[Bindernut]

The main problem people have is not waiting long enough between coats. If you allow the finish to dry such that a fingernail pressed into it does not leave a mark; you're ready for the next coat. Solvents leaving the finish cause it to shrink and you need to allow sufficient time for this to occur. That allows you to sand to a level surface without additional shrinkage. Some solvent bleed over is inevitable. The main problem with Tru-Oil is that if you have to sand the top coat too much you will cut witness lines that are readily visible.

Ding ding ding! We have a winner!
Yes, waiting long enough to cure out the just applied coat is the key.
That step is just as important as is not letting the oil finish build-up between coats. An oil finish is not a varnish...it should be in the wood, not on top of it.

I used water based lacquer on this gunstock. I sprayed it on with a $10 dollar air brush from Harbor Freight. I'll not go back to oil based finishes. If it is too glossy, you can dull it with 0000 steel wool. You can also recoat every 20-30 minutes.

bamajoey,
That's a very nice lacquer job. About the same sheen level that I like on a working gunstock.
I've never worked with the water-based lacquers. I have used water-base polyurethane before on furniture.
A friend finally convinced me to try it a couple years ago. It was like pulling teeth to get me to try the new-fangled water-borne stuff but after I finished spraying I loved that job.
Clean-up is so much easier than with a solvent-based varnish!

I don't mind a varnish or lacquer finish and the speed and ease of applying it is the main reason that it's widely used.
The only thing I don't like about a varnish or lacquer coating on a gun stock is that it is just that...a coating on top of the surface.
The inability to take a small ding or two without breaking the surface is what has always been my problem with varnish on firearms.
Going through temperature/humidity extremes out in the field, a coating expands and contracts at a different rate than the wood around it and eventually it will crack to expose the wood beneath it.

 

[bamajoey]

:thumbsup:

Ding ding ding! We have a winner!
Yes, waiting long enough to cure out the just applied coat is the key.
That step is just as important as is not letting the oil finish build-up between coats. An oil finish is not a varnish...it should be in the wood, not on top of it.

bamajoey,
That's a very nice lacquer job. About the same sheen level that I like on a working gunstock.
I've never worked with the water-based lacquers. I have used water-base polyurethane before on furniture.
A friend finally convinced me to try it a couple years ago. It was like pulling teeth to get me to try the new-fangled water-borne stuff but after I finished spraying I loved that job.
Clean-up is so much easier than with a solvent-based varnish!

I don't mind a varnish or lacquer finish and the speed and ease of applying it is the main reason that it's widely used.
The only thing I don't like about a varnish or lacquer coating on a gun stock is that it is just that...a coating on top of the surface.
The inability to take a small ding or two without breaking the surface is what has always been my problem with varnish on firearms.
Going through temperature/humidity extremes out in the field, a coating expands and contracts at a different rate than the wood around it and eventually it will crack to expose the wood beneath it.

Everything you said is true, but the advantage of waterbased over oil based finishes is you can easily repair a water based finish, plus it is a clear finish and will not yellow like an oil based finish.

Each finish, whatever it is has its advantages.:thumbsup:

 

[wpshooter]

A friend of mine was telling me that when he applied either Tru-Oil or Tung-Oil when refinishing old gunstocks that he would use a cotton ball wrapped inside of a piece of woman's hose/stockings. He said that this worked great for applying the liquid to the stock's surface.

Has anyone tried this ?

If so, is this a good method of applying the Tru-Oil to the gunstock ?

Thanks.

I finally got around to trying my friends method of applying the finish to the gunstock and I must say that IMO it works quite well.

Gives a nice smooth/even application and don't have the problem of having the finish building up and running down your fingers, plus don't have extraneous materials (dust particles, etc.) building up on the stocking/cottonball applicator like you tend to do with your finger(s).

Also, you don't have to clean the finish off of your fingers/hands when you are done with application.

On a side note, this time I hung my stock with the buttstock at the bottom instead of the top like I was doing previously and TO ME this seems to work better than working top-down with the buttstock at the top & forend at bottom.

Thanks.

 

[wpshooter]

RESULTS OF MY LATEST ATTEMPT:

I had completely stripped (chemically & with sand paper) the stock back down to the bare wood, i.e. no finish at all left on the stock.

So I ordered me a bottle of Birchwood Casey Sealer & Filler from Brownells.

I applied it to the stock using the cottonball wrapped in a piece of ladies stockings/panty hose. To me this worked better than trying to apply with finger(s).

I let it completely dry overnight.

The instructions on the Sealer & Filler say to then sand evenly with extra-fine production paper to remove surface imperfections and runs & then to re-apply another coat of Sealer & Filler if grain is not completely filled. BUT instead I just buffed the entire surface of the stock with a cheese cloth.

And I have to say that IMO, at this point, the stock looks just absolutely GEORGEOUS & I am sort of hesitant to do anything more to it !!!

So my question is, what would I potentially gain at this point by trying to put more coats of either more Sealer & Filler or TRU-OIL or Tung-Oil over top of what I have now and risking messing up this absolutely beautiful finish that I have on the stock now ???

Should I at this point "Just leave well enough alone" ?

Thanks.

 

[jack404]

if your happy, leave it ,

if you want different , go on ..

simple eh ?

 

[Bindernut]

If it looks good to you, then I agree with Jack. Call it finished.
That sealer/filler is enough to seal the wood up to keep the elements out.
An extra coat or two will give a bit more depth to the finish, but yep, then you've got to worry about getting a clean finish on that next coat as well.

After all your efforts, it's glad to hear ya got a good end result!
Got pix?


If you want to fiddle around with it more, get a few scraps of wood (walnut, burch, whatever variety you're stock is) from your local Home Improvement store (Menards, Lowes, etc) or cabinet shop and use those to experiment with the extra coats, different techniques, etc.

 

[wpshooter]

If it looks good to you, then I agree with Jack. Call it finished.
That sealer/filler is enough to seal the wood up to keep the elements out.
An extra coat or two will give a bit more depth to the finish, but yep, then you've got to worry about getting a clean finish on that next coat as well.

After all your efforts, it's glad to hear ya got a good end result!
Got pix?

If you want to fiddle around with it more, get a few scraps of wood (walnut, burch, whatever variety you're stock is) from your local Home Improvement store (Menards, Lowes, etc) or cabinet shop and use those to experiment with the extra coats, different techniques, etc.

Don't have a digital camera myself but I will see if I can get my brother to take a few shots of it this weekend and post next week.

Thanks.

 

[wpshooter]

Now for my next project, I have an older Browning 22 rifle which has checkering on both the pistol grip and the forearm.

I think I can figure out how to get the old finish off of the checkered areas but what is the best way to go about putting the Tru-Oil, Tung-Oil, etc. back onto the checkered areas, since applying it with my cottonball wrapped in ladies stocking/hose MAY not work to well or will it ?

Should I use something like a real software toothbrush to apply the finish to the checkering ?

Thanks.

 

[Bindernut]

Should I use something like a real software toothbrush to apply the finish to the checkering ?

Thanks.

That's how I oil up checkered/carved areas.
the tricky part is making sure it doesn't build up real thick on the edges of the checkering and dry...that's where the toothbrush comes in handy.
I wipe/dab up any excess oil with a lint-free cloth and work the oil in with the brush...alternate between the two til you've got good coverage.
I usually have medium stiffness brushes on hand...seems to work better than the very soft ones for me. Won't hurt to try a soft brush if that's what you've got on hand.
Get several of em from your nearest dollar store too. They usually fall apart or melt down when I try to clean em up with turpentine or mineral spirits.

I have had to touch up the edges of the checkering on a few jobs afterwards though because I didn't get the pattern clear enough with the brush. I don't have a full set of assorted pitches so I usually wind up just using a single line file.
If you don't get too much build-up in the checkering, hopefully you don't need to do much if any touch-up work!