I have a laminated stock from Midway that is just about finished. I was going to seal it with a couple coats of thinned tung oil, and then the final coats using minwax tung oil finish.

I have never worked on laminated wood before so my question is, does anyone see any problems with this?

Or, does anyone have any better suggestions?

Thanks

Depends on the final finish one wants. I have used Minwax Satin Helmsman Spar Urethane, the same in Gloss, True Oil, Varathane outdoor oil finish, some witches brew mixtures,etc.

Just prep and sand properly. Laminated stocks (the Rutland type, not the AcraBonds) can be difficult to get a smooth sanded finish due to the roughness of the laminates (end grain of the plys).

[ 08-24-2003, 20:22: Message edited by: John Ricks ]

I'm a hunter, not a gunmaker, but I feel strongly about this subject, so please bear with me.

I had a laminated-stock custom .300 Win. Mag. that I hunted with quite a bit. It was stocked with a blank from Rutlage Lumber (or Rutland, something like that), and the outfit that built the rifle finished it with some sort of Tung oil preparation. This was a wonderful and finely-accurate rifle, and I loved it.

But on a late-season goat hunt, one morning's worth of wet snow completely washed the finish out of the pores, and the stock began to delaminate. One of my friends owned a rifle from the same maker that he had to have refinished FOUR (as in 4!) times due to the same problem.

Years before that, I had a similar problem on a rainy elk hunt with a fine custom walnut-stocked rifle that was finished with Tung oil. The stockmaker said the advantage of Tung oil was that it allowed the stock to "breath". In that regard, I've found that stocks are a lot like people: If forced to breath under water, they drown.....

But even so, the regular walnut stock posed LESS of a problem to clean up and refinish than that supposedly next-to-indestructable laminated blank, contrary to all the hype.

Conclusions: Tung oil isn't worth a damn as an all-weather stock finish, and laminated stocks don't live up to their advance billing. I'll never own another one. A laminated stock must at least be refinished with some sort of tough polyurathane finish inside and out or forget it.

Don't get me wrong, I still love regular walnut stocks, especially those of fine English or French walnut. I have several such rifle projects planned right now, in fact. But they'll be finished with a intercellular sealer and a synthetic (looks-like-oil-but-ain't) exterior finish that fills the pores and doesn't skrink.

Sidenote: I know of Biesen custom rifles and Milliron custom rifles (English walnut stocks) that have been hunted with hard for about thirty years in all kinds of weather that have never been refinished. Biesen used a Varathane-type finish (Roger still does, I think), and Milliron used an incredibly hard and beautiful epoxy finish.

Proves the point I think........

AD

[ 08-24-2003, 21:59: Message edited by: allen day ]

I have had good luck finishing Boyds laminates with Custom Oil from Brownells. It is a polyurathane based finish that provides the depth of a hand rubbed oil finish with excellent durability. I sand with 220 and put on two thinned out coats, sand with 320 and then continue with additional coats as desired (usually four or five more). If I am looking for real smooth finish I will lightly buff with synthetic steel wool between coats.

I used General Finishes Sealacell and Arm-R-Seal on a Boyd's -- haven't had it out in the rain but it did get pretty wet running through a dew-sodden field of stomach-high barley, with no ill effects.

allen day, I would be highly reluctant buying a production or Custom production rifle that had the claims of a hand rubbed tung oil finished stock. The job done properly takes weeks and weeks because of drying time between coats after the Finish starts to build and seal the pores. But if done properly, sealed the pores will be and the finish will look like it's got a topcoat on it if you use Gloss tung oil. If I don't want it Gloss I buff it lightly with extra fine steel wool and apply a Very light coat of wax, after the finish has dried for about a month. This is the reason I agree with you, there is just no way the Gun builder took this much time on the stock.

[ 08-27-2003, 08:02: Message edited by: FreeBird LAL ]