Oil finish for stock

[Eric Bong]

I recently found a wonderful unfinished tiger walnut gunstock. It's pretty rough off of the duplicator and it has a few defects that I'll have to fix. I'm planning on cutting the last 1/2" off the stock to remove the enclosed branch. There is also a hole on the other side that I'm planning to fill with black tinted epoxy. I'd like to try an oil finish to help pop the grain but I hate the smell and feel of tung oil.

Any suggestions for oil finishes? Do all oil finishes have the same "feel"? Any other finish suggestions? Unfortunately I don't have any spray equipment

Here is a picture of the stock with a little mineral spirits on it.

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg12/ernmere/Gun%20Stuff/DSC_1614a.jpg

[John Keeton]

First of all Eric, that is one georgeous piece of wood!!!! The stock appears to be machined for a particular action - what are you building?

Here are a couple of thoughts. I used to build longrifles, and always used a BLO hand rubbed finish. It is a nice look, but tends to get gummy when handled a lot, particularly in hot, humid weather. You could pop the grain with a coat of BLO or tung oil and wet sand with pumice to get some grain fill - or use a grain filler. Then seal with some shellac, and build a finish on top of that depending on the look you want. Personally, I sort of like the patina of a hand rubbed finish, but the deep film finishes also look very nice on a beautiful stock, and are more durable.

As many have said, the BLO will darken the wood over time, and may not enhance the figure in doing so, given the darkness of this wood.

Are you going to install a recoil pad to make up for the lost length in trigger pull? And, although you don't show the hole, is it possible to do some sort of inlay on the cheekpiece side? Perhaps an engraved brass/silver piece?

[Eric Bong]

Thanks John,
This stock is designed for the T/C Contender rifle. I have a recoil pad that I'll grind to fit. We'll see how that goes. Here is a picture of the other side of the stock with no mineral oil. The defect is at the rear of the stock at the bottom. It's really not too bad. It looks like a branch that fell out. It's about 2" deep. I thought black epoxy would be a good fit because the wood gets so dark with finish on it.

http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg12/ernmere/Gun%20Stuff/DSC_1604a.jpg

I've never tried filling the grain with pumice. I'll have to get some and try on a test piece. I've always filled with finish. But that takes a long time.

Eric

[Todd Burch]

Gunstocks are the principal target (no pun intended) for an oil product called "Polymerized Oil". You can read about it in Bob Flexner's "Understanding Wood Finishes".

Todd

[Corey Wilcox]

Eric,

I used Waterlox original sealer followed by a coat of their marine finish on my wife's rifle stock and it turned out nice. Easy to apply and it's held up great over the past few years of hunting in northern Wisconsin weather. It's a bit glossy for some probably (see photos), but that could be resolved with a little steel wool or by skipping the marine finish. It's my very, very basic understanding (finishing gurus...forgive me for any inaccuracies), that Waterlox is a mix of tung oil and varnish, but there's no lingering tung oil odor from this finish that I can tell.

Corey

[Jerry Bruette]

Eric,

That's a really nice piece of walnut, how much did it set you back?

If you send me a PM with your home address I'd be happy to send you a copy of a process for using Waterlox for your stock finish.:) I used it on a stock I had made for a Swedish Mauser and it turned out pretty nice.

Jerry

[John Keeton]

Eric, that will look great on the TC! I agree on filling the hole on the cheekpiece side - I think that will do fine. Sounds like the Waterlox may work out for you - sure looks good on Corey's wife's rifle, although I think I would prefer less gloss, so maybe skip the marine.

[Eric Bong]

Corey, your stock looks very nice!

Jerry I sent you a PM.