Boning

[DutchGramps]

The father of a friend of mine served before and during WW2 in the USMC. He told me that the stocks of their 'parade' rifles had to be oiled and 'boned' with a cow bone rib, provided free of charge from the kitchen. After a light oiling (he didn't know what kind of oil it was, must have been some kind of linseed concoction) the wood was rubbed with that bone until it gleamed to the satisfaction of the sarge.
Any thoughts about this?
Hans

[T*O*F]

Gramps,
It's a method that has been used by many over time.  Boning is merely burnishing the wood with a smooth hard object.  It compresses the wood and seals the pores, in the same manner that one does when burnishing metal.  Any smooth-polished, hard object can be used...bone, antler, hardwood, steel rod, etc.

[okieboy]

 Gramps, there actually are bone smoothing toolscomercially available, I have seen some in large craft stores, referred to as "folders" for people working with paper.
 If you want to make a tool or anything else from bone, the best bone material can be had from your pet store in the dog treat section. Bone is very hard and very brittle, it is much worse to work with than ivories. It saws OK and takes a beautiful polish, but does not file well and is absolutely destructive to drill bits. It does sand well.
 I got it in my head that I had to have a bone charger and finally completed the one you see here, but it has cured me of wanting to do very much with bone.

[Mike R]

I use an antler tine for boning. I learned this from an old time gunsmith many years ago.