High Gloss to oil finish with steel wool?
- Thread starter GaryO7
- Start date
TylerD45ACP
New member
Dont mess with it if you really dont know what your doing. Have someone who does work on it. I dont want you to make a mistake that will make you go 
then 
after. Leave it to the gunsmith.
then after. Leave it to the gunsmith.Absotively
I have done this to tone down the glare on a high gloss wooded stocks so see no reason why it would not work on other finishes. I use 0000 steel wool as others have used as well. I have also used Turtle auto rubbing compound. they make two grades of courseness. Take care in the peaks and outside sharp edges as you are likely to remove more than you like. ...
You just want to knock down that shine.
Be Safe !!!
I have done this to tone down the glare on a high gloss wooded stocks so see no reason why it would not work on other finishes. I use 0000 steel wool as others have used as well. I have also used Turtle auto rubbing compound. they make two grades of courseness. Take care in the peaks and outside sharp edges as you are likely to remove more than you like. ...
You just want to knock down that shine.
Be Safe !!!
I've done a BLR using stock rubbing compound. The result didn't really look like an oil finish, but it did knock the shiny factory finish back a bit and looked nice.
I don't remember the exact compound I used, but it was similar to this. I would contact Brownells Technical Support: 800-741-0015 and discuss what you have in mind. They have rubbing compound in several different grits and would know what's best.
I don't remember the exact compound I used, but it was similar to this. I would contact Brownells Technical Support: 800-741-0015 and discuss what you have in mind. They have rubbing compound in several different grits and would know what's best.
Soft and Easy, is the game !!!
Gary,
If you are comfortable with doing it, just go easy and light. Start out on the flats and for now, go up to but don't touch the sharp edges. That is where your coat, is the thinnest. In time, they will dull down, with use. I have had many good results and only one failure. I now have to go back and refinish that stock.
Be Safe !!!
Gary,
If you are comfortable with doing it, just go easy and light. Start out on the flats and for now, go up to but don't touch the sharp edges. That is where your coat, is the thinnest. In time, they will dull down, with use. I have had many good results and only one failure. I now have to go back and refinish that stock.
Be Safe !!!
603Country
New member
If you're going to use the steel wool, dip the 0000 steel wool in some paste wax. That'll reduce the abrasion just a bit and it'll help the wool pad slide over the finish. As for what wax, I use just plain old Johnson's Paste Wax most of the time. Keep plenty of wax on the pad. You will wind up with pieces of steel wool in the can of wax, so it'll be only good for use with steel wool after this. Rub lightly. There's no need to bear down, which might cause an uneven result. If you have a sealed finish now, it's unlikely that any steel wool will wind up in the finish. Just rub and then buff with a soft towel. You'll probably have to go over the finish several times until you get it just the way you want it.
The auto rubbing compound suggestion someone had is also a good way to go. That isn't what I do in wood finishing, so I can't comment on whether or not the auto rubbing compound will give as good as or a better result.
The auto rubbing compound suggestion someone had is also a good way to go. That isn't what I do in wood finishing, so I can't comment on whether or not the auto rubbing compound will give as good as or a better result.
Ideal Tool
Moderator
Hello, Gary07. How about Birchwood Casey stock rubbibg compound? This stuff is pretty fine, & will take the sheen down. Is this on your Browning Hornet? Be careful about going thru finish..Years ago, I was talking to a custom stockmaker friend at local G.S. Fellow came up with a stock that for color, looked all the world like a piece of white pine! He said it came off his Browning BAR..decided to strip old finish off & this happened. He said it had the most fantastic grain pattern before..jet black swirls in a dark honey colored background. Wanted to know if stockmaker could "bring it back"?
Well..it seems the Japanese stock finishing girls would "paint" grain patterns on plain stock wood! I don't think that goes on anymore, & yours is probably ok..but that does sound strange!
Well..it seems the Japanese stock finishing girls would "paint" grain patterns on plain stock wood! I don't think that goes on anymore, & yours is probably ok..but that does sound strange!
603Country
New member
I'd be careful with the steel wool rubbing, and I'd for sure use the wax, and I really don't think that you could rub all the way through the finish with 0000 steel wool unless you really went to town on it hard. And as for taking all the finish off and then redoing it in oil, I don't think that's what the poster had in mind. All that's desired is to take the shine off the finish, and you can do that in several ways. Any way that you choose, I'd still go real slow. You can always take a bit more finish and/or shine off, but you can't put it back. And, regarding painting on a grain pattern, I've had to do that once. Really cheap wood on a beat up old 22 LR. I took the nasty old finish leftovers off, but what I had left to work with wasn't figured Walnut. More like cheap yellowish beech or something similar. I could not make that wood look good, try as I might, so I finally put a couple coats of shellac on it to seal the wood and then I took some walnut colored wipe-on finish and 'painted' it carefully on top of the shellac, using soft T shirt cotton. I had to wipe it clean and restart a couple of times, but I finally figured out how to make it look good. then 2 more coats of shellac and some wax and 0000 steel wool. It wasn't a presentation grade result, but not bad for a 22 worth maybe 25 bucks.
I'm not nuts about the "High Gloss Finishes" either and have refinished several Browning "bartops". The Browning finish takes time and patience to remove, no quick strip there, several applications and some careful sanding to get to a start point.
They use a toner in their finish that has resulted in some interesting finds once it's off. Hidden underneath can be:
A REALLY wonderful piece with high figure and color [my 1885 45/70]
A well done but obvious factory repair to the forearm of a friends BSS 20ga
Some times pretty plain jane Walnut with a knot or two. [ my 20ga Citori]
All looked much better with an old fashioned and labor intensive hand rubbed oil finish. Takes several weeks to do right, but it keeps me out of the bars and off the streets of an evening.
Mike J
They use a toner in their finish that has resulted in some interesting finds once it's off. Hidden underneath can be:
A REALLY wonderful piece with high figure and color [my 1885 45/70]
A well done but obvious factory repair to the forearm of a friends BSS 20ga
Some times pretty plain jane Walnut with a knot or two. [ my 20ga Citori]
All looked much better with an old fashioned and labor intensive hand rubbed oil finish. Takes several weeks to do right, but it keeps me out of the bars and off the streets of an evening.
Mike J