I am in the process of stripping a stock on my dads old Browning FN. I am wanting to put a oil finish on it but want to do it right and use the best material on the market. I need to know what that might be. I want it to be low luster and to repel water, like a ducks back. What do you suggest? Thanks In advance Maddog < !--color-->

Sounds like a job for Formby's tung oil, either that or boiled linseed oil (blo). Blo will darken the wood some and takes a while to dry between coats but will give beautiful results. tung oil has blo in it and will give same results but will dry overnight between coats. The more coats the better it looks, plan on about 4 coats of tung before it starts looking good and about 6 of blo...Gary D.

An oil finish......... I want it to be low luster and to repel water, like a ducks back. What do you suggest?



Those are conflicting requirements.



Low luster, use Tung oil and don't wax it when done. But then you have a finish that will breath. Not a bad thing, in my opinion.



Sheds water, use a built up finish. Something like epoxy or Fullerplast. These finishes are getting hard to come by in some parts due to the Eco-Frauds and their nuerosis. This finish can be rubbed out to look like a M-700 classic, or buffed to look like a Weatherby. It is versitile and tough.



Here is the thing, no finish will be completely water tight. Close but not 100%. If you will be hunting in a down pour you might be better served with a synthetic stock. For dry weather I am quite happy with an "in the wood" "oil" finish.



In a nutshell, fill the grain with thinned spar varinish. Wet sand with 320 or 400 grit between or every other coat until the pits from the pores disappear. Make sure you are sanding down to wood. When smooth oil it with linseed or tung oil making sure you don't build any on the surface. When it quits absorbing block it off with 600 grit lubricated with your oil and some thinner. Now one final thin coat. At this point wax it with paste wax.



It is a lot of work and I am not sure what good you get from the oil. You could use 100% spar varnish and get the same look. Just putting oil on wood will never make a decent finish. There is no magic stuff that you can easily apply to the wood to get a professional looking finish. About 80% of a profesional oil finish is in how it is done. You could use spar varnish, fullerplast, epoxy, or lineeed oil and get a very simmilar looking result if you apply it right. Most of art of stock finishing is in the how you do it, not what you use.



For old military stocks I use one third each of bee's wax, liseed, and mineral spirits. I call it stock butter. Melt it together and make a paste wax type of thing. Put it on the stock from time to time to renew to oiled look. Rub it in real ewll and buff of of the excess with a rag. This one is not a bad deal. It will repel most water and can be renewed. It might be the best bet for a hard used hunting rifle.



The stock butter will make old beat stocks come to life. Steel wool it and rub it down aith the stock butter. You will be surprized how good it looks.

Maddog,
You will find as many "best" finishes as you will get posts, or close to it. I saw a recent article and it stated that lindseed oil was 25% waterproof or resistant to moisture. It is probably one of the worst finishes available today. Many of the new altered finishes are so much better. I use a polymer modified Tung oil called Bennematte and made by Dalys in Seattle. With a built up finish it is very water proof. There are folks using spray on clear coat car finishes for stocks. The two that I know well are very good and well known stockmakers and I am going to discuss the matter with them in Reno. The problem I have with those types of finish is that they can scratch and leave a white line. I do understand that one of the two uses something that does not do that. A small spray booth may be in my future.

My preferred method is to use an oil finish and wet sand it in. I like the look, the durability and the ease of repair.

Minnwax makes some stuff called Danish wood oil finish. Its a satin, waterproof oil finish originally intended for furniture and is easy to use. Does not fill pores much, so its rather plain. I've hunted in the rain and never had any swelling, raised grain or warps so I guess it works.

The problem with refinishing a stock is that most guys give up when it starts to affect their job, marriage and family. If you really want the rifle to look nice, you have to be willing to give up these things.

On most stocks I use many coats of urethane spar varnish, cut back with a little mineral spirits. It comes in both satin and gloss, and dries in about 6 hours. If the stock needs a little color to give it warmth, use MinWax Gel Finish first and let it dry about a week.

Maddog FYI

I use a process that is similar to some of the other posts. I got it from a gunsmith friend. I use Varathane natural oil. I start by putting a few coats on to seal the wood. and then I start wet sanding the oil finish with 320 and then 400 grit wet dry paper. I take my hand and work the mud that you create from the wet sanding to fill the pours. I just work my hand against the grain. once the grain is filled I let the stock dry with the mud in the pores. I keep doing this until I get the desired look. You can buff the stock lightly with 0000 steel wool to get the sheen you desire. I have a few approaching 15 years old and still look good.

