doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DIY Gunsmithing @ doublegunshop.com Oil finish irregularity

I am in the early stages of refinishing a remington 700 BDL with very nice wood. I've sanded to 1500, stained with alkanet red oil, allowed the red oil to dry over 2 weeks, and started with slacum, consisting of polymerized linseed oil with rosin, 'drying oil' (blo with dryers from Rublev), turps, and red oil (raw linseed oil with alkanet). These pictures are after red oil:




I noticed early in the finish oil process that when I applied rottenstone there were areas that the rottenstone seemed to stick to, so I was careful to rub all the areas out completely. The stock felt dry between applications and I was able to rub everything off, but I was still confused about what was causing the stone to stick.





I have probably applied slacum 5-6 times now and I have noticed more of a dull and irregular/blotchy finish than what I have gotten with other stocks. You can see in this picture that the shine from the light is rather flat and I've also noticed irregularity in the rest of the finish.




I decided to do some sanding (1000-1500 grit) to try to remove any surface oil / rottenstone that was not coming off with hand rubbing (including with a chamois). The result is some areas that maintain a different sheen than the rest.



With a tiny bit of oil on my fingers, I can rub the stock in the dull spots and it shines up, as you can see here-- I only applied oil to part of the dull area.



And the stock seems to have some blotchiness over the entire area that I am not sure what to make of:




Questions are: 1. any ideas about why this stock is taking the finish strangely? 2. What do you all suggest as a way going forward?

In spite of the nice figure, the wood seems to have fairly large pores. It appears that your finish may be "dry" between coats, but not fully cured, which can take weeks with some finishes... especially if there is raw linseed oil in the finish. Then you risk having rottenstone powder getting embedded in the incompletely cured finish in some areas.

At this point, it may be best to use mineral spirits to wipe the stock down to remove the finish that has embedded rottenstone, since those areas may appear slightly more translucent than places where it is not embedded.

Then going forward, add a bit of Japan dryer to the finish, and give it more time to cure between coats, especially if you will be using rottenstone or pumice. Personally, I've never used either rottenstone or pumice between coats. Only after the final coat, if necessary.

It's American walnut and/or Claro (?) with huge pores. I am by no means a finish expert but have finished my share over six decades of putzing. I have been viewing this many times since posted. All I have ever seen posted about slacum finishes has been related to English walnut and associated subspecies. If you are married to linseed oil finishes follow Keith's advice. An easier and less labor-intensive finish can be achieved with Daly's products. Seafin sealer and Teak oil finish. Sealer x 3 coats to seal the pores; sealer mixed with rottenstone (make mud) and wiped between coats across the grain tilled filled, sand back to desired grit 400-600- finer again is reserved for fine woods; finish with Teak oil. Durable, forgiving, looks great and easy to repair. While I do not work much with AW, I recently finished a stock set for an 1886 Browning project with some similar issues. Thin shell walnut is your friend. A quick perusal of fine furniture finishing techniques would likely be beneficial as well.

If you try Phil Pilkington's sanding-in process I don't believe you would ever want to do it any other way. I know I don't. It is 100% predictable, with never any irregularities like you have pictured. No more linseed oil or slacum for me.

My Parker DHE 16/20 refinished this way.

Don't know but those splotches look very much like what I was getting when I accidently contaminated a shop with Silicone. Epoxy not reliable and splotches on finishes.
Impossible to clean, luckily was moving to a new shop. No Silicone in my shop, No Silicone calking or oils or anything that contains Silicone.
Chuck

I don't think I have a silicone issue, but I will certainly be mindful of that going forward. I know some gun products contain silicone.

I think the issue may be the drying as Kieth suggested. I'm not quite ready to throw in the towel on plastic-free oil finishing, so I'll do as suggests and try to wipe everything down with spirits and give it another shot

I think you know the answer, and I won’t belabor the point.

Those are the classic symptoms of a layer of Linseed oil that was not fully hardened before the next coat was applied.

It can be a dozen different environmental reasons, or it can just be haste.