Refinishing

[Dr.Rob]

So before I get to restoring/cleaning Grandpa Collins old rifle and hanging it on the wall I figured I had better start on something less.. well of an heirloom.

So my brother, being somewhat gullible and owning a well worn '70s vintage Savage 110B (that I used to own) offered me a chance to refinish his rifle first. (Lots of chipped, flaking varnish)

After 3 applications of orange - based varnish stripper I have the stock down to bare nicely grained walnut. Later this week I'll be ironing out the dents, and applying a linseed oil finish.

Pics to follow.

 

[Elarski]

Sounds like a fun project. We will await the pics of your progress.

 

[Dr.Rob]

After a lot of stripper and scrubbing. You can see that I had the stock shortened when I was younger. There are a couple of dark spots in the wood that don't want to buff out and I'm reluctant to sand... the inside of the stock got rather "gummy" as the varnish there had pooled and was kind of a pain to remove.

Sorry in my haste I forgot to take a 'before" pic.

 

[Dr.Rob]

Update...

After two coats of turpentine/boiled linseed oil mix. The wood is showing nice color, but darkening over all.

What do you think? (Excuse the mess in the garage.)

 

[Dr.Rob]

Let's try that again.

 

[SteelyDan]

Dang! It's already the best looking Savage wood I've ever seen, and I'm dead serious. I've thought about buying a Savage dozens of times, for the obvious reasons, but the "ugly factor" always stopped me (I know it shouldn't matter, but it does). Your photo is a wake-up call for what is possible, not only for Savages but also for some other uglies I've got. Especially since I'm almost done building my first workbench (probably the most over-engineered product ever created), and workbench=new projects.

Why did you use linseed oil instead of Tung?

Cool, new projects on the horizon.

 

[Dr.Rob]

Five coats of boiled linseed oil/turpentine mix, adding back linseed each time for the missing turp. This allows the finish to get into the wood rather than ON it. Each time I heated the mixture over a candle until it bubbled.

My dad used this method to polish up the stockon a Marlin 39A a long time ago.

I'm going to let it sit for a few days, soak in and see if I want to do another coat. It's three am and time for bed.

Pics to follow.

 

[Red Neck64]

Dr .Rob the wood looks grate,will you be blueing the steel also?

 

[Jaywalker]

John Barsness, the writer, opines that his concerns of various stock refinishes are that the linseed-soaking in variety look great, but don't protect well, while the urethane-type coatings protect, but don't promote the looks of the wood. Have you found that to be true?

Jaywalker

 

[Kaylee]

oooh -- pretty!!!

 

[Brian Williams]

I have found that tung oil does not soak in or wipe off like Boiled linseed oil doesit needs to be rubbed in fairly hard. Tung oil needs to have a hardener or something similar to that concept to seal or polymerize the tung oil or it stays "gummy". That said I really like to use a product called Waterlox, particularly the Marine version for a wood gunstock. IIRC Boiled linseed oil will polymerize in wood and other semi-porous materials. It will seal and prevent moisture from entering the material.

Jaywalker you are correct that boiled linseed oil will not protect from dings and scratches, because it develops no surface finish like a urethane or varnish finish, but if you scratch or dent a boiled linseed oil finish a little time with either an iron to lift a dent or sandpaper to remove a scratch and a few applications of some more boiled linseed oil and you have a nice looking stcok again. If you scratch a "top coat" finish like urethane or varnish you will have to refinish the whole stock to get a matched finish.

A lot of surface finishes protect the wood by staying on top and providing a layer of finish to keep the wood nice, Boiled linseed oil soaks in and protects the wood it self by sealing and filling the wood.

 

[cdbeaver]

Prfesser, you're right about tung oil needing to be rubbed in--hard. This winter I refinished the stock on my Beretta Silver Snipe and rubbed in eight (that's 8) coats of Birchwood Casey tung oil, let the stock dry at least two days between each applications and finished it off with some B-C stock wax.

I'm happy with the results.

 

[Kestrel]

What is Tru-oil?

Also, will boiled linseed oil seal the wood against absorbing moisture?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Dr.Rob]

As tested in this afternoon's rain, yes rain just beads up on the surface.

Before my brother sees it, here's a peek.

 

[Dr.Rob]

And the other side...

Nice figuring in this old piece of wood.

 

[six 4 sure]

Looks great. I think I might try that with a Mod 70 that needs some work. Did you start with a 50/50 mix and then add the BLO to keep a constant “original†volume?

 

[mlheppl]

Nice job on the stock! Projects like this are why I love wood stocks.

 

[Dr.Rob]

Yes I started with a 50/50 mix, did two thin coats, then added back the missing volume with BLO, my final mix was like 3/1 BLO to Turp.

My brother likes it!

Next project: Grandpa Collins squirrel rifle.