I'm about to buy a couple of stocks for my model 12s. I'll get a Boyds or E.Arthur Brown for the 12 FV, but for the 12 BVSS I'd like to start with a raw stock and do the finishing myself.
I've seen the numerous articles and Youtube videos about traditional oil finish, and oil and polyurethane finishing. And I've read how those do nothing to stabilize a piece of wood against temperature and moisture changes.
Laminate stocks are less prone to warping, but they seem to be much more prone to cracking along laminates, and won't hold trigger screws well simply due to grain direction issues.
Then came a conversation with a friend who makes knifes as a hobby. He showed me a new knife he'd made with scales made of "snake wood". It was quite beautiful and the wood looked like it was made of plastic. He described how he "stabilizes" the rare woods he buys by soaking in a resin in a sealed chamber and drawing a vacuum for several hours to remove all air in the wood. This allows the resin to penetrate the wood fully. Once removed, it is placed in a curing oven at 250 F for several hours, then sanded smooth out to 1500 grit and buffed. No warping, no worry about water swelling, or cracking. It is absolutely weather proof because at this point it has been transformed into a composite material. A type of wood fiber reinforced resin.
Which got me to thinking about finishing a wood laminate stock using this method.
Anyone tried it?
There will be some significant weight gain, about 50% i'm told due to resin absorption.
Any comments are welcome!
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks