Need help with my stock refinish!

[Tesoro]

I have a field grade walnut Sako stock. Hated the 1978 bolwing pin finish so I stripped it and prepped it for a more satin finish. It is a lighter wood so I stained it with 50/50 dark and light walnut minwax to get ot more to my taste. The original plan was to wet sand in the tru-oil tp fill pores but then I realView attachment 1333994ized that if I do that will sand thru the stain layer and make blotches. So I decided to cut tru oil 75/25 with mineral spirits and a few drops of japan and apply, Then 000 sand and re-apply. But after a few coats I can see this aint gonna work filling the pores!! And I'm not gonna do this 50x. So what to do??
The only thing I can think of is to re-sand down to bare wood, removing the stain and then start from scratch and live with the light wood. I cant add stain to the tru oil as I cant get the eothoxlated alcohol, or whatever it is called.
I am now one of the 1000 guys who should have just left his perfect factory stock be!

 

[gtl1946]

I have used Watco Cherry Danish Oil finish and sanded in the finish with progressive finer grits of finer Wet or Dry sand paper. The oil finish gives you a darker finish and the Cherry gives it a faint red tint so I end up with a warm brown walnut colored stock .I let the slurry dry on the stock which will fill those pores. Use a finer grit for the next wet coat which takes off the dried slurry from the last coat and let this finer grit slurry dry . Keep going with the finest grit you want until you get the pores filled and the surface smoothness that you want . That will be the coat that I will wipe off with a paper towel and let dry. You can rub that finish thinly with the palm of your hand and let dry in the wood which will give you a satin or semi-satin finish when dry OR I use Birchwood Casey Tru-oil for your final finish with a palm rub for a glossier finish. I stay out of the checkering all along and then put a couple of drops of the Watco with a tooth brush and wipe off any overage with a paper towel. A scratch later on is easy to repair w/ a bit of finish and fine sandpaper. The only problem I have is I’ll never use all the Watco in a couple of lifetimes.

 

[gtl1946]

Can’t get it to edit but where I differ from you is that I am sanding the finish AND stain in together and letting the slurry dry between coats to fill in the pores , stain ,and final sand the wood at the same time!

 

[Tesoro]

Thx

 

[Twdmar]

Rottenstone mixed with finish to make a thin slurry fills the pores of walnut nicely if you don't mind black. If you don't want dark filler, you can use fine pumice.

 

[Tesoro]

Interesting..I pulled out my sauer large bore and anschutz filed gun, both which have nice stocks finished in a matte. They are both top notch rifls and thats the look I wanted to create. But I didnt think of examining the wood up close until now! Neither have the grain filled and dont look much different that what my project looks like after 0000 plastic wooling the second coat. So I put on another full strength light coat of tru oil. SO I'm wondeirng if this pore filling slurry process everyone talk about isnt really just for show piece type glass smooth stock finishing. Which I dont want!
Pics of my sauer stock:

 

[pdhntr]

..... after 0000 plastic wooling ......... pore filling slurry process....

I can only guess you are using the "wool" in place of sandpaper to preserve the stain, but plastic or steel wool is going to grab all the slurry from what you are trying to fill.

The method to fill grain is to work up a slurry with wet or dry sandpaper (and the finish), then spread it around to fill the grain. You must let it dry and shrink in before you attempt to fill it more. The closer you get to filling the grain, a finer sandpaper should be used.

I would not under any circumstances add anything to your finish unless you have extensive experience with the process.

Years ago, to darken a stock, and add some character, we would add a little bone black to the slurry. We used various grades of rottenstone to do the final rub out of the stock to the finish that was desired.

I'm not sure I have enough time left to write everything that is involved in the two methods mentioned above.

Jim

 

[pdhntr]

If you feel you must sand, make slurry, let dry and repeat until the grain is filled, AND have a darker stock, I would stain, and use a fast drying finish and build up enough coats with minimum sanding until you could sand lightly without sanding through your stain, making the slurry and filling the grain with the finish, not the wood. And then, after a lot of careful work, you will probably have a pretty good looking stock.

But I really have to tell you, it isn't necessary.

Jim

 

[Tesoro]

To slurry fill or not to fill for a stained field grade low lustre matter hunting stock? I think the pics I posted above of the Sauer kinda give the answer.

I would now say the way to do it if want no relief on more of an oil rubbed finish is 1: apply and sand down a grain filler 2: stain 3: apply finish.

 

[DGP4]

Filling pores is a personal choice. What folks commonly call an "oil finish" seldom has filled pores. If you want to fill pores the easiest way I have found is to first sand down to 320 grit and then wet the sanded wood and let the grain raise up upon drying. Once dry, wet sand the stock with a 50/50 mix of the finish and mineral spirits. This will create a filler of the pores. Do not try to get a smooth finish at this stage, just get the pores filled. Let this thoroughly dry. Once it is dry, you can sand down the surface to the desired smoothness. I usually don't go beyond 800 grit. Now you can apply the final finish.

