oil finishing a walnut stock

[thecapgunkid]

I just finished re-doing the walnut stock on the Pedersoli Jager Hunter I am customizing.  The wood did not seem all that bad for out of box, although there are a couple of soft spots doubtless hidden by the quality of the machine finishing at the factory.  I used medium brown Fiebings alcohol based shoe dye and then water to get the whiskering done.  It did not need a lot of that.

Then I took some minwax red chestnut and gave it a coat because I was not sure or capable concerning aqua fortis on walnut.  Sure enough, it darkened the original color of the gun, penetrated and buffed up smoothly when I ran it against the brush on my shoemaking rollers.  It is quite pleasing to look at and did not flinch when I rubbed a damp cloth up and down the gun and rollered it once again

Now I'd like to put an oil finish on it, and read through several posts but they all seem to be talking about maple rather than walnut. 

Is a linseed, boiled or unboiled a good one?  What about tung oil or the varnish variants of that?
Anything off the shelf that will justify a trip to Dixon's Muzzleloading store?

I am not looking for a museum piece here, but would like a nice finish on this gun because it tickles me for some reason.

Thanks, and,

Don't shoot yore eye out, kid

The Capgun KId

[Hungry Horse]

 First off, if you didn't strip the stock, with a serious paint, or epoxy,  stripper, the shoe dye will remain on the surface, and wipe of with only a little handling, since most Italian guns have a sealer on them that is nearly bulletproof. A hard finish will protect it for a while, but quite soon that to will wear off too, and expose the colorant to wear.
 For an oil finish I like linseed oil,( for one stock I buy the good stuff sold at art supply stores in small bottles) mixed with a little turpentine, and applied hot,and heavy, until the wood won't take any more. I then wipe it down and put it up for a week or more (depending on the ambient air temperature, and humidity)I then hand rub in a mixture of linseed oil, turpentine, and bees wax, all brewed up together hot and then left to cool into a soft paste. 

                 Hungry Horse

[thecapgunkid]

Thanks, Horse.

Yeah, I stripped it and sanded it and spent a lot of time making sure I was dealing with wood alone.  IN fact, there's some good advice to anybody using shoe dye for anything....enough rain and it'll run and enough sun and it'll fade.  The art store oil you buy is raw oil...right?  Do you use a proportion of oil to turps?

Thanks

Capgun

[E.vonAschwege]

Capgun,
    If you've sanded the stock back to bare wood and had stain penetrate, then you're probably good to apply a new finish.  I use either true artist grade linseed oil that I've then boiled myself or some varnish variant of that.  Behlin tung oil thinned 20% (give or take) and a couple drops of Japan drier is a good oil finish as well - then there are variants of tung oil with a little poly mixed in (waterlox, pro-custom, etc.).  Chambers oil is a great off the shelf oil as well.   Stay away from minwax products or anything available at home cheapot.  Please don't use unboiled raw linseed oil from a hardware store, even if it says "great for gunstocks". 
-Eric

[Hungry Horse]

 My experience is that Fiebing's is not very sun resistant. I use Lincoln's which is much better, but be aware it is much more heavily concentrated, and may need to be thinned with a little alcohol.


                   Hungry Horse

[smart dog]

Hi Capgun,
Currently, my favorite finishes for hardwoods including walnut, are Tried and True Oil-Varnish and Sutherland-Welles polymerized tung oil.  T&T is a polymerized linseed oil and varnish finish which dries quickly and offers a nice mellow finish.  S-W polymerized tung oil is also just as easy to apply and dries within 5-6 hours and can give you any finish (low sheen-glossy) that you want.  It is also very weather resistant.  Both products will fill walnut grain very well using multiple thin coats.  With respect to the tung oil, I am not referring to raw oil, Formby's tung oil finish, or Minwax's tung oil finish.  Polymerized tung oil (as well as polymerized linseed oil) are heated by the manufacturer to radically speed up the oil curing process.  Both S-W and T&T can be thinned with turps or mineral spirits to apply first as a sealer, then uncut oil rubbed in as top coats.

dave  

[thecapgunkid]

Well, that's some great feedback...Hungry and Smart...sounds like a great hunting combination.

