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Pure Tung Oil will not dry to a gloss/hard finish. Stay away from the products that say Tung Oil with a list hardeners, etc.
The oil I use is Hope’s (Not Hoppe’s)–The label reads: Hope’s +100% Pure+ TUNG OIL Just Wipe On No Additives All Natural Solvent-Free Zero VOC Penetrates & Protects.
It is available on eBay as you read this. Other internet stores should have it also. Woodworking, lumber, hardware stores may have it. I heard, but never found any there, that some craft stores sell it. When I was searching for it, I was not using a computer to access sales. After searching around town for pure Tung Oil and not finding it, I returned to our old-fashioned hardware store down town–(3rd generation owners, I believe) still has wooden floor boards and unheated back rooms. Anyway–I asked if they could find the oil and order a batch. They did, and we all lived happily ever after.
In your fairy tale, use a 1-to-1 ratio of Tung Oil to Mineral Spirits. When you mix it, make a small batch–the mineral spirits evaporate unless completely sealed. If it evaporates, the oil will go on thick and will not penetrate adequately, nor will it dry as readily as it should. Mix a very small batch. It won’t take much to pamper your rifle.
I use an eye-dropper (but I am looking for other dispensers that will also work.) Apply a few drops or a small smear of the mixture to your stock. Spread it, rub it, enjoy working on your rifle. The wood will tell you when you have too much or not enough. Rub, being careful of the fragile areas of your stocks. When you feel you are merely spreading the oil around, wipe most of it off the wood with a clean cloth, then rub again with your hand. When your hand warms from the friction, you will know when to stop rubbing. Wipe with a rag again. Hand rub because you can, and say, “Aaaaaaah!”–Your rifle will shine with new Beauty. On my Winchesters, when the stocks are free of the metal pieces, I’m quite cautious once that rag is in hand–the narrow wood on the forearm and the sharp angles on the buttstock can catch the rag–and then your stocks will have those cracks and the missing wood we see on too many Winchesters.
I oil the wood when it feels as if it needs to be oiled. And you will know when that is also.
So, that is how I play with my rifles and handguns where their wood is concerned. No one instructed me. I didn’t have directions. If someone sees an error in my process, please give me a heads-up.
And–Because I hunt with my rifles in heavy rain, when I first oil a stock, I take the metal off and oil the inner areas that the metal hides. After that, those areas are seldom oiled compared to the treatments of the exposed wood.
Enjoy working with your rifles.
That’s the way I do it. When refinishing, for the first 5 coats allow at least 24 hours curing time between applications and if more coats are needed allow at least 2 days curing time between coats after the 5th one.
"This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
I have used test tubes with a cork to hold my solutions in the past. Just measure on the test tube, make a mark for the ratio that you want. I then stand them up in a can with a paper towel stuffed in it. Buy on ebay. I have two sizes…one about 3″ and one 6″. Works well for me. Peter
The local university regularly has a “used” sale. Their lab glassware is captivating–must be the Mad Scientist in me! They have a gajillion test tubes. And they likely have a cool mutant tube with a built in spout. Guess where I’ll be the next time they open.
Wincacher–Thank you for the information on curing times.
A clarification on curing time:
I live in the outskirts of Albuquerque. 5300′ elevation, average humidity about 10%, workshop temp never below 65° and often in the 80° to 95° range during the hotter months of the year. In cooler and damper environments the curing time between coats will increase.
"This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
Great information! Thanks to everyone. I got some pure Tung oil coming. You guys ever use alkaline dyes with this? Peter
I always use alkanet.
Some examples:
"This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
Gentlemen,
As shown in several of your examples, I would love to restore the beauty of my 1894 stock while not destroying it’s originality. Looks like my stock has received an additional coats(s) of lacquer or varnish that has failed. Do you think this stock would be a good candidate for rubdown with denatured alcohol / min spirits followed by tung oil? I would appreciate your thoughts.
Thanks,
Jim
Jim M. said
Gentlemen,Do you think this stock would be a good candidate for rubdown with denatured alcohol / min spirits followed by tung oil? I would appreciate your thoughts.
Thanks,
Jim
I would definitely remove the added coats of lacquer or varnish, then soak the stock overnight in mineral spirits. After letting it hang to dry for at least a day you might as well steam out any dents before hand rubbing with tung oil to restore the original appearance.
"This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
Thanks Wincacher.
– Since I don’t know the history of the rifle, I am speculating that varnish/ lacquer has been added and the “crazed” area in the butt stock is the failure of this added finish. Is this a reasonable assumption? What method and materials would you recommend to remove this material? I was thinking a rub down with min spirits and superfine steel wool might do it.
