Vintage stock finish touch up?

[Fast14riot]

Building a 1903 sporter as a gift for my father, I found a vintage 1960's original Herters sporter stock and have had to make some modifications to it. I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts on best finish to touch up the bare wood sections?

I had to cut a bolt slot to fit the 03-A4 bolt, doing some inletting and free floating, cutting the selector relief as well.

I'm leaning towards good old B.L.O., but every other vintage stock I've done I've always stripped and refinished completely, so I'm wondering what might be closest match.

 

[dolek]

For work like that I use Birchwood Casey Tru Oil . Darkens and protects,most times blends right in . I have also gone over the whole stock with a coat or two...where it is already protected the oil wipes off and where it's need it soaks in . Lemon oil also works ,thinner so a few coats will be needed.

Nice rifle and stock,pretty cool of you to do that for your Dad .

 

[Fast14riot]

I like tru-oil as well, but my concern it it tends to be a bit more glossy than this finish. Also, I do not know what exactly this wood is. It doesnt smell like walnut, too dark for maple, too close grained for birch, I'm leaning toward mahogany.

The rifle just had a new CBI put on, has a timney trigger, D&T for dual scope bases, A4 bolt with low safety, he has been wanting to shoot the vintage military silhouette matches with me, so I figured I would give him a custom rifle to do it with.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

It does resemble mahogany but it would be bad heavy if it was.

 

[Fast14riot]

Not necessarily, most central american mahogany is right around 40-41lb/ft³ and walnut ranges from 38-42lb/ft³. Maple typically is ~ 40lb/ft³. Spanish mahogany is heavy at over 50lb/ft³.

In the end, it doesnt matter to me, just a point of curiosity really.

 

[pdhntr]

I like tru-oil as well, but my concern it it tends to be a bit more glossy than this finish. Also, I do not know what exactly this wood is. It doesnt smell like walnut, too dark for maple, too close grained for birch, I'm leaning toward mahogany.

Hard to tell for sure without looking at the stock in hand, but my guess would be Butternut. Butternut does not have the distinctive odor of walnut when worked, and the color of your stock does not eliminate the possibility. The density of the two is similar.

More than one "walnut" tree has been cut and sold for gun stocks that was actually a butternut tree. With tar on the end of the log, few would be able to identify the difference until milled, and Herters would have used it.

If the areas you are applying finish to are small, and the stock is not going to be subjected to moisture, BLO would be one solution.

Jim

 

[dolek]

I like tru-oil as well, but my concern it it tends to be a bit more glossy than this finish. Also, I do not know what exactly this wood is. It doesnt smell like walnut, too dark for maple, too close grained for birch, I'm leaning toward mahogany.

The rifle just had a new CBI put on, has a timney trigger, D&T for dual scope bases, A4 bolt with low safety, he has been wanting to shoot the vintage military silhouette matches with me, so I figured I would give him a custom rifle to do it with.

Concerning the glossy sheen...I use a red/burgundy scotchbrite pad to dull it to match the rest.You can feather it out and blend in the edges of the new oil .

 

[Twdmar]

That looks kinda like birch to me with some kind of reddish stain. Herters red from brownells might work with some tung oil or something like that

 

[Mikemci]

Mahogany.

 

[dsculley]

The wood looks very similar to the Mahogany that I used to make my stock. And it is not too heavy as was said.