Hi All,

I am finishing a semi-inlet stock and have it to the point where I have filled the pores and started to apply finish coats of boiled linseed oil. I now see very fine scratches in the finish, I did not see these before so am wondering if I made them wet sanding or what?

Question is do I sand back down to the wood or will these fine scratches be blended in with subsequent coats of finish?

Thanks in advance for any and all comments and/or suggestions.

Marcos (elalto)

Are you going for a satin finish? What if you go over it with some fine steel wool? You can put more coats of oil on, but if the scratches are in the wood (vs. in the finish), then you'll have to take it down some to get them out. Nice thing about oil finish is that it's easy to touch up or spot repair.

quote:

boiled linseed oil

Not my cup of tea.

If the scratches are in the wood now is the time to remove them. More finish will not usually hide them.

wet sand the scratches out, all of them until they are gone, especially with a higher gloss finish...No shortcuts here. They don't just go away, you have to remove them completely, sometimes its easier with small circular sanding using a padded block..

Linseed is not a particularly good finish, it is pretty however..I would suggest you try Brownellls Linseed with Jap dryers at least or better yet Brownells Gunsav-R in satin or high gloss, your choice..Its faster, more water proof, and longer lasting...Linseed oil is old time finish, seldom used these days unless your just plumb et up with nostalgia and intend to put on 50 to 100 coats of hand rubbing and polishing. but to each his own on finish..

Be careful with steel wool. Some kinds just crumble and get impacted in the wood and is a real pain to get out. Trust me!

As already advised, sand out the scratches. How fine a grit are you going to?

I am no expert - done a few stocks.

I do not do anymore polyurethane finish.

One with Truoil and 20 coats came out very well. I always use wet sanding with the grain - going down 240, 400 & 600 grit and finishing with 1000 grit.

Another with BLO impregnated with Alkanet root for the old English red colour - more than 20 coats also came out well. Remember that BLO is NOT water proof! I finished with Danish oil.

I always dilute the BLO with mineral spirit or IPO. I also found that finishing with Danish oil gives a waterproof finish since Danish oil has Tung oil in it.

Some brands of Danish oil also have Carnauba wax added to it. This fills all the pores and gives a hard water proof finish.

The 20+ coats with patience & 600 grit & 1000 grit finish is worth the effort IMHO.

Good advise never use Steel wool to refinish wood, small minute particles stay in the finish and as time goes by they will break out, they show up mostly on high gloss finish..

I prefer oil modified Urathane finish, Truoil is a mod. Tung Oil, Linspeed is modified Linseed oil and both are good finishes as is gun Sav-r, both from Brownells..

A good mix is True oil or tung oil, with thinner and Danish oil as its a bit hotter..Makes a nice finish mixed 1/3, 1/3 and 1/3rd..

A good outdoor hard use tough finish is to use Beechwood filler and fill the stock completely then sand back to the wood and add applications of Varathane, spray it on and wipe off, let dry 24 hours, Its very thin finish (requires lots of coats) but the end result is akin to being as water proof as glass and last like stainless steel..Lots of hard work to apply however, but a great finish for a true hunting rifle. Also it is reported that Varathane has Tuanol in it and that has cancer causing carcinogens in it, Im still here at 81 so go figure!! but just to be safe apply with surgical gloves on..Once cured its reported to be safe..Fact or fiction? I dunno..

I have tried every finish one can imagine, and settled on the fact that there is no magic potion, its all in the application and some folks use one application better than the other, so they must find one that works best for them..I finished 35 pices of wanut the laid them out on the shop roof and tacked the down. The laid up there thru 3 Idaho winters and summers, The Varathane survived better by far than any other finish..high gloss also did better than satin or dull finish (of course).

Mostly, these days, I like the Brownells Gun Sav-r, for ease of application, durability and can be wet sanded to dull, satin or high gloss. High gloss is always more waterproof, satin is much prettier and doesn't reflect light. I like satin and flat finishes for myself. Sometimes I will sand back to the wood/filled pores and apply a linseed oil with Jap dryers hand rubbed as a final finish and I love that satin Linseed oil finish for its beauty, damn hard to beat, and with care its durable enough as a final coat on a filled piece of wood.

Thank you All!

I took the finish back down to the wood then wet sanded with 400 then 600 grit. Once the stock dried it looked a lot better, I now have three coats of BLO on it and it's looking real nice.

I will try the finish from Brownell (gun-savr?) but I really like the finish I get with the BLO it is WORK for sure.

Marcos (elalto)

Gun Sav-R is sure worth a try and saves you a world of work. I like the Satin but you can wet sand any high gloss to a satin to look like a LInseed oil finish. Also you can apply Gun Sav-R until your finished then lightly sand back and apply two or three coats of Linseed oil to get the finish your looking for and still have a pretty good water resistant finish.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
wet sand the scratches out...

You guys saying to "wet sand," are you using water? Or do you wet the wood with the finish and sand that? I suppose you wipe it down after sanding?

I use the oil and the wet & dry paper and sand the oil with the grain into the wood. This results in the saw dust mixing with the oil and filling the pores.

You need to wipe off the slurry and finish with just the oil - finger applied - for each coat.

If the oil + saw dust slurry dries on the stock, it looks ugly.

I found that Truoil would not stick on top of the BLO. may be I did something different along the line. But Danish oil works as a final 2 or 3 coats - and it is water proof.

I use some of the finish deluted with Mineral spirits in a container, usually a jar top..I wrap a piece of wet or dry 220 grt. or whateve stage your at in sanding, around a piece of walnut that has a thick rubber base glued to the wood. I make these up in different sizes and shapes..I dip this in the jar top and wet sand in 2 inch circles until I have done the complete stock, then lightly wipe it off with a non absorbant paper such as the old time hamburgers were wrapped in..I go in circles as that fills pores faster and better...towards the last applications I sand with the grain in short strokes....at some point I will do this with those sanding nylon pads as they polish and don't cut. Lastly I use the finish and rotten stone to polish and add light coats of finish as I go..One could write a book on this subject and many have. some good and some worthless..

True oil and LInseed will not interlock for a number of reasons, first and foremost is Linseed never drys completely, and finishs will only interlock when still less than dry, so finish should have additional coats applied within 24 hours with most finishes, if not then you should sand down to the wood before applying the next finish coat..towards the end your polishing so apply light finish coats and wipe almost dry let sit over night at least before applying another...Lots of ways and Ive heard many arguments over application, fact is its not a science you just keep after it..if you mess a coat up sand down and start over.