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Linseed Oil Use..........

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Horserod

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I know Linseed oil is a good natural wood finish and preservative. If my finish on my old rifle is wearing pretty thin (and I don't know what was used to finish it with originally) can I use Linseed oil to refresh the finish ? Is Linseed oil compatible with other finishes ? Do I have to remove the old finish first and redo with Linseed oil ? I'm not very good (knowledge-wise) on painting and refinishing things.....Thanks, Horserod
 
I wouldn't use it and I would strip it before I put anything on it. But that's just the way I would do it.
 
Hi Horserod,
Let me dispell a myth: linseed oil alone is a poor finish and a poor preservative. It has little water resistance, is soft, and darkens with age. Linseed oil is pressed from flax seeds and unless artist grade, it contains a lot of organic debris, which is why it darkens with age. You can wash the manure you buy in hardware stores to produce a purer product but it is really not worth it. It was used in the past because it was cheap and available, and with the exception of military guns, it was usually mixed with resins and driers to make a varnish. Is your gun an antique? If so, be careful that you do not compromise its value by doing any refinishing. Show it to a knowledgeable collector before doing anything to the finish. If it is just an older modern-made piece then consider touching it up. Does it have a hard glossy or semi-glossy finish, or a low sheen that does not seem to be built up on the surface. If the former, chances are that it is a varnish of some sort. The latter would suggest an oil finish. If a varnish, you might try something like Formby's Tung Oil Finsh, which is a wiping varnish that contains highly altered derivitives of tung oil (but no actual tung oil). It is readily available and very easy to use but remove the buttplate and try a small amount on the wood under the plate to make sure it is compatible with the old finish. If the gun has an oil finish then try something like Minwax Antique oil finish (which is an oil-varnish mix, I think linseed oil and varnish) that should provide better protection and look similar to the original oil finish. There are many other products that likely would work but the two I mentioned are readily available. I believe there is evidence that some old guns were finished with shellac. That is easy to test for by placing a few drops of denatured alcohol on the finish (where it won't show) to see if it becomes tacky. If it does it is shellac or some other alcohol-based finish, which can be touched up with another coat of shellac. I suspect that would be very rare, however.

dave
 
Horserod said:
I know Linseed oil is a good natural wood finish and preservative. If my finish on my old rifle is wearing pretty thin (and I don't know what was used to finish it with originally) can I use Linseed oil to refresh the finish ? Is Linseed oil compatible with other finishes ? Do I have to remove the old finish first and redo with Linseed oil ? I'm not very good (knowledge-wise) on painting and refinishing things.....Thanks, Horserod

Befor you spend a lot of time refinishing, try giving it a coat of Ballistol and see how you like the results.
 
Va.Manuf.06 said:
flintlock62 said:
Befor you spend a lot of time refinishing, try giving it a coat of Ballistol and see how you like the results.


Why would you even think about using Ballistol on wood? Metal, okay, but wood?


Exactly! NEVER put any kind of nondrying oil on wood. It is NOT good for the wood at all!!!
 
The only thing I use linseed oil for is sanding and I mix it with thinner when sanding. Like the man says it keeps darkening and is very slow drying . Actually it seems to never dry completely.
IMHO- you might as well put motor oil on it as Balistol. Unless you want to strip it, I would just use a good stock wax like the man said.
 
I have used linseed oil on my ww2 military stocks
because thats what they used.Why they did I have
no idea.

As said above,it's no water repellant.I have used
it over & over and never will again.

Fly :barf:
 
Proper, usable linseed oil is not generally available today. AND, most people simply do not know how to apply it.

Modern linseed oil (calling the store-bought stuff "Boiled" linseed oil is a lie from the pit of Hell...) can be made to work, I suppose, but you CANNOT "flood and soak" it and ever expect it to dry.
 
Tung Oil mixed with mineral spirits will protect the wood better and dry better since linnseed oil really doesn't cure out like the tung oil will. :hmm:
 
Well I did hear that the US started using tung
oil on the first M1 garands & only stopped using
it because some folks were allergy to it.

That was the only reason for going to linseed
oil.
Fly
 
Thanks everybody ! I think I have enough info on how to go about refreshing my rifle's wood stock. The rifle was made 20 yrs ago and I can't locate the builder to find out what he used. I've tried to use good wood wax, but, it doesn't seem to hold up well. It gets rather dull after cleaning sessions when wate(and a little soap mixed in) gets on the stock. Actually, there are water drip lines down the the stock after cleaning water seeps a little out of the TH and runs down. I am guessing it is an oil finish of some kind. Horserod
 
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