I have a wood / blued Sako 85 which is my main deer rifle. It gets used all through winter, rained on, dragged through bush etc. Its about a year old now, and the stock is looking a bit beaten up now.

I would like to give it a bit of a re-finish, and preferably seal the wood from the elements a bit better. Anyone have recommendations on something to use on the stock?

TruOil

take the stock and pad etc off to the
wood. and wipe on 2-4 coats everywhere.

seems to do the trick without much
expense.
Use rubber gloves and hand rub it on til
smooth and let it dry fully. Then a very
light buffing with 4/0 steel wool just
enough to take the shine off.
Works for me.

George

+1. That would have been my exact suggestion, save for the rubber gloves. I prefer to apply it with a bare finger. Mineral spirits cleans your hands nicely after you're done. I'd also recommend using those same mineral spirits to thin the finish before applying. I never use it full strength; I find it too difficult to get it level and dry in a reasonable time.

A side benefit and one of the other reasons I wholly stand behind TruOil as a finish is the ability to touch it up down the road. I'm in the process as I type this of patching up the stock on a rifle I refinished a few years ago. I had a disastrous and embarrassing "tumble" hunting deer last year, and the buttstock of the gun took the brunt. A little 400g sandpaper, some TruOil and we're back in business. No one's the wiser!

You can also control the sheen on the finish pretty easily. If you leave it alone, it's a candy gloss. From there, buff down using whatever abrasive you like until you get where you want. Rottenstone and the Birchwood Casey "Stock Sheen & Conditioner" work very well for this purpose. Add a little wax when all's said and done and you're ready to go.

Depends what's on there now.

There are two ways to go. One is some sort of oil finish or oil/varnish blend like tru oil. Looks classy but not very durable and has to be refreshed, but it's easy to refresh.

The other way is some sort of varnish or epoxy finish. Looks shiny and cheap. This is more durable but has to be stripped off when time comes to redo it. I can tell you that whatever Weatherby and Ruger use is hell for tough and almost stripper resistant.

they make poly urethane finishes that are tuff, sand it down to ..400 grt. and spray it on, follow the directions on the can..I use Gun Sav R from Brownells, its easy to apply , just follow directions or you might just wax it and keep hunting with it as is..

Nothing but a total refinish really works on a hard poly finish, which is why I hate them.

Thanks. I will give tru oil a go.

Well there is a trick to repair chips and scratches in a high gloss synthetic finish. There is a certain type of superglue which, when used with a certain brand of accelerator, can be used to touch up a few uglies. But beyond that, you have to strip it all off and start over. If the wood has been stained, then you are dealing with a particularly tricky situation, as you will get blotchy patches where the stained wood is sanded unevenly when removing the original finish, or when sanding in the oil finish. Trying to match the original stain can be a nightmare. Oil based stains often don't take properly. The worst are the stained birch and "hardwood" stocks. Nearly impossible to get those right when refinishing. I learned that lesson when I was 10 years old and tried to refinish my Gecado pellet gun stock.