Fajen Stock Question

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pcar916

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Roughly 20 years ago I started building a 30-'06 rifle out of a Chilean Mauser. My career happened and I am going to finish that rifle now with a stock that was mostly sanded but is sticky, dull, and the grain is raised. Apparently I'm not smart enough yet to insert the attached image into this post. More homework...

So I'm starting with an unfinished Reinhart Fajen walnut stock with (as I recall) about 20 coats of what (I think) was boiled linseed oil. How do I proceed?

1. Sand and oil again?
2. Sand and use another finish?
3. Something else?

I remember someone telling me that if you start with oil you have to complete the job with oil... but I may have dreamed it. It was 20 years ago.

Ideas?
 

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Well, you could strip and go for a different finish. You might need to de-oil the stock by mixing liquid stripper with chalk dust and slathering it on. It wicks the dissolved oil out.

Once you have that, you need to sand and, what you probably missed before, de-whisker the wood. Then you can look at refinishing.

BLO is a very traditional stock finish, but when you look up wood finishes you find it is rated near the bottom of the barrel as a moisture barrier. That is evidenced by how easily it picks up water marks. Those white marks are water that has permeated the oil. So, much as I love its appearance and scent, I now stick to the better protective polyurethane derivative finishes. I've had good luck with Watco Danish Oil applied with progressively finer wet/dry paper in steps of 320, 400, and 600 grit.

Search the forum on dewhiskering and finishes for more complete descriptions.
 
If it has already been soaked with linseed oil, that isn't a problem. You don't have 20 coats on the stock, because BLO doesn't dry in layers like varnish will. The wood just soaked up all the BLO that it would and the rest just got wiped off. I'd hand sand it very lightly with 150 grit to get any excess dry BLO off, and then with 220 grit and then wet the stock, dry with the wife's blow drier and then sand with 220 grit again and repeat the wet/dry/sand again. Then wet sand it (wet with BLO this time) with 220 grit and then wet sand it with 320 grit and then 400 grit (go to 600 grit if you want). Wipe the excess oil off each time with a soft towel and after the last wet sanding, let the stock dry for a week. Then I'd go with a Danish Oil or my favorite - Antique Oil, by Minwax - and apply about 3 coats of the oil/varnish mix (applied as it states on the can). Then when dry, wax it with wax rubbed on with superfine steel wool. Smooth as a baby's butt, but it still will not be waterproof. Every so often put a couple drops of BLO on your hands and rub it into the stock. It'll look wonderful.

Or...use a good polyurethane, which will apply right over the BLO (but prep the wood as shown above, up to the point where the Danish Oil was applied). I've become fond of using the new Minwax Fast Drying Polyurethane. It goes on nice and does dry fast. You can brush it or spray it. The Satin version is nice, but you may want more shine, like the semigloss or gloss.

And Tru Oil is good, and it's a proven standard.
 
Thanks Folks,
I've read your responses and the very good threads you pointed me to. Both of you seem to have similar ideas. I originally chose oil because I really like the look and feel of it. But now I'm thinking the polyurethane is a good, low maintenance way to go and the oil finish that's already started (it's very dark now) will simply still be dark. I like water-proof.

So I'll do the blow-dryer de-whiskering process and work my way through the grits mentioned with polyurethane finish as the end game. Two related questions.

1. Should I coat the inside of the stock as well? Seems like if I'm going to seal the stock I will need to do that also.

2. I will glass-bed this gun. Before the poly coat goes on so I don't poke holes through the finish?
 
The glass bedding is as good or better as a sealer than the finishes are, and you don't want varnish over top of it or it will either be too tight or act like glue.

I don't count on bedding to adhere to any finish well. It can, but I put a ball-end burr in my Fordom tool and make undercut channels to give the bedding a good toe hold.

I knew you could mix a certain amount of oil with Danish Oil, but didn't realize you could adhere varnishes well over BLO that readily. Never tried, so I guess I'm going to have to do a little experiment, now. I'd love to get that darkening under a transparent layer.
 
In areas of high humidity BLO tends to weep. For that reason alone I wouldn't choose it for a stock finish.
 
Little Rock qualifies as a high humidity place most of the time. Louisiana is worse and I spend a little time there as well. When I started this project I was in San Francisco starting my career. Now I want a rifle I've built, load ammo for it, and have it be something I'm proud to hand down to my kids... as long as they can reload for it too, I don't mind. One likes 1911's better and that's a different track. I've got her covered and it doesn't require any wood work so far.

Many thanks for the help. I'll be acting on it.
 
Boiled Linseed Oil does not weep out of the stock. Once it's dry it's there forever, whether the humidity is high or low. It is slow to dry, so you could add a small amount of Japan Drier to the oil and it'll dry faster. I've got several rifles with hand rubbed linseed oil finished stocks, and they are very pretty. One problem with BLO finished stocks is that over time the stock can continue to darken. If you have a light colored walnut stock, that isn't a problem. If the stock is real dark to begin with, oil may darken it more than you'd like. I've had that problem with one rifle stock. It's still pretty, but darker than I'd like.

Once the wood grain has been raised and dewhiskered two or three times, let it dry real good and then put a little oil back into the wood by wet sanding it with BLO and the finer grits of sandpaper. Then once it's good and dry, put the polyurethane on it. At least 2 coats of the poly, with VERY light sanding with high grit paper between coats, or you can use superfine steel wool. That's just to very lightly smooth out the next to last coat, so the final coat will be perfectly flat. Be careful not to sand through that first light coat of polyurethane. You don't want to do that.

That's how I'd do it, but others may suggest alternate approaches that will look just as good.
 
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