Every time this topic comes up, I read each and every post on it. I met very few stockmakers who are truly satisfied with their finishing process. I was at a guild show seminar a few years ago and it was dull and boring and it had bogged down and was going nowhere. A very well known and well respected stockmaker brought up the topic of stock finishes. Before that everyone was talking and when he began with this direction everyone shut up and started to listen. You could tell that the participants were hanging on every word from every one who offered their view. You always hear a new slant on the way to put on a finish or a new type of finish that is avaliable. Gary D., I was not picking on you in regards to the lindseed oil issue. I have used it in the past and just recently heard of this 25% rating. I do like other finishes much more though but my criticism was at the product and not of you.

I know of no other topic that brings such a diversity in discussion but also garners such interest among those who like to finish gun stocks.

MADDOG,
I do not have alot of experience in this area, but I have seen some stocks finished with a product called 'PERMALYN' available from Brownells. There is a sealer and a finish. The sealer penetrates deep into the wood. You can finish the stock using just the sealer and giving it a couple of coats.
Headache

"You can finish the stock using just the sealer and giving it a couple of coats".

Don't believe it. In all likelyhood it will look like a rushed job. You need to fill the grain to get a smooth finish.

I have one exception, if the wood is completely filled I can shoot the stock with some catalized stuff called "Glasskote", one coat. It hardens in about 10 minuets under the right conditions and gives tremendious build. You shoot, let it jell and shoot again. Maybe five passes at one sitting. If you are very lucky you can rub it out the next day and be done with it. More often that not you get a run or a bubble from air coming out of the stock because you set in in a warm area to speed things along. The run does not block off right and you have to try again. Stuff has all kinds of warnings about heath hazards ,requires profesional spray equipment, a respirator and pleanty of experience too. The factories must use something like this, it is very fast but quite critical. For the average guy that has not done over a hundred stocks the satin spar varnish is hard to beat. It just takes more patience.

I use some stuff called Deft Danish oil , Because thats what is avalable in my local. Ive tryed Forbsons(sp) but it went bad(dryed up in the can} Deft is still good.
Ive seen some Watco too ,but havent tryed it.

Deft is a Tung oil with epoxy resins, It works good for me. Its a oil not a varnish. Drys in about 24 hrs or less.
I put on about 3,4,5 coats or more if I feel like it,wipeing exsess off after 30 min and wet sand with 400 grit wet or dry paper and a auto body rubber squeegy and rub a couple more coats in or more depending if I feel like it.
I dont make a big effort about the mud thing , I wip it off and put some more fresh sh*t on there as needed.
Ive went gung oh and have put 15 20 coats and wet sanded every so often and got a nice looking finish on a stock but its almost over doing it.
After a wet sand a couple light rub ins and wiping it down good to get excess off leaves a nice matte finish

Rick

I have had very good results with a product called 'Arm-R-Seal' by General Finishes. Woodcraft and Rockler both carry it. It is a tung oil/poly wiping varnish, I believe; you never really know what exactly is in those finishes. It goes on nicely in thin coats, levels out well, and doesn't run easily. It is waterproof -- I use it for table tops, with nary a water ring to be seen.

I generally thin it with mineral spirits, as it is a little too viscous from the can. Put on many, many, many thin coats, wiping off any excess with a lint free rag. You can re-coat as soon as it is no longer tacky. If you want a slightly shiny (semi-satin) finish, rub the last coat vigorously with clean hands when it is just slightly still tacky - or use a lint free soft rag. It will be more of a satin finish if you don't rub it out.

As Chic said, there are as many opinions on the best finish as there are people finishing stocks. I personally have not had good experiences with tung oil that does not include polyurethane, and danish oil. YMMV. If you buy Arm-R-Seal, buy the smallest can -- it will polymerize in the can once you open it -- shelf life is less than 6 mos. Even the old trick of a canning jar with peastone added to eliminate air space (add more stones as you use the finish) doesn't work well.

Don't forget to apply finish to the barrel channel, inletting, and under the recoil pad / buttplate, or your waterproof finish elsewhere is a moot point.

Good luck,
Todd

I have used Permalyn Sealer and Finish also. The sealer is simply the finish thinned to allow it to penetrate better. It can be used to build up the finish as well but takes more coats since it is thinner. Seams to work real well. I like it better than Tru Oil. The number of coats required to fill the pores really depends on the size of the pores in the wood. I have only used it on Suger Maple since I most finish stocks for muzzleloaders. but after about 6 coats things start looking real nice.



I hollowed out a small block of maple and applied 3 coats of sealer and 3 coats of finish and then one more coats of sealer. Produced a nice ligth sheen and very smooth. The "bowl" held water for two days, after which I dumped the water out. Not scientific as I di not weigh the "bowl" nor measure the rate of evaporation or take pre and post "sitting volumes" but the bottom of the bowl was not wet.