Gunstock refinishing

[Chuck Wintle]

I want to refinish a walnut gunstock. What is the best finish for this purpose. I have heard that an oil finish is the best.
Thanks

[Todd Burch]

A polymerized oil is the best. Any good gun shop should have some. (For reference, see Bob Flexner's "Understand Wood Finishing" book.)

Todd.

[Lee Schierer]

Refinishing a gunstock depends upon what you are going to be doing with the gun. If you want to maintain the antique value of the gun then a good oil finish is what you want. You can use polyurethane if you are planning on using the gun a lot. I have a shotgun that belonged to my father. The original varish was so badly scratched and worn that when I used the gun in wet conditions here in the fal in NW PA that the stock would take days to dry out. I carfully sanded it down to remove the old finish and sun bleaching of the walnut and refinished it comepletely with several coats of gloss polyurethane. It looks great and sheds water when I use it. The polyurethane is also scratch resistant should I have to tromp through some briars.

[Hal Flynt]

I use BLO and patience.
I usually start off with a very liberal coat/soak with 50% BLO 50% TURPINTINE, (I think I'll use naptha next time to speed it up). After it dries for 3- 4 days or longer, rub with some steel wool and wipe off then I hand rub in thin coats of full strength BLO, one in the morning before work, one after I get home and repeat for a week or until it looks like what I want. When it does I let it dry at least 2 weeks. This is what I meant by patience. It's rather protective, not waterproof, but guns aren't water proof either. Rain wipes off and a quick rub down with BLO occasionaly brings it right back.

I use tung oil sometimes instead. Sometimes I've put a coat or 2 of TUNG over the BLO after it has fully cured. I think I've put BLO over the TUNG.

This is the deepest grain popping finish I know of and is pretty traditional. All the others work too. It is wood after all. Varnish is a quick factory finish as well as other top coats and maintenance of the finish is a concern, since there are briars, brambles, sticks and stone out there in the great outdoors.