[chopinbloc]

back when i was working on my dad's fishing boat he would periodically apply linseed oil to the wood of the deck and rails to act as a water repellant. it worked fantastically, preserving the wood against the harsh effects of the ocean. at the same time i really liked the dark, almost black appearance of the wood.

can i use linseed oil to get a similar appearance for my rifles' stocks? if so, what methods would you recommend?

[Azrael256]

Sure can. I use a mix of linseed oil, vinegar, and turpentine.

[Husker1911]

An old trick is to rub darned hard, creating a little friction/pressure. This possibly helps the oil soak further into the grain of the wood.

[James T Thomas]

Please remember what your dad told you about proper disposal of those -oil soaked rags!

Many summers ago here there was a house that had it's hardwood floors refinished. It was a hot and humid day and one of the work crew left a pile of rags on the floor somewhere while a break was taken. The whole house went up in flames.

[Limeyfellow]

Linseed oil has been used on rifle stocks for over a century and one of the most common coatings in the world. Alot of people like boiled linseed oil as it dries faster and won't run like plain linseed oil can. You just keep adding layers until you have a lovely rifle that over the course of several years gets a rather reddish tint to it as the linseed oil oxidises.

[Kymasabe]

I prefer a mix of 1/3rd linseed oil, 1/3rd terpentine, and 1/3rd beeswax. Heat the mess over a flameless heat, stir it up, pour it into a clean can and let if cool. The resulting paste can be applied by hand, rubbing it in generates a little heat and allows faster absorbtion. you can apply as many coats as you want, and finish up with buffing with a terry-cloth towel. A killer trick is to also polish with a silicone cloth. Great water repelancy.

[dfaugh]

Seems most people use "Boiled Linseed Oil" (BLO), which may be what someone else is referring to.

I prefer Tung oil, I use it on guns and furniture, but there's probably not enough difference to say so, excpet Tung Oil is slightly more expensive.

[Gewehr98]

I hate polyurethane, and Birchwood Casey's Tru-Oil just plain looks cheap. All my rifle creations and restorations have been finished using hand-rubbed Boiled Linseed Oil, with a 0000 steel wool rubdown between coats, for a clean, deep satin finish. It takes patience, and time, with many coats, but the results are oh-so-nice.

http://mauser98.com/03a4bench.jpg

[robert garner]

oxidation is what you will want, use a aquarium pump to oxigenate the blo
and use immediately! if not used it will set up in the container!This will create a varnish effect,much more resilient and waterproof than un-oxygenated blo
good luck!

[444]

I also believe that heat helps the oil soak into the wood.
Living in Arizona, heat shouldn't be an issue. I set the stock and the bottle of oil out in the sun for a 1/2 hour or so. It is then almost too hot to touch. I rub the oil into the wood and let it sit for another 15 minutes. I then wipe off the excess. Repeat daily until you are sick of doing it.

[imsteamer21]

hi guys
i just joined and for the life of me i cant figure out how to post a new thread
please help
fred

[HankB]

Boiled linseed oil (BLO) has driers added. Finishing a gunstock with linseed oil is a long process if you do it properly - which for the most part means letting each successive coat dry thoroughly. Linseed oil darkens with time.

Personally, I prefer tung oil, which doesn't darken as much with time and is considered to be a better wood preservative. Thinning it with mineral spirits allows it to penetrate the wood better.

Lots of discussions on gunstock finishing at these sites:

http://home.nc.rr.com/johnnyreb/M14Stocks.html

http://p102.ezboard.com/fparallaxscurioandrelicfirearmsforumsfrm34

http://www.ambackforum.com/viewforum.php?sid=73a7e87366f75abdf94c3b1b6c7548ba

[chopinbloc]

thanks for the input, guys. i think i'll practice on my ak so i don't screw up anything expensive.

gewehr, that is a very beautiful rifle.

[Gewehr98]

I set the stock and the bottle of oil out in the sun for a 1/2 hour or so. It is then almost too hot to touch. I rub the oil into the wood and let it sit for another 15 minutes. I then wipe off the excess. Repeat daily until you are sick of doing it.

