rifle stock oil finish. How do you make it shiny?

nicholiath

Well-Known Member
i have done a couple of parker Hale stocks with walnut oil, i am happy with them but the finish is rather matt, how do you make it less so?
 
Hi,
when I did mine with terabine and boiled linseed it left the stock dull and sticky. The advice I got was spray it with pfurniture polish and wipe it over. Hey presto, job sorted :)

Ian
 
BLO should come up high gloss if applied correctly. Firstly one needs to make sure the stock is smooth and all fibres/whiskers laid back in or removed.

The you apply a small amount of oil. Chances are that your stocks pores are open if so thena stock grains ealer is required or one can wet sand. Apply the BLO then rub the stock down with fine wet and dry. 600 grit at least this creates a slurry which is then rubbed into the stock with the hand until the oil dries. It will have a slightly muddy appearance so then the next day the stock is lightly rubbed down with the et and dry again to remove the surface yet leave the BLO combined witht eh slurry in the pores to seal them. You might need to do this twice with a porus stock. Then after it's dried and wiped down with a tack rag to remove dust more BLO is applied and worked hard in witht eh palm of the hand to create friction heat. Set asidie in dust free place to dry. Two days is good but in this warm weather you might be also to apply next day.

The amount of BLO applied after the wet sanding is minimal. A drop the size of a pea should do a whole stock. The finish is built up in layers and ten layers in common sometimes more. If one wants a gloss finish quicker then buy a can of Truoil which works quite well. I have used it on a hand rail in the hall we put up to help Dad and also a light oak roe shield.
 
Use Tru-oil with the first couple of coats diluted 1/3 with Zippo lighter fuel (penetrates deeply and dries quickly), build up your coats of tru-oil polishing back every 2nd coat using600-800wet and dry with boiled linseed oil as the cutting lubricant. When you have the grain filled and the finish up to a high gloss, again cut back using 2000 grade W&Dry with B L Oil followed by a Rottenstone/B L O mix, at this stage you are actually polishing the wood not cutting back oil, the finish is stunning. This is basically the so called London finish using modern finishing oils, Boiled Linseed oil will never actually dry and will re-wet under certain conditions, modern oils have the non drying foots removed not by boiling but by treatment with acids to allow total oxidation drying.
 
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