Wooden Stock Treatment

[DennisCA]

Most of the firearms I own have wooden stocks, a lot of them are C&R's.

So what's a good product to use on them?

 

[Buzzcook]

Mild detergent in warm water to clean them. Oil based furniture polish every once in a while. Auto paste wax to protect the finish.

Refinishing is another matter.

 

[wogpotter]

To use, or to preserve for a collection?

Different techniques & materials suit the different applications.

 

[PetahW]

.

I use Howard's Feed 'N Wax, found in most good harware stores or Home Cheapo/Lowe's.

http://www.howardproducts.com/prod-feed-n-wax.php

.

 

[DennisCA]

wogpotter- To use, or to preserve for a collection?

All my guns are shooters, no wall-hangers (so far).

So I guess I'll need something to preserve the wood, since of my guns are fairly old.

 

[tahunua001]

the two most common are boiled linseed oil and pure tung oil. japanese and american rifles used BLO, as far as I know most europeans flip flopped back and forth between PTO and BLO, ruskies used shellac.

for the most part either BLO or PTO are acceptable on anything with PTO giving a shinier finish for guys that like their warhorses decorative. I use linseed on all my guns. it's easily removed if anyone wants to.

 

[wogpotter]

OK.

It depends on the original finish. Mostly because you don't want incompatible layers reacting.

British rifle. Linseed oil. If the finish is matte & almost tacky raw linseed, if it's semi-gloss & non tacky Boiled Linseed Oil (BLO).

US prior to the end of WW2 BLO.
US after WW2: Tung oil.

Russian: any kind of hard varnish, shellac preferred.

Japanese: I have no idea someone else will chip in on that one.

Hey, at least I got you started off

 

[tahunua001]

wogpotter, as far as I have been able to ascertain, the japs used linseed oil as well.

 

[Tidewater_Kid]

The original finish on Japanese rifles was Urushi. Found this on another forum...

By Cabinetman:
The Urushi was, in fact, the finish as you've indicated. However, while it's called a "lacquer", it's really a distillation of a tree sap from a family of trees related to the Sumac family. And, not the pretty, edible Sumac, but the one we called "poison Sumac". There have been many cases of guys who sand away the original failed finish only to break out in a terrible rash, even inside their mouths as this stuff powders up easily. So, keep that in mind.

TK

 

[gdvan01]

I've used Tom's 1/3 Mix on my Garand and a Vietnam bring-back SKS:

http://www.thegunstockdoctor.com/