Refinishing GPR Stock

The glossy finishes are quite unappealing to me, although they do supply excellent all weather protection....just don't like a shiny stock on a MLer.

After the stain is dry, a hard rub w/ 0000 steel wool to remove any unabsorbed stain and whiskers.

To achieve the same protection but w/o the shine, I use the following finishes and procedures. 3 wipe on/wipe off coats of LMF sealer out of the can, let it soak in for 10-15 mins and wipe off. A complate dry between coats. After the last coat is completely dry, a hard rub down to the wood w/ 0000 steel wool. This removes any surface sealer.

Three sparse, finger rubbed in coats of Wahkon Bay Trucoat w/ a complete dry between coats completes the finishing. Nothing else is req'd. This procedure yields a very low sheen finish which requires a good rub down w/ a fluffy towel to bring ourt any shine. Below is a BC LR w/ this finish....Fred

Good Morning Joe4702,

If it is not too late, do not strip your stock of finish and definately NEVER, NEVER use linseed oil on walnut. Over a period of time linseed oil, raw or boiled, will turn walnut black.

For refinishing. obtain a rubber sanding block as used in automotve body re-paint work.

Use 240 grit WetorDry abrasive paper on the block and sand the stock with a mixture of 1/2 turpentine and 1/2 tung oil.

Sand down to the bare wood surface, leaving the old finish in the wood pours to act as a grain filler.

Start on the off-check piece side. This is the easiest place to start. Be care careful to not over sand and wipe out all sharp lines and edges.

Once the entire stock has been wet block sanded, use Tung oil for the new finish.

Regards to all.

John L. Hinnant

"God and Texas"

Thanks. I like the idea of not stripping the existing finish - seems harsh and messy.

Would Tru-Oil work instead of Tung for the final finish? I ordered Tru-Oil and Stock Sheen for this project based on some others recommendations.

I have most of the metal parts off the stock, but haven't done anything else yet.

Good Evening Joe,

The Tru-oil is a good finish. My preference for stock work has always been oil. Over the years I have used, G-B Linspeed and tung oil, and Tru-oil with good results.

I like using tung oil as a base finish because it penetrate so well in the wood. Tru-oil and G-B are very compatible with tung oil.

Tru-oil and G-B work fine without tung oil as a base.

Now about removing the metal parts; here is your dilema.You will ineverabily (that is probably spelled wrong) sand the edges of the wood below the mating edges of the metal parts. That will definately look very bad.

If you leave the metal parts on the stock while sanding, you will also ineverabily sand over some of the metal, and that looks bad. but, in my NSHO, not nearly as bad as wood sanded below the mating metel edges.

So...., what to do, what to do. I personally do not have a problem removing some of the metal finish if it takes that to insure a good wood to metal match up.

Touch up blue will help, but never quite matchs the original blue.

So I sugesst that you do not worry about some blue off of your metal parts. After the stock job is finished, clean up the metal and brown or blue those affected parts.That is not a difficult procedure.

Of course there is the third option. Think about all of the work, decide it is more trouble than it is worth, the stock really does not look that bad, and forget the whole idea.

I have done that on ocassion.

One advantage in using my method is that you can work on one section at a time and still have your rifle ready to use,

I suggest that you start your block sanding on the off-cheek piece side of the butt stock, This is a nice large area to start with.

The ose of the sanding/wetting agent of 1/2 and 1/2 tung oil/paint thinner results in putting finish back on your stock as you are removing the old finish.

So if you are instantly struck by an over whelming urge to shoot the rifle, you will not have bare wood exposed.

Hope this will help you. Keep in mind, there is not a big rush to to do this job other than the rush you put on yourself.

My regards to all.

John L. Hinnant

"God and Texas"

Have to respectfully disagree about the linseed oil, boiled or not. It doesn't turn walnut black, it just keeps getting redder with age. I've got M1's and Springfields from WWII and earlier, and the older they are, the more beautiful that "armory red" gets. I've restored a dozen or more of the same, be it refurbishing old stocks or using new wood, and they only turn red. Brownell's boiled linseed oil, for some reason, reddens up a whole lot faster than every other brand I've tried. What would take a decade or more with other brands, Brownell's brand does in a month.

