of Pure non-polmerized tung oil. Wet sand with 300-600 grit on small rubber sanding block 1 inch x 1 inch. Small circular motion. Wipe off excess and Let dry 2 days between coats. Nakihunter's way, above, is very good also.

Thank Gentlemen!

Lot's of great guys here!

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Word to the wise:
Before you use steel wool or any other rubbing agent, make sure that your truoil is more than dried! Let it cure for a week or two for best results.

I've gone exclusively with the scotch-brite pad for satin buffing. I lubricate the pad with a little olive oil and just wipe off the gunk when I'm done. (seal the checkering well before you use olive oil as a "cutting" oil).

Zeke

PS: I love threads like these to pick up on all your great tips!

Superfine foam paint pads and water used for final cutting the topcoat on auto body paint jobs work the best. They cut the surface perfectly flat but don't cut flat spots or round your edges unless you get really carried away. Hard to imagine until you have used them. They go up to about 1500 grit and they self clean with the water. They make your high gloss finishes as smooth and flat looking as glass. No waveys or dipsy-dives. Damned things seem to last forever too. If you're careful with them.


sanding pads by Rod Henrickson, on Flickr

I am not a finish expert, but I have done a few....it sounds like your finish is fairly far along. If it has a good surface build, before any "satinizing" step is taken, make sure the finish is very well cured. Any such surface rub down as described by posters above will turn out much better if the oil is hard as it will get. first.

Once a long time ago I had a stock finished by a gunsmith, I had wanted a satin look but it was delivered with a very high gloss...I asked if there was anything that could be done, the gunsmith took 0000 steel wool and lubricated it with WD-40 . On the spot he rubbed it down to a much more dull look. Were I to try this now myself I would do it very very gently!!!It is my understanding that fine "scratching" on the surface breaks up reflected light making the surface appear matte. Oil finishes labeled "satin" have mineral additives that are suspended in the finish, theoretically having this same effect.

More neat tricks.

Thanks.

A traditional or original Oil finish is IN the wood. When you touch the stock after the finish, you are still touching the wood with oil in it.

The other finishes including pure TruOil are ON the wood & you are touching a coating that is sitting on top of the wood.

High gloss sits on top of the wood.

You can also do a wax top coat with the various wax options that include carnauba wax. You can get a hard finish that sits on top of the wood.

Boiled Linseed Oil is not water proof but TruOil does contain Tung oil and it is Water Proof if applied right. Same with Danish Oil.

I am no expert - just saying ....

I've heard the old "On or in" the wood to describe the different types of finish but the fact is that every finish is some of both to a greater or lesser degree.

It's all a matter of whether the pours are filled or not. The finisher may elect to not fill the pours and call it an "In" the wood finish or he may continue applying coats to fill the pours and some will call it an "On" the wood finish....and my first coats are thinned and slathered on to penetrate as deeply as possible but I still continue for a month to fill the pours!

They're all "in" and "on" to some degree but I prefer a satin rubbed, pours filled, fair surface.

There's 2 more cents from the peanut gallery.
Zeke

PS: I look forward to reading material from speerchucker30x338 since he always adds so much value to the threads!!! Thanks

I have re-finished very few stocks, but when I tried using Tru-Oil I found it extremely difficult. It was thick to start with and seemed as if it had way too much drying agent in it.

I have been told that Homer Formby's tung oil works well, but I have never tried it.

I finally figured out that letting my riflemaker do my stock work resulted in fewer headaches for me and a better outcome to boot!

quote:

It was thick to start

I thin mine.

For fun I refinished an old remington stock with Penofin. This is a rosewood oil outdoor deck finish. I've used it before on decks, wood patio furniture, shovel handles, etc. It seems to do a good job of preserving wood in harsh conditions. Anyway, it has a nice satin appearance that's much more appealing than the original plastic varnish that was on the stock. Just thought I'd share...

quote:

Originally posted by jpl:
For fun I refinished an old remington stock with Penofin. This is a rosewood oil outdoor deck finish. I've used it before on decks, wood patio furniture, shovel handles, etc. It seems to do a good job of preserving wood in harsh conditions. Anyway, it has a nice satin appearance that's much more appealing than the original plastic varnish that was on the stock. Just thought I'd share...

Someone is bound to say something silly about the recoil lug. So:

HI !

That's all I got.

That's all I could look at. It appears ........upside down?

Is that rifle in the southern hemisphere......maybe.....,?

I was going to say that it could be an anomaly or apparition, brought on by atmospheric conditions or some sort of severe cosmic or astrological disturbance.

But, I somehow managed to contain the urge. I'm actually pretty proud of myself. It's very seldom that I can refrain from the urge to throw out a bunch of meaningless big words and jargon's, meant only to fill space and listen to myself talk.

Ya, I just stuck that there to take the picture. There's no trigger or guard either. The stock was for a short action, and the action in the pic is a 7. It's a take off barrel that's just hand tight, so I rotated the lug so it would sit in the stock. It's not clear in the picture, but it's a 270 barrel and the bolt face is 223. No comments on the scrap of 70's carpet that serves as the door mat?

quote:

Originally posted by jpl:
Ya, I just stuck that there to take the picture. There's no trigger or guard either. The stock was for a short action, and the action in the pic is a 7. It's a take off barrel that's just hand tight, so I rotated the lug so it would sit in the stock. It's not clear in the picture, but it's a 270 barrel and the bolt face is 223. No comments on the scrap of 70's carpet that serves as the door mat?

Not to burst your bubble or cast dispersion's. But I think Johnny Cash beat you to it in 1976 !

Just sayin.

JPL, Nice job! brian

quote:

Originally posted by jpl:
Ya, I just stuck that there to take the picture. There's no trigger or guard either. The stock was for a short action, and the action in the pic is a 7. It's a take off barrel that's just hand tight, so I rotated the lug so it would sit in the stock. It's not clear in the picture, but it's a 270 barrel and the bolt face is 223. No comments on the scrap of 70's carpet that serves as the door mat?

I missed all of that! That inverted recoil lug caught my eye.....and well I just "vapor locked".....


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Pure Tung oil usually dries to a more dull shine than Tru-Oil does. You can get what you want with Tru-Oil, just fill the pores and buff it down a little with rotten stone and water. Make all the strokes with the grain.

Some people like to spray the Tru-Oil on in fine coats until the pores are full then buff down but I just rub it on a little at a time by hand and buff it out to whatever sheen you want. Waxing it after that will make it pretty bright.

You can also use Minwax Spar Varnish in the simi-gloss. Truth is Tru-Oil is not a lot different than the spar varnish. It is a polymerized oil.

If you have the time and patience you can fill the pores with spar varnish then sand down to the wood. Then finish by hand rubbing several coats of Linseed oil. It takes a long time to dry but it comes out looking smooth and a little dull. It looks good just not shiny.

Joe

For anyone wanting to finish a stock properly, I suggest you get hold of 'Professional Stockmaking' by Dave Wesbrook.
There are the detailed methods of 6 master stockmakers in it.
You can't go wrong.

quote:

Originally posted by Duane Wiebe (CG&R):
Saw t he post on Penofin. Remembered this from the old days as an alternative to creosote, so looked p t he MSDS on the oil finish. Seems like a pretty marvelous product, but the warnings leave me a bit concerned for gunstock use.

I suppose you could get scared away by just about any worthwhile finish, but it never hurts to take a look at MSDS just to figure out your own level of anxiety

LOL@Daune

I would break out like a puberty and pimple soaked school boy if I got within 100 miles of that stuff Duane. The odd person happens to have a bad reaction to it. I'm one of them.

quote:

Originally posted by speerchucker30x378:
I would break out like a puberty and pimple soaked school boy if I got within 100 miles of that stuff Duane.

Which one? Creosote or Penofin?

Penofin used to be made with rosewood oil jpl. It was sort of toxic to most wood perforating people of the insect persuasion. I breakout just sanding rosewood tips on gunstocks. I do sand them but I wear plastic gloves to keep the scratching down to a flea bitten dog level. LOL

They may have changed it over the years. Like everything else today, it's probably made from coconut oil free, triple boiled, highly homogenized, biodegradable, sensitivity desensitized, essence of non-GMO soybean extract !


Y I P P Y !