dull finish?

[frontier gander]

how can i get a dull finish on my rifle? I just spent 3-4 days on the stock for my cva mountain rifle, had it perfect and then buffed it lightly with 0000 steel wool.   Yup, cut right through the tru-oil and fudged my stock up in a few areas.  Now i have to restrip it and start off over again.  Besides boiled linseed oil, what other options are there?

I have plenty of tru oil left over, just no way of knowing how to dull it without cutting through the finish.

[Dphariss]

Mix your tru-oil about 50-50 with boiled linseed from the hardware store. This will soften it considerably.
The old oil finishes were not built up on the wood they were IN the wood.
For first coat cut with turpentine for better penetration if its not sealed.
Rub this back with 0000 every time till it looks right.
BUT it will polish form handling and get bright anyway.
Dan

[Bioprof]

Your problem is exactly why I quit using Tru-oil.   The last couple of rifles, I have used a 50:50 mixture of BLO and wiping varnish (Formby's Tung oil finish).   This mixture doesn't build up as fast as Tru-oil, and it dries a lot faster than BLO.

[jerrywh]

I only use true oil for filler coats. It dries too fast to work into a matte finish. Boiled linseed oil dries too slow. when you do this for money you can't wait all the time on a slow finish. for top coats I use Permalyn, dem-bart or Brownells old English stock finish. There is a trick to putting it on. I sand it on with 1000 or 2000 grit paper and then rub the stuff in with a piece of panty hose over my finger. Believe it or not the expensive panty hose works better than the cheap ones. No lint. When the oil is just right I wipe it in one direction with the panty hose.  It's a trick that takes practice but it will produce a perfect dull finish without rottenstone.
http://jwh-flintlocks.net/permalyn.jpg

[Birddog6]

I like Tru-Oil and have had good success with it.  You rubbed it too hard with the 0000 steel wool.  If you use steel wool to dull it you just barely bruse it with just the wool fluffed in your hand & No Pressure on it. 
What I do to dull it is put the Tru-Oil on & let it start to get tacky & then you brush your finger over it as it dries, and this takes allot of the gloss off.  Then when it is dry you take some Mothers Mag Wheel Polish paste & you rub the stock down with it & it takes that top shine off & gives a softer look. Never checked what was in it but probably rottenstone or something very fine.  Not dull finish afterwards, but more of a softer refined sheen to it. Works really well with stripes in maple.  If you have allot of carvings, you want to keep it out of there as the paste is white & hare to get back out. However a toothbrush will get it out, it just tastes a lil pastey later..   

[Curt Larsen]

I'm still partial to my old stand by of equal parts of turpentine, spar varnish, and linseed oil.  Rub down with 000 or 0000 steel wool between coats.  The turps keeps it thin enough to really soak into the grain and the spar varnish gives it some protection from ultraviolet light.

[Dphariss]

I'm still partial to my old stand by of equal parts of turpentine, spar varnish, and linseed oil.  Rub down with 000 or 0000 steel wool between coats.  The turps keeps it thin enough to really soak into the grain and the spar varnish gives it some protection from ultraviolet light.

Spar is a good choice as a mixer. I think you will find the pre-synthetic spar was linseed based it might still be to some extent.
If you use stains that are not photoreactive then UV protection becomes less important.
Your formula actually is pretty good, the addition of linseed overcomes some of the downsides of many varnishes.

Dan

[tg]

"I'm still partial to my old stand by of equal parts of turpentine, spar varnish, and linseed oil" 

I would agree the above makes a good sealer/finish I have ised it on several guns and it works very well. I think it is close to what Bivens used.

[Dennis Glazener]

2/3's Linseed oil mixed with 1/3 Turpentine and I add add a couple of drops of Japan Dryer. Keep rubbing into the wood until it won't take any more. Rub to suit yourself with 0000 steel wool or a piece of felt soaked in mineral oil and rottenstone. Works for me.

Or, and I prefer this, buy a can of Jim Chamber's oil finish and follow the directions. Then rub down as above.

Dennis

[Ohioan]

Chambers stuff is great.

It takes a lot less "fiddling" to get the results you desire.

[famouseagle]

Those linseed oil/turpentine formulas are interesting.  Some years back, a noted furniture designer and craftsman gave me his formula for, what he called, "1,2,3 Finish".  It's one part clear Spar Varnish, two parts Boiled Linseed Oil, and three parts Gum Turpentine.  To that mixture he specified a "dollop" of hard paste wax.

I have used it on a lot of wood products and it works great.  Also easy to repair.

[frontier gander]

i got lucky.  lastnight i put some tru oil on a light spot and it darkened it and now it blends in fine.   talk about luck.


i have a traditions kentucky that i plan on redoing and next time i WILL try  the chambers oil.  I always wanted to try it but no one could ever give me any info on it on a couple other sites. 

[frontier gander]

i spoke to soon!  Spent the entire day yesterday stripping the stock, sanding, whiskering, sanding, bleaching, sanding. 6 coats of BC walnut and then 2 coats dark walnut.  Now i have to put the first coat of tru oil on.

I thought i was ok until i took it outside to look in better light and  found all kinds of dull lines here and there from where the steelwool bit to deep.

[Joe S]

Scraping rather than sanding will give you a duller finish.  A scraped surface is irregular, and tends to scatter light rather than reflect it back evenly.

[Bob F]

I just finished doing a stock with Chambers.  Came out great and VERY easy to use.

[keweenaw]

For a dull finish, Dem-Bart stock and checkering oil is pretty hard to beat.  Put on thin coats and wipe out with paper towels before it gets too tacky.  No need to steel wool between coats (I never steel wool a finish).   Tried and True Danish oil applied the same way will give a great dull finish.  If you decide you want just a bit more finish on the surface after using the Danish oil, you can put on a coat or two of their original over top of the Danish oil. The original has lots of bees wax in it as well as the polymerizable linseed oil base.

If you have to strip a stock, there isn't any need to whisker it again.  Just use a methylene chloride based stripper and steel wool off the old finish to the wood.  Allow it to dry for a couple days to get all the residual methylene chloride fumes out.  Sand with 320 and go ahead and stain.

Tom

[Ron Scott]

You might consider  using a rubbing compound to adjust most any finish to the amount of sheen you desire. Brownells sells such compounds. You can purchase two grades of rubbing compounds from Ace Hardware. Or acquire rottenstone and pumice from your local paint dealer to make your own.