Within the last 4 or 5 weeks, there was an article in Shotgun News or Gunlist about gunstock refininshing. In the article, the author gave a formula using turpentine, Japan drier, varnish and Tung oil. To make a long story short, I put the issue out with the recycleables before I copied the formula down.


Can anyone please give me the proportions to make this oil finish??

Thank you in advance. Flutedchamber

You are better off using Pro Custom Oil or Tru-Oil.

A combo of 1/3 each of tung, dryer and turpine will work, you can even mess with the formula if you wish...

But Why? all that is done in a can of Ben Matte by Daly, True Oil, and a host of other mixes that can be purchased from Brownell...

I doubt that what you use had a lot to do with anything, the art of a nice finish is in the person doing the application....

I have used every finish know to man in search for the holy grail of finishes, one is as good as the other it seems to me...

I will say that one finisher may do a better job with a certain mix and another equally as good finisher will not do such a good job..Find one that fits YOU is the secret...

I think I like a few coats of True Oil filler wet sanded in, let set for 30 days, then from that point on I use Ben Matte Tung oil wet sanded to 400, then I decide to go high gloss or egg shell luster....

I agree with Atkinson. It is not the product that will determine the final results but the amount of time you put into the process.

I for myself like using the old recipes of handrubbed finishes as they were used by best London stockmakers in the 19th and early 20th century, which are based on boiled linseed oil.

It is also important to realise that the true colour and surface of a handrubbed stock will improve over the years. The ancient stockmakers had a formula for that: first coats: 1 every day for a week, then 1 every week for a month, then 1 every month for a year and for maintenance one every year.

You have to realise that modern day products have been devolped to meet the demand for fast working and fast curing products. So this is what you get: fast working and fast curing and no time to develope that beautiful reddish lustreous shine we all admire in well kept guns that were built when time was was not the major cost factor.

We have been trying to wean Ray off the True Oil (the alcohol content) and get him strictly on BennMatte but we are fighting a loosing battle until a cheaper drink is found.

A stockmaker told me to use just Arm-R-Seal and nothing else. This is for a Claro Walnut stock. What do you gentlemen think of that? I haven't done it yet and I've never heard of anyone else doing the same.

Thanks,
Kory

Good advice. True Oil done in the manner that Mr. Atkinson suggests produces some really pretty wood that shows the grain well.

Try it. If you don't like it, do it again but the thing to remember about refinishing a gun stock is patience and to give the wood time to absorb what you've put on it.

TH

I'm no pro, but I've done more than a few stocks over the years. Got ready to do one recently and all the stuff I've used in the past was either gelled or dried up. Well, I looked around the shop and found a can of Minwax "Fast Drying, Polyurethane, Great for Floors, Clear Satin" (sounds like an old Herters ad). I thinned it down a bit and applied it like any other stock finish, and guess what? It came out like "Wow, what did you use for the finish on that stock?.
Sez I, "got the formula from an oldtimer I ran into down around Saragosa one time".