Wood Finishing techniques

[outlawkyote]

Here's a new idea I had about finishing a hunting rifle. Its a cheap method and is very functional and looks perty decent.

Take a wood stock of choice (mine was a cheap factory wood stock) and throw it into the sand blaster. Blast the wood just enough to create a rough finish and you will start too see the wood grain start to become exagerated. Try to get the finish as uniform as possable so you can paint a rattle can rough textured coat of paint on it.

It turned out perty cool and has that rough surface so it wont slip in even gloved hands. Total cost was about 5 bucks because the stock was just an old stock from a donor rifle.

[louthedog]

Here's a new idea I had about finishing a hunting rifle. Its a cheap method and is very functional and looks perty decent.

Take a wood stock of choice (mine was a cheap factory wood stock) and throw it into the sand blaster. Blast the wood just enough to create a rough finish and you will start too see the wood grain start to become exagerated. Try to get the finish as uniform as possable so you can paint a rattle can rough textured coat of paint on it.

It turned out perty cool and has that rough surface so it wont slip in even gloved hands. Total cost was about 5 bucks because the stock was just an old stock from a donor rifle.


That's interesting. I'm thinking with the right grain might even look great clear-coated.

[pa_guns]

Hi

Yes I do know just how crazy this sounds.

Ground glass in the finish will rough up the surface without making it look to awful.

Bob

[sgt_mike]

Mix Bone black with boiled linseed oil rub in with a burlap cloth redo until you get the desired grain and beaty the bone black will fill the pore and make the grain stand out. wait a day or two to tack off lightly sand with 1000 grit wet/dry or #0000 steel wool use a tack cloth reapply the bone blackand boiled linseed oil.
Mix up some beewax and Boiled linseed oil (try a one to one mixture on the beeswax and BLO over a low heat source) then apply once you get the desired look from the bone black and linseed oil. Again lighty sand with 2000 grit or #0000 steel wool tack cloth reapply place in the sun or a sunlamp to work into the wood when you apply this you should feel the BLO warm up

[MAGNUS]

For the experienced woodworkers what do you think of these products

http://www.howardproducts.com.au/products/orange_tung_oil.htm

http://www.howardproducts.com.au/videos/video8.htm


Was thinking of using it.

[Carphunter]

If you want to do non poly finishes on wood stocks, the C&R stock cleaning / maintaining thread over at parallax http://parallaxscurioandrelicfirearmsforums.yuku.com/forums/101/t/C-R-stock-cleaning.html has a lot of good material.

Really good info...especially on doing Tung Oil / Tung Oil Finish work.

[hunter2]

Has anybody ever tried putting a stock in a vacuum with lindseed or whatever to possibly get it through the wood? Was thinking it might work if the vacuum did not go too low. Any thoughts?

[vermonter]

I think that Idea really sucks! Sorry, couldn't resist.

[hunter2]

Good answer! I was hoping somebody had tried some of this in the past and tell me what to expect. Have some stock material ready to be turned into something useful. Looks like it would completely saturate the wood - or - would the wood start looking like a marshmellow in the vac.? Is this the way acrylic is used in materials????

[Charleslv]

never used a vacum. However I dipped a stock in a vat of heated tung oil for 12 hours for a garand to get that military look. All id now when it gets a ding is raise it with and iron and sand it.

[nhm16]

Just used this technique found on THR on my new SSS LVT stock, and am very satisfied: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=240961

There's a few small areas with some open grain still after three of the final passes, so my stock could use a few more passes but I want to shoot my new gun... ;D I can always go back later

[MAGNUS]

never used a vacum. However I dipped a stock in a vat of heated tung oil for 12 hours for a garand to get that military look. All id now when it gets a ding is raise it with and iron and sand it.


How hot was the heat?

[Charleslv]

just shy of 105 degrees. I forogt use an electrical heat source not an open flame or bad things may happen. I used a set of heating coils I use in my stock oven to warm and dry mys stocks between finishing steps.