Sick is right. That 1903A4 has just over 20 coats of BLO, each coat rubbed into the wood with the heel of my hand until hot to the touch, then allowed to dry until it was no longer tacky. You really want the heat, either by palm of hand or the soft cotton cloth that you're buffing the dried coat with. Then I used the steel wool to remove that coat down almost to the grain, and de-whiskered the whole thing before starting the next coat. Depending on the depth of finish, you can vary the number of coats/rubbings/takedowns. That's not a gloss finish on my 1903A4 above, it's the Birchwood Casey Stock Wax and the flash from my camera. It's actually a nice satin.

There are about 10 hand-rubbed coats of BLO on my No5Mk1 Jungle Carbine, a lot more open grain and less satin, but still quite correct for a military rifle:

http://mauser98.com/jc-3.jpg

Or, one can go past the military look and use about 30-35 coats, as on this 1906-vintage Remington Model 8:

http://mauser98.com/rem8-3.jpg

It's all up to what you want the end results to look like. I like BLO because it's straightforward, ages beautifully into a classic finish, and can be fixed easily if you ever garf it up in the woods.

There's an old adage about boiled linseed oil finishes on fine furniture and firearms:

"One coat per day for a week, one coat per week for a month, one coat per month for a year, and yearly then after."

I believe it, because the unique thing about a hand-rubbed Boiled Linseed Oil finish is that the Boiled Linseed Oil is NOT a surface coating like varnish, but rather penetrates the wood pores, bonds with the wood, and becomes part of the wood.

[308win]

There is a product called "Japan Drier" that you can add to Linseed Oil to speed the drying time. You need to be careful to 1. not use too much and rub it in rigorously and 2. allow plenty of drying time between coats and 3. 'cut the raised grain off with steel wool between coats as it will raise the grain. You should find Japan Drier at any paint store or store that sells refinishing products.

[HankB]

There is a product called "Japan Drier" that you can add to Linseed Oil to speed the drying time. BLO already has driers added to it, so in principle it doesn't need additional Japan drier. Raw linseed oil, on the other hand, may benefit by the addition of Japan drier.

[Cosmoline]

I hate polyurethane, and Birchwood Casey's Tru-Oil just plain looks cheap.

Ditto. Tru-Oil is for furniture, not for gun stocks. It always looks like a plastic goo to me. The depth and complexity you can bring out with ultra-thin hand rubbed layers of blo is impossible replicate with plastic compounds.

[Kingcreek]

I prefer to rub it in and buff with burlap- really heats it up.
I only use soft cotton cloth for the last couple coats.
as stated above- use OOOO steel wool to dewhisker if any fibers raise on the first couple coats.

[cracked butt]

I hate polyurethane, and Birchwood Casey's Tru-Oil just plain looks cheap.

Ditto. Tru-Oil is for furniture, not for gun stocks.

+1

I finished 1 gunstock with Tru-Oil and greatly regret it. It looks nice-in a polyurethane kind of way, but I've done dozens of stocks with BLO that look much better.

[chopinbloc]

so aside from increased drying time, are there any other drawbacks to using plain linseed oil? also, what can i do to get a really dark color?

[308win]

Linseed Oil will give you a dark finish from the number of coats plus over time it will oxidize and it will also pick up dust and dirt.

[KINGMAX]

My wife gave me a bottle of the following:

The NATCHEZ SOLUTION
PO BOX 4473
Brandon Mississippi 39047

Phone # 601 - 957 - 3732

WWW.natchezsolution.com

TRY IT - U WILL LIKE IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

[cracked butt]

My wife gave me a bottle of the following:

The NATCHEZ SOLUTION
PO BOX 4473
Brandon Mississippi 39047

I use a very similar product for the last coat called "Howards Feed and Wax" and have to agree, beeswax mixed with citrus oil makes for a beautiful finish.

[Lo.Com.Denom]

There was an excellent article in the 2001 Gun Digest on finishing with linseed oil. It involved a lot of sanding down with ascending grades of wet-or-dry paper and using lemon juice, egg-white and rubbing alcohol to fill the pores in the wood, rather than whiskering. I tried it on a load of dinged-up air rifles that a friend and I had bought. Never did quite get the "mirror finish" quoted in the book (probably due to my inexperience), but I did get some nice results on a Sheridan Bluestreak with an American Walnut stock.

[Gewehr98]

Linseed Oil will give you a dark finish from the number of coats plus over time it will oxidize and it will also pick up dust and dirt.

