Thickened boiled linseed oil that I recook myself.
I have done well over 100 filled American walnut stocks and this works the best of anything I tried. And I tried a lot of stuff.
Will fill walnut in 3-4 coats in 2-4 days if used right.
Dan
How thick shoud it be?
BHB
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It will work fine when its virtually too thick to pour. Dip a finger in it and a long gooey string of oil will come up with the oil on the finger.
I leave a pint or quart in my finish drawer with a rag over the top so it thickens for "fill oil". It will develop a thick wrinkly skin than has to be broken through to get oil out.
I put it on heavy (on uncarved walnut) and put the stock in the sun. Hot summer days I can do 2 coats a day.
Take it back with 0000 steel wool when its just dry enough to allow this.
The primary problem with people using BLO is they don't understand the process or what the oil is supposed to be in order to actually work.
I used to do "hand rubbed" filled finishes on walnut for a living, I have tried a great many things. I would NEVER, EVER go back to fillers, or wet sanding or varnishes etc etc for this purpose its just to darned much work,the fumes are awful etc etc.
I seal with thinner oil mixed with aged turpentine (left exposed to air in a shallow dish for 2-3 days). OR mix with Grumbachers Oil painters Medium III about 50-50 or a little less medium and the turp. Put in the sun all day.
Next day.
Thick oil smeared on pretty heavy put in sun till it is gummy enough to not smear when steel wooled. It will look UGLY when its ready to take back. To the wood. When its filled top coat with the Grumbacher mix till it shines since there may still be dull spots. The rotten stone and oil back to wood and put in one more microscopic coat just enough for shine.
Carved walnut just rub the heavy oil on hard then carefully wipe it off working cross grain till there is no surface build up just in the pores. Let dry and repeat.
Maple use 400-600 for final grain raising. Do 5-6 grain raisings starting with something like 220 or 320 on the flat areas, finer on the carving (very carefully). Graduate to the finer grits as the fibers raise less and less. Final sand with 600 till the wood is SHINEY with no finish and nothing raises when its wet.
NOW stain it and apply finish. There is NO REASON to "rub out" maple after its stained. It invariably looks like this as done.
If this is done right 2 coats of finish are all that needed, a seal coat, all the wood will possibly soak up and then the excess wiped off in 30 minutes or so. Then a shine coat or maybe 2. Let the final coat set 2 days then rub with your hand or a soft cloth.
The above processes WILL NOT WORK with modern runny, clear, plastic finishes, nor will it work with "tung oil varnish". They will not work with TRU-OIL it will not work with Lin-speed.
Both these last are oil varnishes, probably the cheapest thing they can make, and dry too hard and fast to be workable.
Modern HARD FINISHES ARE NOT NEEDED nor are they even desirable.
Now EVERYONE figures wood finishing out in a way that works for them. BUT you cannot do a traditional finish with Permalyn or other plastics using modern dyes for stains. Its not how it was done. It is very difficult to get the stock to look right using this stuff. It can be done but when I read of staining the stock with 3-4 colors and then using 15-30 coats of finish I really start to wonder how exactly this stuff is better than AF stain and boiled oil or shop made oil varnish which is easier to use.
Don't get into the furniture finish thing either. Put a traditional hard varnished piece of furniture in the back yard for a couple of months and see how it looks. I can put the oils I make on a piece of maple and lay it on a concrete block in the back yard for months through fall and winter and it never changes. I did this as a test of the Grumbacher mix . It did not crack or chip or peal or much of anything it aged a little but it was not damaged. Most modern finishes will fail in weeks. Gunstocks were not finished like furniture or musical instruments since the use was different. Nobody sets out in the rain with a violin all morning waiting for a deer.
Said too much already.
Dan
