Gun Stock Finishing Question

[The_Pretender]

Hello-

Wanted to put this out where more eyes could see it.

What would be the better type of finish to put on a stock?

I see the oils, (birchwood casey, tung, linseed) and I look at the polyurethanes. Wanted to know what would be best for a nice protective gloss on a rifle stock?

I was leaning towards polyurethane. Any reasons to not?

 

[jcwit]

Oil finishes are much easier to repair if you damage "scratch" the finish. Poly finish not so much, in fact very hard compared to to a rub on oil finish.

I'd stay away from a boiled linseed oil finish, doesn't give much protection from moisture and takes forever to dry. I've just finished staining and finishing new stocks for our American Legion Color Guard. Because of lack of room I'm only able to do 2 stocks at a time. I'm using MinWax stain called Gunstock #231, and for a finish MinWax Antique Oil Finish. The Antique Finish is applied in the same matter as Tru-Oil and is much the same. I only apply 3 coats as we do not want a bright shiny finish, however thats easily possible with a couple of extra coats. Any way from staining to finish they are all done in 2 to 3 days. Excellent moisture resistance and very easy to do. Tru-Oil is just as good I just use the MinWax as its cheaper in the quart size.

With the above method you can get a finish from almost flat to very high gloss, you just stop when the gloss is what you want.

I have no experience with Tung Oil, henceforth no comment.

Remember if you use Poly and scratch it, its almost a sand down and start over.

 

[josh...just josh]

tru oil is easy to apply and looks awesome!!

 

[jimmyraythomason]

I vote Tru-oil as well but I have used (and like very much) Brownell's Professional Finish,it is a Polyurethane/oil blend. It is a fantastic,hard finish. It can be very glossy or (as I do) softened with a felt pad and rottenstone for a satin finish.

 

[Uhrmacher]

I just did my first stock refinishing job a few weeks ago on a Mosin and I used MinWax satin poly (the paint on stuff, not wipe on). Maybe I'm just incompetent but I had a pretty difficult time getting the poly to go on evenly. The stock ended up looking ok after some quality time with 0000 steel wool but I would probably try something else if I were to do it again. A wipe on oil seems like it would be much easier to apply.

 

[NVMM]

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=240961

 

[bushmaster1313]

Sandpaper, steelwool and Tru-Oil:

 

[Utah_Jay]

I recently refinished an old Romanian SKS. I thought it would be a good gun to practice on. It turned out really well. I used Minwax from home depot. There is a finish called "gunstock" and I liked to look of it so that is what I went with. I fine sanded the entire stock. Wiped it down with mineral spirits and stained it twice. Then 2 coats of polyurethane. Looks great.

I have seen other stocks rubbed down with tung oil then coated with polyurethane and they look real nice as well. There are several ways to go about refinishing a stock.

 

[MarkDozier]

I did my mosin with danish oil for the base coat and then wipe on poly for the protection. It took 3 weeks to complete
2 hours to do the stain, A week to "dry" and the about 5 days of 2 coats, very very thin coats of wipe on ploy. I let it curre for another week.
It is nice.

 

[inclinebench]

I would hazzard to say that what your want to do with this gun should dictate the finish you want to use. If this is a gun that you will be using hard and exposing to the elements, then I would suggest a good polyurethane or even epoxy resin. If this is one you want to baby and have looking good when you take it to the range, I would suggest some of the nice oil finishes, I am a big fan of Danish oil. If you want a truck gun, that will see some bumps and bruises, I might suggest a boiled linseed oi/beeswax concoction. The nice thing about this is when you get scratches or rubs, you can usually buff them out easily and if they get real bad, you can reapply easily, and with great results. The linseed/beeswax combo is also nice because you can buff it to an amazing sheen, or rough it to a low luster satin finish.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

If this is one you want to baby and have looking good when you take it to the range, I would suggest some of the nice oil finishes,

Don't underestimate the toughness of properly applied oil.

 

[jcwit]

Quote:
If this is one you want to baby and have looking good when you take it to the range, I would suggest some of the nice oil finishes,

Don't underestimate the toughness of properly applied oil.


And the ease of repair in case the iinevitable actually does happen.

I've noticed alot of comments about Tru-Oil, it very good stuff, the Antique Oil Finish is virtually the same and is applied the same way. Just available in qt. cans instead of little bottles. And I may add more reasonable priced.

 

[MichaelK]

I've refinished two Mauser stocks myself. The first was with Tru-oil, and the second with Tung oil I got at home Depot. Looks like the quality of the finish was about the same, but in all honesty, the Tru-oil was so pretty I always show off that one first.

 

[rondog]

Hard to beat this stuff. http://www.fairtrimmers.com/

 

[straitnate14]

thats a good looking 37 bushmaster, how much work was it to take off the old finish? I got 2 37's that i'm thinking about doing this to