Question re: Finish

[Vomitus]

  I went to our local weekly practice shoot today. Lots of snow on the ground,light rain to start off the morning,steady rain an hour later. Needless to say I/we got soaked. When I got back to my vehicle,I wiped off the wet wood with a soft paper towel. To my surprise,the finish came off with the water on the stock.It looks like it rubbed off right to the stain. The satin finish is gone.My wipe rag is brown. Any idea what to do? Should I wax it and live with the results or...?

[Long Ears]

I'm betting this will be a good one. Good ol oil finish. They just don't seal well IMHO. I use a Permalyn finish and stone back the shine. It really seals the wood. I'm sure there will be many that disagree with me. Bob

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Which rifle Roy?  ...squirrel, smoothie, or Jones?  Or was it the Beck?

[LynnC]

Must have been water soluable oil

Man, I'm sorry to hear that LB

I use double boiled oil and don't have that kind of trouble

[Jim Kibler]

For durability, there isn't much that beats Permalyn in my opinion.

[Acer Saccharum]

....or could have been acid rain.

[Long Ears]

Tom, you may have something there. I heard United Airlines purchased a bunch of ground in Canada for "Carbon Credits". Maybe Leatherbelly was in that area when they dumped it? Or maybe I'm a little confused on the whole Carbon Credit thing.  Bob

[Vomitus]

Taylor, it's the .54 Jones. Considerably lighter in color now. The rain just washed off the satin finish right back to the stain.Bugga!
  I had a New Englander SB do the same.Leached red finish all over everything when it was wet with water.Fixed it with some German auto wax.Veg based,it's called "Zymol". Might try it on this gun unless something better arises.
 Tom, lol!

[Vomitus]

  Sacre bleu!
 Yes,I think I may go with a permalin finish next.(or only shoot in the summer.NOT!)Adverse weather here in the north by northwest.From hot,which isn't bad,to rain,sleet,snow,slush,ice,freezing cold to hot again. I shoot once a week or more in all these conditions. Hope I can cure this.(the wood,that is)

[mjm46@bellsouth.net]

  I went to our local weekly practice shoot today. Lots of snow on the ground,light rain to start off the morning,steady rain an hour later. Needless to say I/we got soaked. When I got back to my vehicle,I wiped off the wet wood with a soft paper towel. To my surprise,the finish came off with the water on the stock.It looks like it rubbed off right to the stain. The satin finish is gone.My wipe rag is brown. Any idea what to do? Should I wax it and live with the results or...?

What finishing material did you have on this rifle? I usually use Chambers traditional oil, I hope it wasn't that.

[Vomitus]

  Mike,
 I bought a "closet queen" from a friend.Been stowed away since 1990. Not sure what G.L.Jones used for a finish.It's a good shooter.Nice looking gun also.Good parts,no complaints.Probably just have to live with it.Whatever the finish was,it didn't like water.

[Hungry Horse]

Boiled linseed oil doesn't seal the wood, without some sort of wax, or varnish, being added, to the final few hand rubbed coats. I like bees wax, but I have heard other finish materials serve as well. Even with the wax/oil finish, if you stay out in the rain, or snow, for extended periods of time, with gloves, or mittens, you will scrub the finish off.
 Hard maple stocks that aren't stained with some sort of acid will let the finish and color rub off in foul weather.


                   Hungry Horse

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

My experience with AF is so far very limited, but so far, I really like it.  All other stains, including LMF stains and Fiebing's are fragile and temporary.  AF changes the colour of the wood itself and apart from minimal wear, it seems to be permanent, no matter what it is subjected to.  As to finishes, that's the second part of this subject.  Permalyn is very difficult to get here in the Great White North since 9/11...makes a lot of sense, eh?  So I use tung oil and like it a lot.  Other than that, straight bees wax melted into the wood and burnished has proven too, to be impervious to weather, and can be touched up and added - to, at any time.  The quest goes on...

[Rootsy]

I've been using Tried & True Varnish Oil (been discussed in other threads) for the last 6 or so guns I've done, including my own hunting rifle.  All Maple or Walnut stocks and the Maple has been colored with AF.  I generally apply 8 coats of this oil and add a dab of Japan hardener to it.  Thus far, on my own gun it is holding up very well and I have not seen any spots or degradation of the finish.  I hunted with it all of November and December 2011 after finishing it in early September and I was worried the finish would be too "young" and I would see some damage.  Much of that time period in the woods was snow and rain.  Surprisingly it looks as good as the day I finished it.  I will be hunting with it again this year beginning a week from this Thursday.

[Blackpowder Barbie]

We use our own Traditional Oil finish on all the hardwood floors in the house.  If it can stand up to foot traffic, cat claws, and puppy pee I can assure you that the gun in question was not seal with our product!

[rich pierce]

Wow, doing floors must take a lot of those little cans!   

[Blackpowder Barbie]

Wow, doing floors must take a lot of those little cans!   

And lots of those tiling knee pads to hand rub it in!   

[Acer Saccharum]

Off Topic!

[PPatch]

oFf ToPiC!

Yeah but... Leatherbelly done admitted he has no idea what finish that rifle had on it so what else we gonna talk on? Me, I'm measureing the SQ FT'age of me floors and figuring out how many little cans I got to order. I mean, we's still talking "Finish" here...   

Hummm... looks like I best order in bulk!

Dave
 

[Acer Saccharum]

I think if you open a dealership you might get a better rate. 

[Vomitus]

  I think I need to get some mileage outta this smoke pole before I tear it down and strip it down to the bone.The stain looks ok. I'm going to wax it and see what prevails.My greatest fear is that it will look muddy.Thanks all.

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

You might try wiping it with denatured alcohol in some unobtrusive spot and see what you get. Perhaps wiping it down thoroughly before waxing might help both appearance and waterproofing..... I would use Renaissance Wax... but car wax will work too... The after the season you can redo it anyway you want...

[Acer Saccharum]

Once waxed, you may not be able to put Chamber oil on top the wax(oh, forget it, you can't get that in Canada) I could ship some in a scotch bottle ( I have a lot of empties) ( I also finished my floor with scotch, or did a lot of crawling around, anyway)

[Acer Saccharum]

It's way too easy to get Off Topic! around here. Cut that out, Boone, Acer, Barbie and Pierce.

[Blackpowder Barbie]

I swear I was not being OFF TOPIC - this time!!     Shame on you Acer!  Bad, bad boy!  Heeheehee!