doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Rubbing Oil

My plumber father-in-law refers to "Lubriplate" as "cup grease".

Thanks for the insite into US terminology, it is what I thought it was.
Many years ago I had a stock that a guy had saturated with linseed and given up on it.I had this grease thing buzzing around in my head so I thought I'd give it a try.I used the basic everyday yellow coloured general purpose grease, daubed it on and rubbed it around, left it for 3 or 4 days and then rubbed it off and then rubbed the stock finish out.It turned out quite nice, dark, possibly due to oil saturation, but hard and satin shiny, the owner was pleased, and so was I that I had rescued a stock finish from a mess.

Regarding raw and boiled linseed oils. A few years ago I did an informal test of the drying rates of these oils, rubbing a smear on a piece of glass. I am sure steel would work as well. In the unadultered state (right from the can) the boiled oil dries a lot faster and harder. Mixed about 50-50 with either Japan drier or cobalt drier (Grunbacher) the boiled oil dried harder and faster. As I understand it, the boiled oil is not boiled but rather treated with chemical driers. A friend once did boil some oil; he told me "he damn near burned his house down". He does not do that anymore. Any rags with linseed oil on them are the dreaded "oily rags" which can sponteaneously ignite, and should be diposed of outside. Again in my experience, I have found the Artists oil to be raw oil, and I use boiled oil for a final finish, but find raw oil is better at a rubbing off.

I have heard the cup grease story also; I think the cup grease was the old grease used on wooden wagon wheel bearings, I don't know it's makeup but I doubt it was a petroleum product. And I have never tried it, and I doubt a current grease would do it, but one could try.

I guess we'll never know what all possible combinations of stearates, ureas, and other amazing mollycools are capable of?

jack

Jack,
Very true, but what really tee's me off is when I read about Permalyn, Laurel Mountain, Tru-oil being Linseed oil finishes.

Ayone for tallow or rendered blubber?

jack

A few years back an article ran in "Gun Digest" which gave a stock finish formula, supposedly of English origin. This formula used Egg Whites (albumen) as filler, hardened with Lemon Juice, then finished with Raw Linseed Oil.

A large family gathered at the bedside of a dying vintner. Every eye and ear focused on the old man as he called his favorite son to his side and struggled to pass on the secrets of his craft. The soft and incoherent mumblings continued for some minutes. Then with a great shudder, the guardian of arcane fomulae sat bolt upright and rasped out a loud and unexpected expiratory utterance: "Or you could use grapes!"

jack

2-piper,
Yes that was a tried and tested method of sealing the pores, also they have used sil-glass.
Before using these mixtures they would 'bone ' the wood.
This involved vigorously rubbing the wood all over with a well dried cows rib bone to cause the pores to close by compression.The burnishing effect to the wood had a remarkable effect upon assisting to promote a splendid hard smooth finish.

I knew a father and son team in the late fifties who boned gunstocks with a billiard ball. Their name was Stockum!

jack