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Refinish a T/C Hawken stock

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N.Y. Yankee

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I've got the wood sanded with 320 after raising the grain. I'm wondering about a good finish for it. It's nice walnut with fancy grain. Not sure if I should use a light stain or not. I'm leaning toward plain wood but . I was thinking of a beeswax finish but I would like to know what you have used in the past for top coat finish. Curious about Tung oil, Danish oil, Spar Urethane and Varnish as well as Tru-oil as I have access to all of them. Which do you like best and why?
 
My T/C with Tung Oil only.


TC_Hawken.jpg
The tung oil will darken the walnut very nicely without need to stain. Listen to CTShooter.
 
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No, if your touching up, it's some place where the finish has been compromised, so a little burlap, a little oil, make everything happy again, light coat of wax every now and then, a rifle that looks good wants too shoot good
 
CTShooter, thanks a bunch! I'm understanding that once you finish the wood with tung oil, you then only wax the stock for maintenance and only use Tung Oil again to finish a repair to the wood?
 
Pretty much, if you use the gun the finish wears, just like any other finish. So if you have a spot that looks worn or thin, throw a little oil on it, wax it after a few days and go shoot. Just like on a car the wax is there to protect, it protects by keeping the surface smooth, so stuff doesn't stick in the first place, and 2 by wearing away and taking the junk that does stick with it.
 
I refinished a T/C stock last summer. I used a friends method of stripping the stock (Thanks bubba.50). Like you, I had several options for finishes on hand, so I figured why not put them to good use. Searched online for "Homemade Tru-oil" and found a mixture similar to the following; 60% Tung Oil, 30% Boiled Linseed Oil and 10% Mineral Spirits with a few drops of Japan Drier. The only thing I had to purchase was the Japan Drier...Illinois is very humid in the summer and I figured it to be a good idea to help the finish along with a Drier.

finsihed.jpg
 
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TC Hawken.JPG
After doing some alterations on the stock of my TC Hawken to rid it of being a cheekslapper, I sanded w/ 220 grit and applied 1 coat of LMF sealer w/ a complete dry and then a grain filler. When dry, another sanding w/ 220 grit and another coat of LMF sealer. I don't wax the stocks.....the finish should be good enough to withstand wear.
 
I am a Tru-oil fan if I don't have any Chambers finish.

True story, I was just finishing up my Kieler SMR, had a bottle of the Chambers finish on my workbench to finish the wood with. My heat pump guy came over to work on my unit, he is committed to giving guys out on parole a new start and has trained at least a dozen so they can get a job in the industry.

He had one of those guys with him that evening, I showed them the SMR I was building. While they were working the company owner's fluke came up missing. The next day I went out to my shop and the bottle of Chambers finish was gone, one ramrod pipe and months later I found out that one of the drawknives in my collection was gone as well, the most valuable one. It was like the ex-con took trophies from my shop while I wasn't looking.

The Chambers finish is the best I have ever used, I didn't want to order another bottle as it is pricy with shipping for only one item, all I had left was Tru-oil.

I like the stuff, easy to put on, easy to blend it you want to add a little touch-up down the road and always available at Walmart if you needed more. I put on 5 or 6 coats and give the first 3 or 4 coats a light sanding between applications, I knock the sheen off with a green scotch bright pad.

Three Tru-oil finished guns;
finished Renegads 002.JPG


TC cheek side.JPG


kibler walnut curl.JPG


Chambers finish;

fowler selfies 003.JPG
squirrel rifle done 009.JPG
 
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Was kind of planning to do a oil-sanding where you use a drop of oil and sand it in and let dry then sand in another coat etc, etc.
I think Pete G and I are at opposite ends of the scale when it comes to sanding wood.

On walnut, if I want to fill the grain using the oil and sanding method, I use 180 or 220 grit paper as the finest grade I would ever use on wood for any finish sanding.
Sandpaper finer than that ends up just crushing the surface of the wood removing almost no sanding dust wood fibers to fill the pores in the surface. Just remember to always sand in the direction of the grain at this stage of finishing a stock.
 
I think Pete G and I are at opposite ends of the scale when it comes to sanding wood.

On walnut, if I want to fill the grain using the oil and sanding method, I use 180 or 220 grit paper as the finest grade I would ever use on wood for any finish sanding.
Sandpaper finer than that ends up just crushing the surface of the wood removing almost no sanding dust wood fibers to fill the pores in the surface. Just remember to always sand in the direction of the grain at this stage of finishing a stock.
I have plenty of 240 wet paper so that is what I use unless the grain is real open, then may go to 180 or 150. Bit different (not talking gun stocks), but with a real open wood like oak, have found even 150 to be a bit to fine at times if you are looking to fill grain.
 
Hi,
A very good way to finish walnut is to apply an oil like tung oil or linseed and wet sand it with 220 grit paper. Sand to build a slurry of finish and sawdust on the surface that fills the open grain of walnut. Let it dry, and then sand the dried slurry off to the wood surface using 320 paper. After that, simply apply a little finish, wipe off the excess and let dry. Repeat applications of finish until you have the sheen you desire. I use polymerized tung oil from Sutherland-Welles. Polymerized oil is heat treated so it dries much faster than untreated oil. Raw tung or linseed oil will take a long time to cure and it is better to mix it with a varnish to speed drying. No need to do that with polymerized oil. The guns below were finished as I described. The walnut was stained using alkanet root infused in mineral oil, a classic stain used by English makers during the 18th and 19th centuries.
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dave
 
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