IMO, linseed oil will blacken with time.
Linseed oil will oxidize and when it does it tends to turn black.

That is the reason so many of the really old guns have such a dark finish on their stocks.

Getting back to the here and now, it takes years and years for the darkness to increase. It doesn't happen overnight or even in 10 to 15 years.
We're talking about 75 + years before it starts to become noticeable.

I'm looking at a stock that was finished only with boiled linseed oil and it is showing a little darkening.

Boy! Time flies! I applied that finish 50 years ago! :shocked2:

I applied that finish 50 years ago!

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I get tired of hearing you old guys talking about the past. :wink: :redface: :rotf:

Good Morning Cowboy2,

Your disagreement is respectfully noted.

Have a great day.

My respects to All,

John L. Hinnant

"God and Texas"

preface: i'm not prone to messing with PC acid finishes. not my bag. just sayin'.

my preference for wood finish is a rubbed in resin clear coat over stain (IF the wood needs staining - lots don't, imo).

i would Never use raw tung oil, it will never "cure" and is always tacky. worst manure around, followed by linseed.

resin based tung oil will cure but will take 3x as long to dry off than tru-oil or my fave, min-wax wipe on polyu.

"blo" (boiled linseed oil) is another "finish" i just steer clear of as it's more bother and time consuming than using a resin based rubbed in clear coat.

for stain, either water or resin based. pays to do some testing on scrap wood, from the stock would be best of all, if any. AND do the clear over the stain as clear will continually darken the hue as the coats go on.

4/0 steel wool 'tween coats, pick up any wool hairs with a magnet, paper towel down with a bit of naptha, then a dry paper towel, repeat the clear coat process.

the beginning coats of clear blend in with the stain, making "shader coats" - stain mixed with clear. you can see that with the paper toweling. when the toweling is pretty free of stain, the top coats will be mostly just clear coats.

the finish can get real glossy, but a buffing with 4/0 wool will take it down to semi-gloss, or satin, or even a matte final finish.

ymmv.

Wanted to give an update on this stock refinishing project.

After re-reading all of the good advice on this thread, I decided to not sand the stock. The factory wood-to-metal fit is pretty good in most areas and I didn't want to chance messing that up.

I applied chemical stripper to a small test area under the trigger guard. The factory stain has black streaks which I was unable to fully remove after several applications of stripper.

I'm afraid if I try stripping the entire stock, I'll either end up with an ugly mess or a heck of a lot of work to completely remove all traces of the old dark stain (I wanted to go to a lighter stain).

So for now, I'm applying some coats of Tru-Oil over the existing finish, to be followed in a month by Stock Sheen and then paste wax.

If this doesn't turn out, I can always start over and try stripping first.

Good Morning rfd,

I have never had a problem using tung oil as a stock finish and consider "Old Masters" to be the best.

PERHAPS,(like maybe or maybe not) the problem lies in the application.

I use a 1" wide paint brush to apply the tung oil, continually re-coating surfaces that soak up the oil more quickly than other areas. When the tung oil starts to become tacky, the stock is wiped completly free of all surface tung oil.

The application of tung oil continues in this manner until the wood seems to refuse to soak in any more oil. At that point, the is wiped totally free of all oil and set aside for 48-72 hours or even longer if I have other work to do.

I work with the stock in this manner for 1-2 hour time period, before I am satisfied the stock has accepted all of the oil it will take at this time.

The purpose is to achieve maximum oil penatration into the wood, not build on the surface.

Too many people tend to think that tung oil on the wood surface will dry hard like a varnish or lacquer finish. Given enough time (several weeks or more) that will happen, but is a mess to deal with.

I do allow that to happen.

Hard, closed grained woods like cherry or maple do not require grain filler like walnut, therfore (for me) take less time to finish.

Walnut or any other open grain wood require filling if that type of finish is desired. For that, after using the tung oil and allowing it to thoroughly dry, I use GB Linspeed oil for a garain filler. Two or three coats are applied. allow to dry hard, the block sanded with 320 grit W or D abrasive paper.

GB Linspeed is not the only quick drying oil finish that can be used. It is just an old personal favorite

A mixture of half and half tung oil/turpentine is used a wetting agent with the 320 paper to keep the grit from "filling" during the block sanding.

