Pawnbroker,
You will get many opinions/methods.Here is mine, for what ever it is worth.Prepare the wood as usual and apply a finish by hand(Truoil, Linspeed, etc),brush excess out of checkering with old toothbrush,let dry fully,take it all the way back to the wood with steelwool in the large areas and fine abrasive paper(backed by hard felt,etc)to aviod rounding corners.When this is done clean residue off and you can see unfilled pores. Repeat, until all pores are filled(this type filler doesn't look like mud in the pores) and take it all the way back down to the wood.Now is the time to checker the stock (the finish in, rather than on,the stock helps the checkering)if it is not already checkered. When everything is done, rub a coat of boiled linseed oil in.This type finish can be "rubbed up"with 0000 steel wool and refreshed with another coat of "BLO" any time, with no problem.
Mike
