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A request for help from the stock finishing gurus. The photo is of a stock I'm finishing. I've put many thin coats of Tru-oil on this stock and I'm using Brownells stock rubbing compound to complete the job. I'm trying to accomplish what I read is the "finish in the wood" look. If my picture posting works, you can see a hazy patch in the middle. Have I rubbed too much or is that what I'm looking for? Do I get the whole finish looking like that, then polish/rub with 3F rubbing compound?

Or am I just looking to lightly dim the gloss off the Tru-Oil with the coarser rubbing compound, then polish/rub with the 3F?

Got the wood from Fajen when they went out of business in '94. Not bad for 75 bucks!

Greatly appreciate any input! Thanks.

Ok. First picture post. That was way too big. But you can sure see the hazy patch!

Dave,

What you have done is cut through the top coat and the next one below is now visible. Tru-Oil coats dry more or less on top of one another and it is very easy to cut through it, especially if the coats are thin. Tru-Oil gloss can only be cut down so far. In my experience a semi-gloss is as far down as you're going to get. If you want an in the wood look you will need to look at different products.

To repair this and get a coat that is safely "rubbable":

Give the stock a good steel wooling and remove the dust.

Give the stock two more "scab coats". Cut the oil with mineral spirits so it will flow and even out. Don't cut it too much, on final coats I usually cut it about 90% oil to 10% spirits. Use a
lint free pad (t-shirt),soak it good in the mixture and lay it on following the lines of the stock. You want it fairly thick but no runs. After this one is dry, wool it lightly and give it another thick coat.

After you've coated it twice, let it cure a good long time. The longer the better - two weeks wouldn't be too much. Once it's cured you can go after it with Brownells 3F. Work out the surface imperfections and rub it down to a semi-gloss. Make sure your final strokes with the compound follow the lines of the stock/grain. If you have any dust motes take them out first (carefully) by wet sanding with 2000 grit wet/dry paper and mineral spirits. Do this lightly and as much as possible on the dust speck only. The dull spot where the dust was should come back up when you rub the stock out with 3F.

Hope this helps!

Dan

P.S. - For going after the dust specks a handy little trick is to cut a circle out of your 2000 grit paper the size of a pencil eraser. Superglue the paper circle to the end of a pencil eraser and you can now use it to "erase" your dust speck. By using the edge of the paper backed by the eraser you will have
more control and you will be less likely to disturb the finish around the dust speck.

Again, watch out for runs as you apply the finish. Smooth it out as you go and watch for runs around tightly curved areas.

All of the above is why I don't use Tru-Oil very much anymore!
It takes a lot of practice to master and is not very forgiving.

No guroo here but I wonder if that patch is sized or sealed by some contaminant. Just a thought. Your pic fits if I knock the "new improvements" and my favorites off the side. I've seen worse as in Z'ounds the WIDTH!! The text isn't wrapping into infinitinitinititude so not to worry.

jack

Thanks, Dan and Jack,

Really appreciate the feedback. I'll give that a try. I'll re-coat it and try again.

yep, steel wool it back to wood, then apply a thin sealer by hand, or wet sand with the thin finish and #600 black and wipe it off before it drys, then apply thin sealer coat.

Such figured wood has many pores of different shapes and sizes coming to the surface at every possible angle. Unless they are filled with something solid, they will show back up after a few months to a year when all the solvents have evaporated and the True Oil resins have shrunk to the maximum extent.

To prevent that from happening, try the sanded-in stock finishing method next time. See http://www.woodworking.org/WC/GArchive99/1_20waltcunfin.html

For me it's the only way to finish a stock whether you want a in-the-wood finish(pores are filled flush) or a built up film finish. In either case, the pores must be filled with a non-shrinking material or you will see them again in a few months

OB

Thanks, OB, that's a great read and answers some questions I've had. It does bring up another question, though: After the "sanded in" method as described in the article, do you add any more oil, i.e. tung or BLO? Or is that the end of the process?