This process is repeated until I have achieved the desired level of finish. After the final block sanding, tung is once applied to the stock, then wiped clean and set aside for at least 72 hours for a final cure.

I have always liked oil finishes, because they allow the word to "breathe", quite easy to "touch up", and enhance the color and character of the wood better that "build up on the surface" varnish type finishes.

When I lived in the desert climate of Southwest Texas, humidity was very, very low, and ALL finishes dried quickly.

Since then, I have lived in North Texas, and San Antonio now for the past 30 plus years where humidity is much higher. Humidity can be a major factor in curing time for finishes. Because of this, I built a stock curing cabinet. Drying/curing time is now minimized.

Every person has to find a finishing process that works best for them. This has never been a problem for me, so I do not engage in debates about another person's procedure.

I am quite happy with my method and not inclined to change; it gives me predictable, good results. If you can use it, fine; if not that is also fine.

My Respects to All,

John L. Hinnant

"God and Texas"

Rifleman1776 said:

I applied that finish 50 years ago!

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I get tired of hearing you old guys talking about the past. :wink: :redface: :rotf:

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Here's a blast from the past, just for you Rifleman1776:





I put this GPR kit together some 31 years ago. I recontoured the comb and added a grease hole, which were more the rule of the time. After shaping the stock, I sanded out the rasp marks. Then shaved the whiskers from the wood, after raising them with a damp cloth, using pieces of broken glass. The stock received no staining other than what occurs with age. I applied four coats of hand rubbed Birchwood Casey's Tru-Oil. Each coat was allowed to throughly dry, Then, gone over with 0000 steel wool and buffed out with a woolen rag.

I think time is the big thing these recomodations have in common...go slow.I like lindseed oil and have a 60 year old can.Put on once a day for a week once a week for a month the once a month for a year.You cn start using after the first week.Tru-coat works as well and smells great its linseed mixed with pine tar.Laural mountian forge is almost the same and I just used it was quite sastisfied.I think tru-coat is out of bussiness but Log cabin sport shop in lodi oh has it on thier web site

Linseed oil is the historical varnishing oil of choice, as are a few other nut or seed oils that polymerize to form a tough varnish; Tung oil came into use later. Linspeed, Formby's Tung Oil Finish and the like, which you essentially paint on, as opposed to handrubbing INTO the wood, won't hold up as well to frequent use over time, and are great for furniture, but not for a gunstock that will see a lot of handling & abrasion.

Linseed oil darkening over time? So what? It won't likely have a great impact within your lifetime, anymore it did to with the 18-19th century gunmakers.

I received my GPR beginning of the year & Investarms is admittedly stingy with their oil finish. I've used a Linseed-Tung Oil blend for several decades that does take that extra time to set up, but once finally cured, will outlast any of the Foo-Foo label brands of oil finishes.

An oil finish is intended to be applied, hand rubbed in, then the excess removed. The oil needs to cure before subsequent applications can be made. Most folks don't have patience or temperament to apply the more authentic & slow-curing oil finishes, so they turn to the commercial stuff that has a quicker cure rate to match 21st century mans' short attention span.

No offence, but the idea that colonial gunsmiths hand rubbed oil, coat after coat over a period of time isn't exactly accurate.....romantic, but not accurate. They were as concerned about expedience as 21st century man.....especially during the bloody times. Another reason shellacs were also a choice finish, for expedience.

Boiled linseed oil alone wasn't used and they never would have considered using the stuff available in the hardware stores today. A quick primer on how linseed oil is processed will reveal that the amber stuff in the gallon can is about the lowest quality you can buy. The good stuff, first press, is very, very expensive but makes the best varnish and paints.

As most know, up until the lead ban linseed oil was the base for most varnishes and paints. But driers like lead had to be added. All of the ingredients are still available and some guys reboil their own for that authentic finish. The recipes are out there.

With our government today not allowing lead to paints and varnishes the companies are adding polymers and other driers to the oils. They serve the same purpose as lead, to harden and expediate drying and are probably no healthier for us.

I'm sure Stophel and some others can add more insight into period finishes. Enjoy, J.D.