Agree !!!Raw linseed oil would be the last thing I would ever want on a gun stock. It would stay gummy for years.
I don't want to derail this thread too badly, but does anyone use a "sanding sealer" as a first coat?
I don't use sanding sealers very often either, but when restoring Winchester stocks, I use shellac as a sanding filler. It's what the workers at Winchester used before WW2. It's quick and gives acceptable result. I don't particularly like to use it because it gives a yellowish cast to the wood (yes, just like pre-war Winchesters).Whenever I choose to fill, which isn't often, I use commercial fillers.
At the most protective end are the polymerized oils and wiping varnishes. These are oils like linseed oil and tung oil that have been heated close to 500°F in a non-oxidizing atmosphere for a temperature-dependent amount of time which causes the oil molecules to partially cross-link (cross-linking is what curing is) to form long molecular chains that are very good at resisting water. Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil is an example. The downside is a glossy finish, though you can add flattening agents to wiping varnish.
Doyle,
Bob Flexner explained the term "tung oil finish" in the industry just means the finish the product produces resembles an actual tung oil finish in appearance, but doesn't mean there is any actual tung oil in it.
It's not driers so much as the heat polymerizing that make Tru-Oil effective where BLO is not. Same with that whole class of finishes. I don't know much about the wiping oils other than that Flexner rated them at the top of the protection level for oil finishes.
A friend of mine who is a cabinet maker put me on to the Danish oils. He said he liked the combination of hardness and appearance. They don't have UV blockers, but he said the blockers compromise hardness to a degree, so he didn't like them for tables. Besides, people don't leave their dining tables outdoors. We don't keep our rifles outside for extended periods, either, so it's hard to accumulate a lot of UV yellowing and embrittling.
My friend, applies Danish oil finishes by rubbing them in with progressively finer wet/dry sandpaper, going from 320 to 400 to 600 grit. It seems to fill in the grains well. It does have to be wiped