The Wood,
The majority of the rifles I collect and study have a linseed oil finish. I think each gunmaker had his own recipe and I dont know what the mixture of turpentine to linseed oil was for every maker.
Linseed oil is not looked on with favor today but its what was used to finish these rifles. When Springfield Armory made a rifle that was do the job all over the world in every conceivable condition they submerged the bare stock into hot RAW linseed oil then hung them up to dry.
Several years ago a friends collection was submerged during a flood. Most of the guns, both rifle and shotguns, had water up to the locks or forward action. My late friend John Wills and I help remove them and clean them up. He had several British double rifles and shotguns and well as some other sporters with oiled stocks. We pulled the stocks and locks and cleaned out the water and after a day or so and a few drops of linseed oil they looked just like they did before the flood. The others with a more modern finish on the wood were disasters, the Browning Over-Unders filled with water and then swelled shut trapping water in the through bolt hole, when you unscrewed the buttplate water just poured out.
When reading older gunsmithing stuff you will see many references to Boiled Linseed Oil. This was linseed oil that was boiled in a pressure vessel until it thickened. Today they have drying chemicals added to the oil they call boiled. The nearest I can find to original boiled linseed oil is called stand oil . Ive been working with stand oil for a time and it shows a lot of promise, still have a long way to go before I can give any detail instructions. Most everything I do involves just raw linseed oil.
http://www.dickblick.com/products/gamblin-stand-oil/
