to refinish or not...

I'd strip it and refinish in either oil rub (which can be made to appear gloss, but it takes a lot of work), or clear coat of some sort in gloss, as you prefer

i would strip it, then use boiled linseed oil with about 5 coats. we need pics.

Pics please and I’d redo it!

As a woodworker, I should mention that boiled linseed oil will darken over time. Tung oil does not. Just my 2 cents.

I was given an old Marlin .22 that had been in a basement for 15-20 yrs. The stock was intact but the finish was rough. I stripped it and then applied 5 coats of Tru-Oil. It took about 3 coats before it started to look like I was doing something, but after 5 it looked great. Someone advised me to dilute the first two coats with mineral spirits to help the Tru-Oil penetrate but I don't know if it made that much difference. However after three more full strength coats it looked great.

A lot of the old rifles have a very good stain along with lots of "history" dings in the woodwork. I'd take it down to the original stain and see what it looks like. If it has "personality", I'd go with a low gloss oil finish. JP's Tru-Oil is a good one. I used it on several of my woodwork restore jobs.

I would strip it and spray it with Minwax Helmsman spar

Tru-oil is great. Really thin coats with a good steel wool working over in between and as many coats as you can stand doing.

mainecoon said:

I have a '50s era FN Mauser Sporter in a matte finish. Underneath is some walnut that is just dying to be set free by a nice coat of gloss. So go for it and strip it down to bare wood, or leave well enough alone?

Click to expand...

It would be nice to see some "as is" pictures of what your stock looks like now. It's awfully hard to argue with using Tru Oil as it's been around forever, it seems. One draw back with Tru oil is, it has an amber color to it and can diffuse some of the natural color involved with a nice looking wood stock. A big plus though is, it will penetrate into the wood and harden the surface up to help prevent dents in the stock from use. For a clear surface finish, spray lacquer will bring out grain and color very nicely.
I use a product called Permalyn, which is also an amber ( due to tung oil in it ) colored product that will penetrate into the wood and harden up the surface. I strive for an in-the-wood finish, especially when checkering is involved and the surface finish is much easier to touch up, should that need arise: