A buddy of mine wants to have his 21 Skeet wood refinished. Recommendations?

The possibilities are almost endless. To narrow things down, your buddy will need to decide if he wants a factory original type finish, an in the wood oil finish, a surface film varnish or urethane finish, etc.

A few years back, Mike Hunter of Hunter Restorations shared with us that he was given inside information that the Winchester Custom Shop used Watco Danish Oil for Model 70's and Model 21's. I don't recall the particular shade. I've used it and it gives an attractive finish on walnut. I stocked up on about a couple dozen cans in assorted shades when a local store was selling it for a few bucks a pint.

Thanks Keith,

The gun is a 1953 vintage. I’ve never owned a 21 and am not familiar what the original factory finish is. I’ve used Watco and Daly finishes before with excellent results. I’ll pass the info on.

Ken

Brian Board did a clean Timberluxe finish on this early 21.
Linseed oil base.

Ken, here's a link to an old Thread in the Amateur Gunsmithing forum that had a lively debate concerning the pros and cons of Timberluxe.

https://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=561377&page=1

And there is also a lot of information and opinions about many other gun stock finishes. You or your buddy might want to wade through that to help make a good decision. Even the real high dollar gun stock professionals will tell you that there is no one perfect finish that is best for all guns all the time. A hunter in coastal Alaska will have different needs than a skeet shooter in New Mexico. For a true collector, the very best finish is the original finish, so the best course of action might be nothing more than a careful cleaning.

Good stuff that Timberluxe

John,

If it were my gun, I’d do just as you’ve indicated.
I’d tidy up the original finish and address a small transverse crack at the trigger guard screw and shoot the heck out of it. The gun isn’t collector quality, just a well used example.

Thanks,
Ken

I know a few stockmakers who really like Timberluxe. Some use it to on new restocks and some use it just as a top dressing on existing stocks. Seems to work quite well. PS. A little bit goes a long way.

This likely won't be of interest but just in case, back when I was building flintlocks, I used several different finishes, mostly linseed oil based but my favourite was suggested to me by a long time, well known ML maker as, while not as common as LO was a traditional finish in the 18th century and that is bees wax. Easy to apply, just take a chunk of BW, heat the stock with a hair drier until the surface will melt the wax, rub the block (with the heat) until the wood will not take any more wax, buff and your done. Depending on the wood, the wax can penetrate as much as 1/8" (usually more like 1/16"). Gives a nice warm "glow" when buffed but will dull in appearance when used in the weather. No matter, I just dissolve some bees wax in turpentine until I get the constancy I want (about like vaseline or perhaps a bit stiffer) and wipe on a thin coat and buff to restore the luster. Of course this adds ZERO protection from scratches and dents but the trade off is that it is EASY to make repairs. Something g to consider is that, while I have never tried, should you decide that you don't like the finish for some reason, I don;t know how easy (or even if it would be possible in a practical sense) to strip and go to something else since the wax is IN the wood, not just ON the wood. If you were at all interested, I would recommend trying it on a piece of scrap walnut and see if it suits your tastes/needs. I used it mostly on maple.

A most recent Timberluxe finish



And it smells like gun