Need Advice on Finishing my Wood Stock

[joshb]

Can you not remove the butt pad until you've finished the stock?

Keep going. Raise the grain (ethanol alcohol 75% / water 25% or oxalic acid solution; soak and hit with heat gun) and then sand again. Work carefully and meticulously rather than 'mechanically'. Keep going until 2000 grit. The wood will develop a slight sheen. You can't do too much of this. The final buffering can be done with a chamois and finishing oil.

Trust me. It is far easier to work with paper than to fix issues with finish.

Working with a finishing oil/sandings slurry too early is a bit of a waste of time. In order for that to be effective you need the oil to 'dry' and set the sawdust in the grain. That requires leaving the oil base (typically linseed oil) to rigidify. Even with drying agents that's a 5-6 hour turnaround at least. If you don't wait, the next step can pull the dust out of the grain. In the time it takes for one application to set, you could have that wood as smooth as a baby's bottom and have less to manage with finishing oil.

He’s already oiled it. Wet sanding and letting it dry is the way to go. Leave the pad on or it won’t match up later. It’s easy to clean up when you’re done.

 

[CjC73]

Yep....just applied another coat with 800 and palm rubbed it for 5-10 min.

 

[SGK]

Buy some rottenstone and mix it into your slurry. Far more effective than just the sanding residue.

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[SGK]

As you work, contemplate this from my visit to Purdey's store in London last week (VAT is 20%; the GPB:USD exchange rate is 1.21).

 

[SGK]

Buy some rottenstone and mix it into your slurry. Far more effective than just the sanding residue.

Johnson's Baby Powder (Calcium carbonate) works as well

 

[joshb]

My goodness! I think I see pores on that Purdey!?!

 

[SGK]

Yes! And the others (there weren't many) had some scratches. I did point that out. Apparently, they are 'finished' after sale although most people spending the money being asked - this was, by far, the most expensive - have guns made to order and fit with a 1-2 year wait. I couldn't believe the ticket price on that one.

 

[Jonnyofalltrades]

Nice piece of wood. Too bad about the finish....

 

[SGK]

It wasn't fully finished

Anyway, CjC73 sorry to distract from your project.

 

[CjC73]

It wasn't fully finished

Anyway, CjC73 sorry to distract from your project.

No worries...quite the price tag for sure.

Been putting a coat on every day. I'll be sanding it with 1000 or 1500 today

 

[SGK]

Good stuff. I just cut back the finish on my project yet again. Trying to work out the divots from the remaining open grain areas. Should have been more focused and careful much earlier on. As your finish begins to build on the surface don't be afraid to cut it back with 0000 steel wool or 2500 grit paper and a little BLO (as a lubricant). Get the foundation right and you'll have a better result.

 

[CjC73]

 

[SGK]

Hey CjC73, I took this video in case I ever do a writeup of my attempt at a traditional slacum finish including making the slacum itself (not sure if anyone would find this interesting). I thought I'd post it here as it shows the issue I was talking about above when open grain isn't addressed fully early on. Watch around the rightmost highlight when I roll the stock to the second side. (You may have to open it in a larger screen in Youtube. Sorry for the poor focus initially.) You'll see the small divots remaining in the finish. This is despite driving copious amounts of rottenstone into the stock. The only way to fix these is to cut back the finish and then rebuild it again, and perhaps cut it back again until those areas (of which I have several on one side of the stock) are evened out.

So keep cutting your finish back with high grade sandpaper or 0000 steel wool until these are all completely gone. At some point you will want to do this 'in the finish' rather than by cutting the wood again. The end finish depends on its foundation.

 

[CjC73]

Cutting it back? What's that mean?

 

[SGK]

Sanding (either with say 2500 or 3000 grit, which I prefer, or 0000 wool and some BLO). At some point soon, eg at 2000 grit (as you go up the paper grades there's less sandings in your slurry), you are going to stop sanding the wood and simply apply your oil, let it go tacky and then rub it all off leaving just a trace film on the wood surface and some in the grain. A film of rigidified oil will begin to form, layer upon layer, on the wood surface. If all your grain isn't completely filled in by then (you missed the opportunity to bring the grain up during sanding and are relying on the slurry of sanding dust and oil to fill the grain) that surface finish will continue to build and the grain areas will lag behind. You can keep driving a filler such as rottenstone into the remaining grain to help your oil. Now you're working 'in the finish' rather than 'in the wood' (so-to-speak). Don't be afraid to sand/cut the finish back a bit every now and then (no need to go back to the wood) to even out the remaining grain marks. Of course if you are happy with residual grain showing in your finish then you need not bother.

 

[TTE]

I couldn't believe the ticket price on that one.

A long time ago, the owner of BOSS said he would give be a smokin' deal on a working SxS when he saw my Westley Richards.
I had to respectively decline as I didn't have a $100k then (or now) for a rifle.

 

[SGK]

Example of my lack of attention to detail early on leading to problems later.

First pic, after grain raising and sanding to 2500 grit. (The dent not highlighted was steamed out but was still a problem. It looked smooth after steaming and sanding but later a very small piece fell out!)
Second pic, after several coats of slacum and rottenstone.
Third pic, now cutting back the finish (again) with 3000 grit still chasing the problem. Not cutting the wood but rather removing a fine layer of finish.

 

[CjC73]

this is about 5 coats I think. drying really slow. had to move it upstairs to expedite drying.

 

[SGK]

Still sanding? It's hard to see from those pics but I suspect you still have a lot of grain to fill.

It takes weeks for a drying oil like linseed oil to fully rigidify. Arrow Oil will have driers in it but even then it may takes hours just to get to a tacky state. Make sure no excess is left sitting on the wood. Make sure everything is wiped off before setting it aside to harden a little.

I haven't used Arrow Oil (and wouldn't - just not what I'd want to use) but after I had fully sanded my stock and started applying my slacum it took about 8 applications before it even began to settle on the wood surface. It just soaked all in. That's the benefit of a proper oil finish - the finish runs about 1/4" into the wood. Slowly after that with the settling on the surface, waiting or it to go tacky and then wiping it all off before it hardens, fine layer upon fine layer builds.

 

[CjC73]

wet sanded with the oil til 1000 grit. now just straight oil rubbed on by hand. And yes, using Arrow oil.