Is it possible to tint oil finish to bring back color

[Unclenick]

I've had very good luck raising dents by using an 80W chisel tip soldering iron. Just put a fairly damp terrycloth rag over the dent and apply the iron. That keeps the steam local to it. If it's badly crushed, then a grain filler as mentioned earlier may keep the dye from over-darkening the crushed grains.

If you have a moisture problem where you are, you can seal the whole stock into a polyethylene bag with some desiccant for a couple of weeks before you apply the first coat of finish.

As already mentioned, Flexner comments that items called Tung Oil Finishes merely look like tung nut oil finishes, but often contain no tung oil themselves. You can add driers to tung oil. Again. Flexner walks you through all that.

 

[waltin]

Thank you all for your ideas and suggestions on my stock build issues, I've posted some pictures of stock as it stands right now. The hand guard is another issue which I had posted a cosmoline question as that piece of wood is still being developed. Sorry for the picture layout but I think you'll see the process.

 

[Dixie Gunsmithing]

waltin;

There's a possibility that any black spots in the wood on that stock can be bleached out, and then the stock can be stained to match all over. I have done this on a lot of stocks, especially stocks that the area next to the receiver, at the start of the grips, are oil stained.

They make a wood bleaching agent, but you can use plain chlorine bleach. Just wet a rag with bleach, and apply it to the darkened wood for a while, until it bleaches it out to the color to match the surrounding wood. If you leave it on long enough, it will turn it white, so you have to check its progress.

I tired supposedly pure tung oil, by Watco, and didn't care much for it at all. The third coat took about 1-1/2 to 2 days to dry, and no matter how smooth the wood is, it raised the grain really bad, and you could get no gloss at all from it. It was just a dull lifeless finish. I think that's why other companies mix varnish, etc. with it, as pure tung oil isn't really that great. Luckily, the .22 rifle stock I tried it on, wasn't a customers job, and I had to still apply a coat of Tru-Oil to it to get it to look good. I gave the two pints of it, that I bought, to a neighbor, to put on bird houses.

Tru-Oil has some boiled Linseed oil in it, but I don't know the amount. I know it has a bunch of other additives so it will dry quickly, and build up a nice finish. I don't think they ever did have a list of ingredients on the packaging, nor have them listed on a MSDS sheet.

 

[waltin]

I'm glad you mentioned bleach I was reading about bleaches in the Flexner book. What do you use to stop the bleaching action before the wood goes white? I have some scattered dark spots about an1/8" and less in diameter that I will try to bleach. Thanks

 

[Evan Thomas]

waltin, I think right now your stock looks like it's going to turn out great. I wouldn't mess around with bleach at this stage; the time to do that is after something is stripped, during the sanding process, but before staining. It might be something to try on your next project, though.

Here's an excellent article on wood bleaches by Jeff Jewitt, who is a true expert on both wood finishing and dealing with old wooden objects.

As to neutralizing, the general principle is that you're trying to return the surface of the wood to a neutral-ish pH, so you'd use an acidic neutralizer for an alkaline stain, or vice versa. For example, here's what Jewitt says about neutralizing two-part bleach: "Neutralize the alkaline effect of this bleach after the wood is dry by applying a weak acid like vinegar. Use white vinegar mixed one part vinegar to two parts water."

 

[Dixie Gunsmithing]

You want to neutralize any bleach outside, or at a window, etc, if you use a lot, as it can emit a chlorine type gas, similar to some of the stuff used in WWI. A small spot or two isn't that bad, but just a warning about it, if you bleach an entire stock, and it soaked up a bunch. Actually, there is several chemicals that can make bleach do this. Anyhow, you use Vinegar, like Vanya said, and if it is strong, or marketed as the stronger Acetic acid, then you need to dilute it.

To apply the bleach, you wet a rag with it, then rap the rag around the spot on the wood that needs lightening. However, since you've already stained yours, it might be a job getting it the right color again, I'm not sure. The smaller spots, you might get by with applying a little with a cotton ball, or a Q-Tip.

 

[waltin]

Vanya, yes I agree at this point I don't want to mess with the color of the stock. I should have been more spacific as I was refering to the unfinished hand guard(s) that have black spots, which I'd like to remove. Check out the photo attachment. I think both of these guards would be a good experment to try to knock back or out the dark spots with a bleach formular. One has more spots than the other. And the other is the one I've been trying to get the oil out. Thanks

 

[waltin]

Dixie, I have acidic acid left over from some B&W photo work, can I use this and dilute it with water as a neutralizer?

 

[Dixie Gunsmithing]

waltin,

It is according to how strong it is. It may have to be diluted a good bit to use, or maybe not. The percentage of acetic acid is in Vinegar is around 8%, but you would need it down to that percentage range. Its pretty mild, as the amount of Chlorine in bleach isn't that strong. A too strong amount of any acid could damage wood fibers when applied, and what you have, I couldn't say. See the two links below;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinegar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetic_acid

This is from the article on Bleach from Wikipedia:

"Chlorine-based bleaches"

"Chlorine-based bleaches are found in many household cleaners. The concentration of chlorine-based bleaches is often expressed as percent active chlorine where one gram of a 100% active chlorine bleach has the same bleaching power as one gram of chlorine. These bleaches can react with other common household chemicals like vinegar and ammonia to produce toxic gases. Labels on sodium hypochlorite bleach warn about these interactions".

And,

"Sodium hypochlorite"
Main article: Sodium hypochlorite

"Sodium hypochlorite is the most commonly encountered bleaching agent, usually as a dilute (3-6%) solution in water. This solution of sodium hypochlorite, commonly referred to as simply "bleach", was also one of the first mass-produced bleaches. It is produced by passing chlorine gas through a dilute sodium hydroxide solution"

 

[waltin]

Dixie, I'll use the vinegar, the acidic acid I have for photography is a strong 28%. Nope I'll not play a round with that when vinegar is so cheap.

 

[Unclenick]

White vinegar is usually more like 5%. You can dilute your glacial acetic acid. At 28% its specific gravity is 1.039. So measure 5.5 fluid ounces and add it to 26.5 fluid ounces of distilled water to make up a quart of 5% acetic acid.