 

[Tesoro]

I hadnt refinished a stock in 40 years so I got on the forums and soon found out that there are as many stock refinishing preferred methods as there are recipes for jerky! However the one thing I did notice is that in all of the 100's I read, all of them included filling pores. Even an old gunsmith friend told me to slurry sand when doing the straight BLO method ( which makes little sense to me now).
Therefore I have to assume that most prefer to wind up with that perfect glass finish look using urethane mixes, which obviously require pore filling using various techniques. This is fine for a shiny shotgun you slide out of a velvet lined case at the skeet range but not so much for a rifle you are jumping in and out of a jeep with that might require easier stock ding and scratch repairs.
For what I learned the straight BLO was the choice when people were still cooking meat shot with a musket. And then the 21c arrived and scientists figured out how to make BLO and polymers work together to not only help preserve the wood but make it weatherproof. And so appeared BC tru oil and the other dozens of variants that followed suit.
My challenge now is to figure out the best way to make a thin urethane coating look like low luster oil rubbed finish!

 

[tobnpr]

Disclaimer- no expert on refinishing wood stocks, I've only done a couple dozen of them.
Sanding with finish to make a "slurry" to fill the woodgrain is only effective for the first coat, for obvious reasons. Once that first coat dries, you're no longer sanding the wood, which is what you need for "solids".
Sanding after that is only going to remove the coat you just laid down.

On some I've done that had deep pores/grain, I've used the same approach I use for filling more substantial dings/gouges- particularly those for stocks right off the duplicator. Mixing in fine sawdust from the stock sanding (which I do with epoxy, when filling in "damage") makes the repair imperceptible. I've even done it with multi-colored laminates, getting sawdust of the appropriate color from the blank cutoff/scrap, mix it with clear epoxy to get the slurry and fill/sand.

Not likely IMO you can get enough solids mixed in with the coating (whether oil, or urethane) without over-sanding the stock. If you have a scrap of walnut of the appropriate shade, you could sand it to obtain enough sawdust to mix in with the oil finish before spreading it.

Where the cust didn't want the cost of a ten coat, hand rubbed oil finish I've had good results with Brownell's Acra-Coat. Not for "purists", but it's effective. It's a high-build clear epoxy, takes just a few thin coats. Because it's epoxy, you get a harder, more durable finish than the hardened oils. Stain it, spray it, shoot it. Gloss and Matte available.

BROWNELLS ACRA-COAT-WOOD | Brownells

Gives wood and plastic stocks a durable, weather-proof finish. Not a one-shot wonder finish, but one you apply in multiple, thin coats until you reach the desired luster. Resists all but the most aggressive bore solvents. Normal cure time, one wee...

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[Tesoro]

Well I finished mine today. 3 coats of TO and nothing else. I was able to knock back the shine and yellow tint with fresh ooo and then older 000 and then very light 0000 synthetic wool. Its very water resistant and smooth as silk. Much nicer feel that factory finish. At least my cheek wont sqeak. Here’s before n after pic with the stain. Next time I’ll fill pores first and then stain!

 

[tobnpr]

I was able to knock back the shine and yellow tint with fresh ooo and then older 000 and then very light 0000 synthetic wool.

Nice looking job.
I've used BC Stock Sheen & Conditioner for this as well, it's a good cleaner- and it'll also knock down the gloss.

 

[Tesoro]

Thx. I have a bottle and curious to see what it does. I forgot about trying it.

 

[Tesoro]

Nice looking job.
I've used BC Stock Sheen & Conditioner for this as well, it's a good cleaner- and it'll also knock down the gloss.

I havent done it yet. Gonna wait a few weeks for curing. looked up the ingredients and it has some pumice in it and a silicone concoction.

 

[COLT45SA]

You want color and figure, then water resistance, then the beauty of a BOL finish~?? For color and figure use two very wet coats of 1/3 BOL and 2/3 mineral spirits allowing each coat to sit for 20 to 30 minutes before wiping it down with paper towels. Let it sit overnight and then repeat Next use an mixture of 1/2 spar varnish and 1/2 mineral spirits. lay it on heavily and let it sink in for 20 to 30 minutes before wiping down well with a shop rag, and let it sit overnight. Repeat the next day and let it sit overnight again. Last you will used pure BOL in as many very thin coats as it takes to get the sheen you're looking for. If you want a high sheen, use rotten stone to polish. You'll flip out when you see your finished product~!!

 

[Tesoro]

thx! I cheated and used minwax tung oil finish. its not tung but linseed and some other things. It came out quick and easy with 3 coats. Looks fine. I dont exactly have trap shotgun wood..just good old 40 yr field grade walnut.

 

[DR_2297]

Aqua coat

 

[jdh47]

O'Connor wrote that you can fill the pores with Spar Varnish and sand it down and apply linSpeed oil. I've done that a couple of times with decent results. The first time was on my son's pellet gun. Finishing with many coats of hand rubbed tru oil works pretty well but it's slow. The Watco stain/finish is pretty good as well. It just takes time to get the results you want.
I've done the Sterling Davenport slurry thing as well. It is sorta hard on checkering tools but it works as well. This is an old Garcia 270 I did on a Fagin simi inlet years ago with Tru Oil.