For Walnut stocks I'm still a fan of Birchwood Casey's Tru Oil. I dislike a highly reflective glossy finish. Tru-oil for guns that actually are used as intended, when ya screw up and drop your gun it is easy to fix a Tru Oil finish.
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To Strip or Not To Strip
- Thread starter Bear-of-Grayling
- Start date
This is a BSA .22 Mercury Challenger Carbine I refinished some time ago. I don’t normally like gloss, but it came out so pretty. And has a fine British blue job to match. Period 4x Bushnell Sportview scope. The repainted back block and trigger guard are flawless. Recut the checkers.
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That's really nice, K! In the 1980s I sold brand-new BSA springers (mostly the carbines), including the Mercury Challengers, Airsporter S, and Stutzens. Cool guns; wish I still owned the ones of each I had for myself. Some wore the same scope as your Challenger.
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I’m not a gloss fan either. But that has a shine that comes across like more of a satin. Sometimes when a satin is applied with many perfect coats it ends up looking more like a gloss. That is a very nice finish.
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Thank you. It has good depth when viewed in person.
After staining for the final finish I slapped a few coats of tru oil on and then blocked it out. Skip sanding between those first filler coats. All sanding in between coats does is put finish on your floor and risks sanding the stain off. Beech fills easy. Getting beech stripped clean and stained well is usually the trickiest part.
Then just rubbed the Tru oil dry half way up. Dry enough to hold in a few hours. Then rub it on the other half and blend in the middle. About two coats that way. Easy. Tru oil does blend in very well. Even for touchups.
Some apply with their fingers but it's much easier/faster to apply with a cotton cloth patch. Puts on just the right amount for rubbing dry and easier to avoid flooding the checkers.
There's nothing wrong about a gloss finish if that's what you want. Tru oil is fast and easy and is ok for a lot of guns. Depends.
After staining for the final finish I slapped a few coats of tru oil on and then blocked it out. Skip sanding between those first filler coats. All sanding in between coats does is put finish on your floor and risks sanding the stain off. Beech fills easy. Getting beech stripped clean and stained well is usually the trickiest part.
Then just rubbed the Tru oil dry half way up. Dry enough to hold in a few hours. Then rub it on the other half and blend in the middle. About two coats that way. Easy. Tru oil does blend in very well. Even for touchups.
Some apply with their fingers but it's much easier/faster to apply with a cotton cloth patch. Puts on just the right amount for rubbing dry and easier to avoid flooding the checkers.
There's nothing wrong about a gloss finish if that's what you want. Tru oil is fast and easy and is ok for a lot of guns. Depends.
Upvote 0