Some professionals claim "handrubbed finish",
what is "handrubbed"? and how is it preferred over "not handrubbed" finish? Can I handrub my linseed oil finish?

How does an "oil finish" gets dry? If the oil is sucked deep into wood, I wonder how can it be dry? Does some sort of solvent evaporates to leave a tougher residue or the oil will actually form a polymer?

Thanks for answers.

I think the distinction is between "hand rubbed" and brush or spray varnished. So it's both the method and the material.

You can hand rub with linseed - boiled is quicker than raw - and the advantage is that the oil finish is less fragile than a thin layer of varnish and brings out the colour of the grain.

I'm no chemist, but I imagine oil deep in the fibres of the wood doesn't quite dry. (I've just been sawing up some old wooden railway sleepers - do you call them ties? I've had them in the garden eight years after they were dug up out of use on the railway and they're still not damp inside but very definitely vaporous with creosote.)

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tikka 3 barrels

I also like the look of "hand rubbed" oil finish. But I use a mixture of 50% boiled liseed oil and 50% white shellac. I use an old bottle and shake the ingredients until well mixed, a minute of so, them use a cotton rag to apply. The oil goes in and the shellac stays on top....well some of the shellac stays on top. I rub on about three coats, then let it sit for a day or so until it is dry, then rub it down with 000 steel wool, then 3 more coats of oil/shellac....it takes a while to get a nice finish, but when you like what you see, then rub a last time with the steel wool and apply johnsons paste floor wax, let sit until it gets foggy and buff. It leaves a finish that will last years. Probably for guns that will be used in the wet weather, I would use something different, but for fair weather shooting, the oild finish looks great and lasts.

But I use a mixture of 50% boiled liseed oil and 50% white shellac.

It is called "french polish" Yeah looks fine, don't get it wet!! It will water spot.

True hand rubbed is just that, no cloth. Boiled linseed oil on the stock (or your own concoction)rubbed with the heal of your palm so that heat builds up. More rubbing=more shine. Free soft hands for your wife with every application!!!!!!

The question to ask here is, "Hand-rubbed with WHAT?"

Most of those Sacred-Cow, "traditional, hand-rubbed" oil finishes (linseed, etc.) aren't worth a damn when it comes to weather resistance, and that's the truth.

I had a custom rifle built by a high-end riflebuilder that came complete with a lovely "hand-rubbed" Tung oil finish. I was told by the maker that Tung oil was a superior finish, and was used to preserve the stoneworks of the Great Wall of China.

That finish worked great in dry New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and eastern Oregon. Then came a late-season goat hunt in British Columbia, complete with two days of wet snow, and that "superior finish" washed out of the pores like loose soil in a gullywasher, and the woodgrain raised up like a resurrected shipwreck. There was nothing left but an expensive stock with no finshed that felt like hell and looked like hell.

When I got home, I told the riflebuilder that I didn't think his traditional finish was worth a shit. I also asked him if he knew that the Great Wall was a collapsed heap of rubble for some three-quarters of its length........

AD

When one hand rubs and oil finish into wood he also hand rubs grit, crud, skin particles, sweat, human oils and dirt into the finish off his hands...

Better, if you want that beatifull glow that only Linseed can give is to fill the pores through standard wet sanding with a tung oil modified Urathane such as Truoil and others..After your finished cut the existing finish back with cutting oil and 3M pads (purple and white) then lightly rub in two or three coats of Pilking red Linseed rubbing oil to get the contrast and color. Rub it in with a felt pad and oil mixed with rottenstone.. You still have the fill for moisture resistance...It is a beatifull finish and fairly water proof and very durable, easily repaired etc...

Keep in mind the high gloss layered finishes are the most moisture resistent finish, but so is three coats of white outdoor paint...both are butt ugly and waterproof...I'll take the middle ground...
and go without the high shine that spooks game and take a flat egg shell finish with no sheen to speak of..

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Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

I used to use a Varathane rubbing oil product you can't get anymore, mixed with the old Varathane you can't get anymore and filled and sanded until all the pores were filled and you couldn't see a dimple in the wood anywhere. It gave a dull sheen that was totally waterproof but took several months of filling, sanding, drying and screwing around. Put a scratch in it any you were in for another go 'round. The color was beautiful on walnut stocks, and just looking at them brought warm glows. Now I like silver barrels, synthetic stocks and cans of brown, green, white, sand and black spray paint. I don't have to worry about scratches, weather and I don't care if you don't like what it looks like. If it falls in salt water I just hose it down with WD40, then brake cleaner, then oil it up and go shoot small groups. I would rather shoot than deal with wood. When I want to look at pretty wood, I look at all the empty stocks lined up against the wall and remember the work it took. But...I've come full circle again and keep looking at piece of birds eye that would work on a 17 Rem I'm about to rebarrel.

Ray, the rottenstone or pumice stone application is not for a finish but to buff the one you have already applied. The oil you use is just a carrier for the rottenstone. You then have to very carefully remove all of the material or it will turn white after it dries. I don't know if that is what you were talking about but that is what that is used for in finishing. It is not part of the final finish, just a buffing compound.

Pyrotek, a lot of the old finishes like Linseed and tung oil used straight seem to never dry. Straight tung oil is probably the worst. Linseed oil can remain soft for a long time also. I use a polymer modified tung oil and it dries well and is a totally different critter than the mess that Alan got into. There are some other new ones on the market also. The important thing for a good waterproof finish is to have some built up coats and after I wet sand the stock to either a 1200 or 1500 grit, I then apply some coats as top coats. Those are hand rubbed on and build up a thin shell on the surface. That is what keeps your stock dry. The University of Michigan with the help of a stockmaker did a series of tests and that is what they arrived at - build up the surface or you are not getting the job done.

Chic

If you want a robust, and aestetically pleasing finish, I'd recomend my buddies technique. After sanding to 320 grit, the stock is heated in the oven to the lowest setting. You mix up a quality epoxy, remove the hot stock, and with gloved hands, rub in as much as the stock will take. After the 24-48 hr cure, depending on what epoxy you use, you sand the whole stock, then repeat the process for any spots you sanded trhough the finish. Two or three treetments are fine. Then after the wood is sealed with the epoxy, you hand rub your favorite oil on.

He's been hunting Alaska over 20 years with that finish, and the only stock that moved on him was one He opened up the barrel channel on for a different barreled action, and he didn't re-seal the channel.

I've seen his rifles, and it is a very nice finish, also durable.

Thanks all, looks like my sweaty hands can't do a handrubbing, I'll wet sand instead. If the linseed(I've already put it on the rifle hanguard) I use is not leaving a hard coating, I am not bringing the rifle near water.