doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DIY Gunsmithing @ doublegunshop.com Stock finishing questions

I'm not getting a response to these stock finishing questions in the thread below so I thought I would post it as a separate thread.

Over the last two months I have been testing various finishing methods based on the red oil and slacum information I have found on this site. I have a few questions for those of you that have used red oil and slacum for a while. My refinishing experience has been limited to about 15 guns over a number of years and finishes included varnishes, tung oils, Timberluxe, Tru-Oil, Pro-Custom Oil and Dem-Bart oil. So, I am not a rookie, but I certainly am not a professional. By the way, I'm a biologist by degree but a chemist for 35 years by profession.

First I would like to explain how I am testing the various slacum and slacum blends. All of the various slacum blends were tested on 3� x 5� flat pieces of walnut. I cut them from a number of plaques I picked up at sporting clays events over the years. In all, I have used about 25 of these walnut boards with different finishes. All of these boards were sanded smooth to 800 grit and prepped the same. I varied how many coats of red oil I applied on a number of the boards to see how the grain came out and I tried a number of different methods of application including trying to dry under UV light, rubbing down with steel wool or emery cloth between coats of finish oil to fill pores. I have tried or am trying a blend of the typical slacum (BLO, Carnauba wax, terp and Venice terp) on it's own and mixes of slacum with tung oils, Minwax Antique Oil finish, Master Pro Gel and with some red oil mixed in. The tung oil and Minwax AO were tried at a couple different concentration with slacum. All were applied after a number of coats of red oil we're rubbed in and dried. I have even tried talc to fill pores and heating the solutions before application. I used just tung oil and Minwax Antique oil over red oil on some boards as a comparison. At this point, I am still working on these samples so I am not prepared to discuss all the results. I can say that some have turned out pretty good and others were failures. I learn something new every day about the various finishing products and how to apply them for the best finish.

The questions I have are:
1) Do you rub in the finish oils after they have become tacky and after they have dried, just before the next coat? Some people rub it in by hand and others use a cloth with some of the finish oil on it. What's best?

2) Do you find that the stock color lightens or darkens after more coats of the finish oil?

3) Have you tried adding some red oil in the finish oil? Is so, how much and what have your results been. Does it tend to hide the grain?

4) Do you allow the slacum to completely dry between coats? Sometimes I find that it is still tacky the next day. Is that from putting it on too thick? As I get more and more coats of finish oil on, it takes more drying time. Does it need to completely dry with no tackiness between coats?

Once I am finished with this testing I would be happy to give you more details about my methods, formulas and results and what I plan to put on a new (old) William Evans I picked up recently.

Any suggestions or helpful comments?

Tom,
If you like, give me a call sometime 262 662 9990 or leave a msg.
I am in Big Bend, WI

Good questions as I have the same concerning slakum. I am in the process of finishing a 16 ga LC Smith with it and had the gumming up issue. Ended up wiping it off and letting it set and dry for about a year. Dried hard as a rock and beautiful but hard to let one set that long to dry between coats.

AhhHa Grasshopper! May be a look in the frequently asked questions section of this forum especially the post "damasscuses Traditional Oil Stock Finish" that I am sure it will answer a good number of questions on the how, when and why.

damascus

From another recent post, here are links to two of the most useful resources you will find for a true, traditional slakum finish.

The second link is to the thread damascus referenced above.

Another resource that I found useful and clear is the e-book by Nik Kypridemos.
https://www.amazon.com/Linseed-Oil-Finish-simple-rubbed-ebook/dp/B01GMSSNUC

I think the Diggory recipe is also in James Howe�s Modern Gunsmith, with several modifications. I remember someone responding as such in the above cited post.

I. Have minimal experience compared to most of the posters, but here�s something from my experience. Some years ago I was finishing an American Walnut rifle stock with one of the multi part slacum type products. The surface seemed to remain tacky for extended periods. A friend suggested using Japan Drier to wipe down the tacky surface , The result was a very dry feeling , smoother surface within a few hours.

Hi--Anyone use carnuba wax mixed with tung oil??
Sydney

Over the years I've developed a pretty simple system with no exotic or secret ingredients. It's easy, quick, fast, durable, looks good to me and can be repaired, if needed. If I want stain, I treat the wood with oxalic acid, then use alkanet soaked in turpentine and oil (linseed, teak, tung or other commercial oil). If that doesn't get the color I want (some woods just don't seem to take the color for me), then I use analine dye. Use either until you get the color you want.
I then sand in with 320 to 400 grit sandpaper a mix of approx. 1/3 turpentine, 1/3 oil (teak, linseed, tung or other commercial product) and 1/3 flat or satin poly followed by wiping. Recoat until the pores are filled. Then I rub in the finish repeatedly with pumice/rottenstone and wipe dry with paper towel or old t-shirt. Repeat until you get the final finish you desire.
I've found that a day between coats usually allows sufficient drying time for the sanded coats and for the rubbed coats, and usually 5 or 6 coats is sufficient to fill the pores and a few rubbed coats achieve the results I want. If it later needs to be redone, you can just rub in a coat of the finish.
Of course, then I usually see a minor change I want to make in the shape. Fortunately, you can rasp and sand the area you want to change and can repeat the process on only the area from which you have removed the finish, and the patch blends in well altho you might have to extend the rubbing into the finished area.

cpa, that's similar to the P. Pilkington method. I have a Parker that was refinished using Pilkington's method and it is easily the finest finish on any gun I have ever owned. He called it the Classic American Oil Finish. It will unquestionably be what I use from here on out.

SRH