First time post -- long time reader. I just wanted to share my results with using a boiled linseed oil finish on a stock because I spent a lot of time reading on here from others.
It's an original stock from a T/C Hawken kit, first or second year of production. I got it in a trade, and it was just black with dust from sitting in the corner of a garage for years. I don't know if it was ever even shot.
Anyway, I cleaned it up and sanded it and started rubbing it with BLO...last September. I'm in central GA, so low humidity is usually not on my side. This winter was a 80 degree monsoon season, but the past few months had some nice dry, breezy days to let it cure. After it had really soaked in, I rubbed in 3-4 fingertips worth of BLO once or twice a week or so. I finally realized that the "rub until your hand burns and it's gone" isn't necessary if the weather is right. Rub the tiny amount all over let it sit, then go back now and then to give it a once over until it's dry. You're just trying to keep it thin and spread around, not bake it on with friction heat. After it started building up, I might have waited 2-3 weeks between coats sometimes. Then, occasionally, I soaked a piece of #0000 steel wool in oil and "polished" it lightly to level things, then back at it. I just wanted to get a traditional finish on there.
Now, I couldn't be more pleased with it. Besides the look, it just has a warm feel that you can't get from poly or lacquer. The hickory ramrod came out nicely too, it really soaked in the yellow from the oil.
I'm including a link to a Google+ album because the file sizes seem to be to big for the forum to upload. Again, I just wanted to share my experiences because opionions about it online seem to be pretty wide across the board -- love it or hate it. You can get a fairly hard, built-up finish from BLO, it just might take 8-10 months to do it.
https://goo.gl/photos/wkMnc1aqWUrGox367
It's an original stock from a T/C Hawken kit, first or second year of production. I got it in a trade, and it was just black with dust from sitting in the corner of a garage for years. I don't know if it was ever even shot.
Anyway, I cleaned it up and sanded it and started rubbing it with BLO...last September. I'm in central GA, so low humidity is usually not on my side. This winter was a 80 degree monsoon season, but the past few months had some nice dry, breezy days to let it cure. After it had really soaked in, I rubbed in 3-4 fingertips worth of BLO once or twice a week or so. I finally realized that the "rub until your hand burns and it's gone" isn't necessary if the weather is right. Rub the tiny amount all over let it sit, then go back now and then to give it a once over until it's dry. You're just trying to keep it thin and spread around, not bake it on with friction heat. After it started building up, I might have waited 2-3 weeks between coats sometimes. Then, occasionally, I soaked a piece of #0000 steel wool in oil and "polished" it lightly to level things, then back at it. I just wanted to get a traditional finish on there.
Now, I couldn't be more pleased with it. Besides the look, it just has a warm feel that you can't get from poly or lacquer. The hickory ramrod came out nicely too, it really soaked in the yellow from the oil.
I'm including a link to a Google+ album because the file sizes seem to be to big for the forum to upload. Again, I just wanted to share my experiences because opionions about it online seem to be pretty wide across the board -- love it or hate it. You can get a fairly hard, built-up finish from BLO, it just might take 8-10 months to do it.
https://goo.gl/photos/wkMnc1aqWUrGox367
