Recommendation for polishing English Walnut stock

What polish do you'll recommend for bringing out the natural beauty in an English Walnut rifle stock?

I know I'll catch flack for it but I am a firm believer in boiled linseed oil. Not a quickie finish, but easily repaired and goes back a long time. Just my $00.02 worth.
Dave

Hi,
Are asking for stains, finish? I believe the most effective stain for English walnut is alkanet root. You can buy powdered root and place 3-4 table spoons in 80-10 oz of mineral spirits and let it sit for a week or so. Then strain it with a coffee filter and use the liquid as a stain. Many different finishes are fine on walnut including linseed oil-varnish mixes and polymerized tung oil. However, a trick for finishing is to apply the first coats with 220 grit sand paper. Sand until the oil and saw dust create a slurry on the surface of the wood. Then let that dry. Once dry, sand off the slurry and smooth the surface. The slurry will fill the open pore in walnut and create a very smooth finish. Next, just apply coats of finish with a rag, let sit for 10 minutes, and wipe off all the excess finish. Let dry thoroughly and apply as many more coats as necessary to achieve the gloss you desire. The guns below were finished in that manner.









dave

I didn't mention that I like lower sheen than most folks. Here is my GPR stock.
Dave

p

Very handsome result! The English Walnut is beautiful on my Baker Rifle, but it doesn't look like a show gun. She's a shooter and I used to hunt with her, so I was not interested in a very flashy stock. She has been a safe queen for the past 10 years while I have pursued other shooting sports. So I have been considering selling her, so the idea was to use a slight amount of oil to bring out the beauty of the wood.

1950DAVE said:

I know I'll catch flack for it but I am a firm believer in boiled linseed oil. Not a quickie finish, but easily repaired and goes back a long time. Just my $00.02 worth.
Dave

Click to expand...

That will make english extremely dark to black over time.

I do not see any english walnut above, at least what I call english. Steriotypical english has very dark stripes that flow with the grain. The remainder is more pale. The wood is very hard. Staining it will make it all go very dark and obscure the grain. I ignored that advice years ago and made a very expensive stock not look it's best. I stained it and used linseed. IT was a big mistake.

I don't know the origin of the wood included in the Lyman kit but understood that it was a European walnut. French, Circasian, or other I have no idea. No stain on my rifle. Natural wood with BLO rubbed in with the palm of the hand. I suggest looking into what Howe , in The Modern Gunsmith has to say. Although published about 70 yrs ago he has some good thoughts on finishing stocks.
Dave

I have worked on three GPRs. None of those appeared to have walnut stocks. They were all a dark hardwood with a very open grain. It was weak wood it spit more easily than walnut. It was difficult to cut cleanly. It had a green coloration. IT did not smell like walnut when cut. I have no information on where the Lyman contractors sourced wood over the years. I recall Traditions was a contractor of those guns.

I have Howe's books, they are interesting and historical. I get the feeling he did not actually do everything he wrote about in them.

Renaisance has a following with high quality furniture restorers.

Even in the early 1800's English Wild or Field Walnut was a bit like Rocking Horse $*!t. The Baker was a working Military rifle built at time of war and therefore as cheaply as possible. What ever the wood it was wood. To restore that old oil finish find Artist Refined Linseed oil as spend the next month of evenings in front of the TV with a fine leather pad and lots of cleaning waste. You could be surprised if the partner still gives you House space. OLD DOG..

Americos, Since you said it is a working gun I would not put too much effort into getting a gloss finish. From the pictures you attached you can see the wood pores are not filled in. In your case I believe you would be satisfied just waxing it. On some guns that are dark wood I have used Minwax Dark. It works well for a working gun finish.