You'll get a yellowish hue that ages over time, the darkness depends on the stain used (if any) and species of wood you're putting the BLO on.

BTW, how does a BLO finish pick up dust and dirt when it's dried? Sure, it'll accumulate flying insects and dust during application, but that'll happen no matter what finish you're applying. That's why one has an old fridge with a muffin fan and air filter for drying the stock. After the finish has cured, it doesn't accumulate any more dust and dirt than any other stock finish. :scrutiny:

[Cosmoline]

BLO does get dark with age and develop a patina. It also picks up skin oils and dirt over time. This is how you can tell whether old military stocks have been refinished. If you don't want the finish to get dirty, you simply clean it off and do a fresh coat after the end of the season. No great mystery.

[DrDeFab]

+1 Tung oil

Excerpting from http://www.sydneywoodturners.com.au/site/articles/finishing/oils.html:

The high proportion of linolenic acid in nonconjugated oils (like Linseed oil), affects its drying characteristics. High concentrations of linolenic acid can result in rapid drying, yellowing and brittleness.

Conjugated oils like Tung oil, are considerably more reactive than nonconjugated oils (like Linseed oil). Conjugated double bonds favour polymerization and oxidation and dry more rapidly than nonconjugated oils. The resultant film offers a high resistance to yellowing and increased resistance to water and alkalies.

YMMV of course, and there may be specific reasons (e.g. authenticity) for using BLO. In general, though, Tung oil provides a more durable finish and requires fewer coats.

[308win]

Ahh, maybe because it is an oil finish and never dries? OTOH, you can apply the coats too closely together and get a nice gummy mess, ask me how I know? It will wear off over time and needs to be renewed. At least any piece of household funiture I ever refinished - oak, walnut, mahogany whatever that was ever used more than occasionally needed a coat every so often depending on the amount of use. :scrutiny:

Edited to add: And Japan Drier even though boiled Linseed Oil is used will speed the 'drying' time.

[308win]

Article (http://www.woodworking.com/wwtimes_oilfinish.cfm) on how to get a high sheen on oil finishes if that is your goal, short and sweet.

[RugerOldArmy]

Boiled linseed oil was around far longer than the last 100 years. It was pretty much a mainstay in traditional american longrifles. (Remember, in this era, flintlocks were pretty much the military state of the art for nearly 300 years.) Building old/replica flintlocks was pretty much my intro into guns, and you can still find some magnificent specimens of originals, with some of the best wood from the original old growth forests.

Back then, labor was cheap, and materials were the significant cost. The equation is reversed today.

The real beauty is the ease of repair. The greatest difficulty, at least for me, is keeping a dust free environment.

Tung oil dries faster, but doesn't seem to fill pores as well, and needs to be lightly buffed with degreased steel wool to take the shine down.

Great stuff, with great results, for the patient.

[Gewehr98]

Tung oil dries faster, but doesn't seem to fill pores as well, and needs to be lightly buffed with degreased steel wool to take the shine down.


I did about two rifles with tung oil, including one M1 Garand. (Supposedly the USGI finish for the rifle, although I've read they also got dipped in linseed oil)

Never could get the grain to fill as nicely as BLO.

Maybe I'm exceptionally patient, but all the rifles I've done over the last 15 years or so haven't shown signs of picking up crud and dirt on their BLO finishes. I do, however, work them to a hard finish when dry, and they usually get a rubdown with Birchwood Casey Stock Wax once cured, to protect and add a touch of lustre without excessive gloss.

[HankB]

I personally like tung oil . . . but note, most of what's out there is tung oil finish. So while it contains some tung oil, it may also contain varnish and who-knows-what. These will likely give the super-glossy finishes.

Also, as I look at my latest CMP M1 closely, I see the pores in the wood are not completely filled. No surprise - you think government arsenals went through a sanding, whiskering, and rubdown process when they were mass-producing gazillions of rifles for the army?

[Gewehr98]

My technical manuals for 5th echelon depot rebuild of M1 Garand rifles says the stocks got a dip in a tank of tung or linseed oil, then air-dried, no sanding, rubbing, or dewhiskering between multiple coats. My U.S. Navy Trophy Garand has a brand-new (1966) stock, and it's very evident that it got simply dipped and dried. I'll leave it that way for posterity, but my other Garands have nice satin finishes.