[kelhawk]

I posted this on another thread, but it may be useful here also since it is a unique wood finishing technique.
I covered 5 or 6 stocks with camoflage T-shirts over 20 years ago. They still look "great" with no apparent deterioration. At the time only woodland camo was prevalent, now I yearn to do some with modern patterns. I did it by lightly stretching the cut up shirt around the various contours and "tacking" the stretch in place with super glue. At the buttstock and grip areas I did a visible seam by overlapping a purposely jagged cut over the other side. Obviously the forward seam edges terminate inside the inletting. The process was quite forgiving. To complete, I "wet-out" the fabric with optically clear fibreglass resin, then immediately blotted away the excess resin to provide the dull appearence desired. With the woodland pattern the final resin application would darken the pattern somewhat, so I experimented with lightly bleaching the cloth before application, but it seemed to affect the colors. A naturally faded Mossy Oak Brush should turn out great! Provides a great grip texture over wood or fibreglass, but the resin could "attack" some synthetic stocks and finishes, and it will add more weight than conventional finishes.
Kell

[bigedp51]

Military stocks were hot dipped in "raw" linseed oil and not boiled linseed oil, the heated raw linseed oil would soak and penetrate deeply into the wood to hydrate the wood and make it more stable.

The triple mix should be made from "raw" linseed oil, bees wax and turpentine. Todays fake or artificial BLO has dryers resins added to it speed the drying process which will make the triple mix form clumps and cause the BLO to separate from the mix. During the American Civil War this triple mix was used as pre-petroleum age cosmoline and the women of the house used it as furniture polish. ;)

Use water or alcohol base wood stains if you plan to use linseed oil type finishes, oil base stains will dry and form a barrier and prevent any oil type finish from penetrating "into" the wood.

WARNING, the majority of American made BLO is toxic and should not be rubbed on bare handed. Look up the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets) for any brand you plan to use. Pure highly refined and filtered linseed oils can be found in craft stores sold in the oil painting section. The painting medium "Stand oil" is actual real "boiled" linseed oil and can be applied by hand. Heating and boiling raw linseed oil causes it to form long molecular chains bonding the oil molecules together and "Plastisizes" the oil making it stronger and more water resistant.

[leftyboy]

Hello,
This is my first post on the Savage website so u have a newbie here and an old fart to boot(65)!! I have really enjoyed this thread. Have been in woodworking for most of my adult life but just recently began refinishing gun stocks. Here is a method I am using to remove old finish, and refinish.

My latest was a rimfire stock taken of a pawnshop special! Brushed on stripper to get all the old finish off. It took multiple attempts to do this. Then wiped the stock down with mineral spirits and let dry over night. Wet sanded multiple times using mineral spirits and a table spoon of boiled lindseed oil and 600 grit w/d paper. After wiping it down and using a heat gun I thoroughly dried the stock and repeated the process again. Using the heat gun it raises the grain. After the second wet sanding and wipe down I let it set for a wk.
I mix equal parts of boiled linseed oil, turpentine, and urethane semi gloss (1/3 ratios). Using my hands I rub the mixture into the stock on all areas and brush it into the machined out areas. I rub with my hands until I feel the wood warming up. I know that sounds crazy but the wood will actually warm up from the friction of rubbing. Your hands will begin to drag some as the warmup begins too. After thoroughly rubbing the entire stock, I gently wipe off the remaining mixture using a clean cotton cloth, wait 20 minutes or so and wipe down again. Then let the stock set for 2-4 days depending on humidity. I then sand till smooth using 800 grit paper, wipe down with a dampened clothof mineral spirits and let dry the remainder of that day. I then start the process all over using the 3 part mixture and hand rub it again.
I go through this routine for 4 applications. As u do this the wood begins to take on a nice rich finish. Once the desired color is achieved, I let the stock set for a week. Then using a semi gloss 2 part urethane clear I shoot multiple light coats on until the stock is gleaming but NO runs. I do this with the stock hanging from a wire and balanced. Let that dry for 2-4 days depending on humidity, wet sand using 800 grain and do the same thing again. Each coat brings out the appearance of the wood grain. Once I have 4 coats of that on I wet sand with 1000 grit and this is where the stock gets the super nice look. It is not dull but a nice rich finish and THE FINISH IS ROCK HARD! The urethane will continue to cure for a couple of wks then assemble the gun. Will post a pic of the latest one I am working on once finished. Under the old stain I found the stock wasTIGER MAPLE!!!!! with some outstanding grain definition, just plain beautiful. Cannot believe a company would put and ugly dark stain over such beautiful wood.

[leftyboy]

Ok would LOVE to show u the pics of the tiger maple stock I found under all the crud of a pawn shop special. However, as an old fart have been unable to post pics here or even links to them. Help me out here someone!