As I stated, I only use the Fiebings as my first coat to whisker.  That way, with a follow on with water, I have learned that it picks up scratches and recesses better.

I'm also gonna toss my Formbys and try Dog's suggestion.

Thanks, fellas and,
Don't shoot yore eye out, kid

The Capgun Kid

[smart dog]

Hi Capgun,
Formby's tung oil finish is a wiping varnish, not an actual oil finish.  It contains refined derivitives from tung oil but no actual oil.  Having said that, it is not a bad finish at all.  However, I find that it does not penetrate nearly as well as S-W polymerized tung oil or T&T oil-varnish.

Good luck,

dave

[JB2]

Hi Capgun!  I don't have any suggestions, but hope you'll post pics of the results from your efforts.  I'm ready to finish the stock on an older Pedersoli SxS kit that may ( or may NOT) have similar European walnut stock, and I'm interested on how yours finishes up. 

Thanks

[thecapgunkid]

http://http://s1370.photobucket.com/user/thecapgunkid/media/Runt_zps03882f4e.jpg.html?o=16

The best I can do.  Haven't the vaguest about how to post photos.  My Bad

[smart dog]

Hi Capgun,
Nice.  My preference would be to rub a few more coats on to bring up a higher sheen, but if you wanted a low "in the wood" oil look, you got it.

dave

[Dphariss]

I think you will find that in various tung oil products that they use mineral spirits for a thinner. In the Sutherland-Welles it appears 50-80% depending on the version used. This is just more hardware grade finish for the masses to put on a chair. It has poor filling ability as do all these heavily thinned finishes. But they are "easy to use" which in the context of a guns stock is not true they are HARDER to use unless only used as a sealer. A heavy bodied oil will fill wood much faster and with far less labor and virtually no inhalation of toxic solvents.
Tried and True is closer to original finishes but I wonder at the "indoor use only" labels?  Which unless the beeswax or some other natural additives has some undesirable properties I don't understand this. Linseed Oil with a moderate amount of soft resin is pretty good outdoors and Linseed oil cooked with driers does better than many if not all modern synthetics.
Dan

[Chuck Burrows]

Tried and True is closer to original finishes but I wonder at the "indoor use only" labels?

It's known as Cover Your Butt........

Based on the Mad Monk's advice for oil finishes use seedlac as a sealer first then use a Linseed Oil Varnish (the why has been discussed here on ALR) - I've had good luck with T & T's oil varnish for years even in the VERY wet Pacific NW as well as here in the very dry SW. It's a bit softer than I prefer so I add a bit more rosin - I use locally procured pinyon pine rosin, but you can purchase various rosins/resins such as mastic from several vendors. To add the additional rosin either heat the T & T - it does not need to boil but get hot enough to melt/absorb the rosin or you can dissolve the rosin in Pure Gum Turpentine (I use artist grade) and add to the T & T - I use the thinned version for the first few coats and build it up.

[Nate McKenzie]

Looks good to me.

[Flint62Smoothie]

I like Arm-R-Seal wiping varnishes by General Finishes, for walnut. I've done a few English walnut single shot cartridge stocks that look to die for with it ...

[smart dog]

I think you will find that in various tung oil products that they use mineral spirits for a thinner. In the Sutherland-Welles it appears 50-80% depending on the version used. This is just more hardware grade finish for the masses to put on a chair. It has poor filling ability as do all these heavily thinned finishes. Dan

Dan,
You have obviously never used Sutherland-Welles polymerized tung oil.

dave

[Dphariss]

I think you will find that in various tung oil products that they use mineral spirits for a thinner. In the Sutherland-Welles it appears 50-80% depending on the version used. This is just more hardware grade finish for the masses to put on a chair. It has poor filling ability as do all these heavily thinned finishes. Dan

Dan,
You have obviously never used Sutherland-Welles polymerized tung oil.

dave

You DID see my post stating its 50-65% mineral spirits?

Since I don't recreate (name of WW-II era modern firearm deleted) I see no point in using Tung Oil.

Dan