My Swede m96 is about done in handrubbed linseed oil finish, and man! do the stock shine!

Problem is I don't know how to finalize the finish, the stock seems great and not tacky but I can scratch the surface with fingernails. If I sand with OOOO steel wool again, the glow is drastically reduced. How do I stablize the finish while retain the great look of the stock?

pyro,
that's one of the downsides (and advantages) to an oil finish. It will harden over time but will never have quite the durability of a more modern wood finish. Also, you should be putting only minute amounts of oil on with each coat. I mean like only a few drops for the entire stock! The great thing about this finish is that it is easily maintained if you ding or scratch the rifle. Weather resistance, however, sucks.

Assuming your linseed is properly dried when you cut it back with 0000 steel wool to level everything out you are also introducing a myriad of small scratches. You can either use a high grade wax (carnauba) which will fill these minute scratches and restore the shine or you can polish it with an even finer abrasive such as rottenstone.
Use a soft felt pad, dampened with a dilute mixture of linseed , mineral spirits and turpentine. Apply the rottenstone to the wetted felt and start rubbing. Wipe clean periodically to judge your progress. Follow up with waxing after allowing time for any residual oils to dry again. The carnauba wax will pretty much do it on it's own though and is a very good maintenance medium for any stock. I don't know if you used straight boiled linseed or one of the prepared products such as TruOil or Linspeed which have drying agents in them. I don't much favor straight linseed oil (If you've added drying agents that's another thing). It leaches out with rain, can ooze back out in heat and really doesn't seal wood very well at all. It can be refreshed with another coat or two and thats about the only thing I can recommend about it. besto

That will clear things up, thanks folks!