Please forgive my lack of knowledge in this area.

BP,
Here's a how-to I did a while back. You're farther along in the process, and really only want the Top Coat section. The type of finishing oil is not really important, use what makes you happy.
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Finish Stripping
I use the goopy heavy duty Methylene Chloride based stripper from the Depot. You have to have chemical resistant gloves, the stripper will chemically burn your skin. Let the stripper do the removal, not sharp tools. If your finish is the glossy epoxy based Browning standard, it will take 4-5 stripping go-rounds. I use cold water and scrub brush to remove the stripper, and a toothbrush on the checkering. All of the epoxy finish has to be removed, or it will show up later as wierd shiny spots in your oil finish. This is the shittiest part of the job and everything after this is fun.

Finishing and Sanding
First coat is a soaking sealing coat before sanding. I use Tru-Oil diluted 50% with Naptha. Feel free to use any good standard mixture instead of Tru-Oil, ProCustom, or Permalyn, etc. Coat the insided inletted area buttstock end too.

I'd put the buttstock back onto the frame, and replace the pad/buttplate at this point.

All of the sanding will be wet-sanding. For these pore filling steps I use pure Tru-Oil. I'd start with 220 grit Wet/Dry sand paper (the black type). Always use a hard backing to the paper or we'll end up with waves in the stock based on the differing hardness of the stock. Any stock with figure is more vulnerable to these waves than straight grain.

To wet sand, put a thin coat on the stock and wet the paper. Work on about 6 sq in at a time. You'll see a mud build up during the sanding. Wipe this mud across the pores during these early steps. Wipe off the mud completelely though, as it will dry to be a bit harder than the wood. Protect the checkering with blue masking tape, and keep the finish out of the checkering. Use acetone and a toothbrush to remove any finish that dries in the checkering ASAP.

Do the whole stock with a wet sanded 220. Let each coat dry completely, usually 2 days.

Decision Time - is it time to move up a grade in grit to 320? I don't know. The only way to tell is to move to 320, do a wet sanding, let it dry and see if there's any deep scratches that show up as coarser than the 320 scratches.

Going back is part of the game, and for me, I guess that half the time I move up a grade, I end up going back for more of the previous grade. Here's my estimate for go-rounds of wet sanding by grade:

Grit -Go rounds -Mixture
220 -1 -Pure T-O
320 -3 -Pure T-O
400 -2 -75% T-O and 25% Naptha
600 -2 -60% T-O and 40% Naptha

Top Coats
The stock is ready for top coats when there is no, none, absolutely no pits showing at the pores and no apparent sanding scratches visible. For topcoats I add a bit of boiled linseed oil to our Mixture - about 10% Linseed, 50% T-O and 40% Naptha. The linseed gives you a little bit more time before the finish dries. By this time in your project, you'll be mixing your own amounts
I put on a top coat with rag made from an old fine cotton dress shirt. The rag is folded into a 1" square with all the ragged edges folded in, not exposed. I dampen the rag with finish and use it like a finger held paintbrush. I want a very very thin and uniform coat. Try not to fuss with the topcoat (it's hard not to fuss). Let this dry for 2-3 days. When the topcoat is rock hard, do a very light polish with a Pumice/Linseed Oil mixture, using a hard felt pad dipped in the pumice slurry. Clean it off with clean rag dampened with linseed, then dry with a paper towel.

Another topcoat and pumice rub.

Decision Time Again.
Can we move from a pumice rub to a rottenstone rub? Same criteria as above. Rottenstone is much finer than pumice.

At some point you'll feel that the finish is done. Carefully toothbrush a 50% T-O and 50% Naptha mixture into the checkering.

Pilkington's directions (Brownells) advocates a final BLO/rottenstone rub-out after the stock has been filled and finish sanded with 600 grit. This leaves it very smooth and with a slight gloss. Additional surface film build up per Yeti's method are a matter of personal taste.

OB