doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Wet sanding a gunstock

I have been reading various recipes for the final finishing of an English gunstock. Most methods start with wet sanding with 320 grit paper and progress to finer and finer grits after the pores are filled usually about 3 sandings later. Some suggest wet sanding up to 600 or 800 grit.

My question is, when sanding in the finish on a gunstock, do you always use a thinned vision of the finish or at some point do you switch over to using full strength finish?

Thanks in advance.

I wet sand using Dem Bart Stock and Checkering oil straight from bottle,not thinned. Bobby

Okay, I've got some Dem Bart's. it's pretty thin to begin with. I assume that there's no problem using another brand of oil/varnish later.

Depends on the wood and the finish you require. Are you oiling or using a varnish/gloss finish . Some woods will soak up like a sponge ,others will be patchy and yet again some will hardly take any at all ,no matter what you apply. Always best in my experience to apply a couple of light coats to seal the surface and rub down again untill you start to get a good base surface that you can then build up to the finish you want.

I'm using a tung oil/ varnish finish.
I sanded the wood until smooth with 220 paper. I wet the stock with water to raise the grain. I flooded the wood with thinned finish until it wouldn't take any more. I let that dry 24 hours in a warm and very dry area. I live in the southwest USA.
I've begun wet sanding. The wood isn't absorbing any more finish. I plan to wet sand at least 3-4 times at 24 hour intervals until the pores are filled.

This is pretty much from Pete Hiatt's web site:

Put the first coat of finish (True oil in his case) on very thick. As it begins to get tacky rub it into the stock (I used fingers). Once it is dry steel wool all the excess finish off. Seems to work whether or not you wet sand it, and it certainly worked better than anything else I've tried.

I had a bad experience with steel wool and wet sanding. The steel wool left behind rusted when water was applied, and I was left with black freckles on the stock. Suggest bronze wool

In my case the "wet" was true oil. Doesn't rust.

I am on my first gunstock refinish (Tru-oil in this case) so i'm no expert but, have also read everything I could get my eyes on and asked for help from experienced wood guys along the way... I came to the conclusion that if you want the best the wood has to offer in terms of figure and the luster of a hand rubbed oil finish, wet sanding to fill in the pores should be done with paper lubricated with water once the wood has been sealed. Using finish as lubricant to fill pores would seem to continue the build-up of finish on top of the sealer coat before the first true topcoat is applied and therefore adds thickness to the finish that obscures all of that fine sanding you I just worked so hard on. The water allows the excess slury that is not being completely forced into the pores to be wiped away in successive stages of the pore filling process by wet sanding. I started with 320 wet/dry paper until the sealer coat was carefully taken down to the surface of the wood but no further. At this point - the first wet sand - I left a light layer of the slurry to dry on the stock to preserve a little bit of the slurry material for the next pass (again with 320). The surface will take on a dull grey appearance and look terrible but this is OK! Shiny spots will reveal areas where there sealer coat remains and thus unfilled pores and I had to wet sand these areas in particular on the second pass with 320 and rub the slurry into the pores in these areas wiping most of the slurry away to leave that dry, dull grey appearance everywhere. Once I achieved this state, I moved up to 400 lubricated with water and carefully wet sanded and wiped all slurry off still leaving a dull grey surface but have not cut below the wood surface where this would reopen the pores. I went to 600 again lubricated with water as this particular stock seemed to need it but this may not be necessary for your particular stock although I'm convinced that it is what made the difference in creating an ultra smooth surface and well filled pores on my stock. At this point after completely dry, I lightly went over the stock with 0000 steel wool to knock off any remaining dried on slury to a uniform dull surface with completely filled pores. The figure and grain of the wood is obscured a bit by the dull surface at this point but sealed. The only oil finish at this point is in the wood - not on top of it. The first topcoat of Tru-oil went on very thin but beautifully and the figure really popped. After the first topcoat dried, I lightly went over the entire surface with clean 0000 steel wool. Before applying the next coat of oil, I blow off the surface and wipe it down with a tack cloth to remove any steel wool particles that could be left on the stock. I used steel wool between each top coat to remove any light finger prints or imperfections. If nothing to remove, I figure it gives the next topcoat a good surface to adhere to. My stock is currently curing with 10 very thin coats of Tru-oil as this seemed to be all it needed and I want it to be as thin as possible without sacrificing protection. My plan is to do the final rub-out with Brownell's 3F pumice as that's what I have on hand and figure if I don't like the results I can add additional topcoats and try rubbing out with rottenstone or another method such as denim or nylon to see if I can get the hand-rubbed finish I desire. The whole process has been a lesson in patience but learning about the craft of fine woodwork and experimentation with various finishing techniques and materials has been very rewarding. This gun will be ultimately finished with a leather covered pad and given to my nephew later this year for his 15th birthday and first shotgun in time for opening day.

Have to agree with the issue using steel wool if used before the pores have been filled. I use paper until I finish with the sealing coats- caveat being that my technical experience comes from furniture finishing.