– I have read about soaking stocks in mineral spirits for the purpose of removing lubricating oil that has penetrated the wood. In your opinion, is this the purpose of the soaking procedure?
You can use steel wool to remove the “varnish” coat. The right chemical will remove this added coat. Try mineral spirits first and you can use a short bristle brush or a piece of towel or t-shirt, or the fine steel wool. Since we don’t know what the finish is, mineral spirits is the safest way to start. If that doesn’t work move on to acetone and then lacquer thinner if that doesn’t work. Denatured alcohol can also be tried but I believe that is primarily for epoxy type finishes.
The soaking in mineral spirits after the varnish has been removed will remove old hand oils, grease and other dirt from the original finish and also remove and smooth out the original linseed application so that you eventually end up with an even finish. The soaking will not remove the original stain that is in the wood. I have even boiled stocks in distilled water when a stock is extremely oil soaked and has lots of dents, but this does remove the stain and that is when I have applied alkanet.
Once you have all the finish removed to where you are satisfied, that’s when you steam out any dents if you want to do that.
The final and most gratifying step is the application of the finish. I apply pure tung oil thinned 1:1 with mineral spirits for the first 5 coats. Apply the finish with a 100% cotton patch (t-shirt or I use 2″ squares of old towels). After the first coat, hand rub the wood across the grain for about 10 minutes about an hour after each application of finish. Allow the finish to cure for at least 24 hours after each of the initial 5 coats. After that I use the tung oil cut 1:2 with mineral oil for however many more coats are needed to get the look I want. During this procedure I let the stock cure for at least 48 hours between coats. Occasionally you might need a light rubbing with brass wool or steel wool between coats (after 4 – 8 coats) but I’ve never found a set rule for this – it’s mostly a matter of each project being a little different that the previous one.
The number of coats required will be up to you and the way you want the final finish to look. The more coats you apply, the deeper and glossier the finish. Gloss can be cut down with brass wool rubbing. I have found that a refinish job turns out the way I want somewhere between 4 and 10 coats. New wood has always taken me at least 15 coats, but never more than 20.
Keep in mind that a cured tung oil finish is permanent. Nothing, short of sanding, will remove a tung oil finish. The good thing is that it is very easy to touch up and blend in if a repair is required later. The advantage of tung oil vs. linseed oil is that the tung oil finish will be more waterproof than a linseed oil finish and the tung oil finish will not darken with age as the linseed oil one does. The advantage of linseed oil is that a cured finish will be removed with a good soaking in mineral spirits.
Well, that’s the way I do it. There are many other finishes and everyone has his own preference.
Hope this helps.
"This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
Sounds like a very logical approach to me. Thanks again for your help and I will post results for the benefit of the forum. I am excited to see the results!!!
Hello Wincacher,
If the old oil & grime is not removed adequately after soaking the stock in mineral spirits, would it be appropriate to re-soak trying acetone? I have read material that references soaking in acetone rather than min spirits for oil removal. Any thoughts on this?
Thanks
Haven’t done that. If there is so much oil left in the stock after soaking in MS, that would be embedded into the endgrain at both ends, but usually more severely at the receiver end. That’s when I’ve resorted to boiling the stock. I don’t see any problem in soaking in acetone though. If you do that, would be interested in hearing about the acetone soak results.
"This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
Wincacher,
After the M. Spirits soak, some oil and grime still remained near receiver and in the end grain. I then soaked my stock and forend in acetone. It definitely removed oil and grime better and faster than the M. Spirits. Significant improvement in areas adjacent the receiver and end grain.
After the M. Spirit soak the color lightened somewhat as expected. After the acetone soak the wood lightened more significantly and the grain seems more exposed. Possibly additional varnish and stain removal with the acetone treatment? Looks like positive progress.
In your experience, how much darkening will occur with the application of tung oil? If I wiped M. Spirits on the cleaned stock, would this approximate the finish with tung oil?
Thanks,
Jim
You have gone a little further than my experience in that I’ve never soaked a stock in acetone. I have used acetone with steel wool to remove a stubborn finish applied by a previous gun owner though.
The stock Winchester finished with linseed oil will darken over the years. That is the linseed oil darkening, not the wood. If you removed the original finish with mineral spirits you would have removed the darkened linseed oil and a little bit of the color. Applying a tung oil finish over that will darken the stock very little, but will mostly add depth to the wood and no color. The stocks in my photos above were all cleaned with mineral spirits only and then had a coat of alkanet in denatured alcohol applied and then tung oil with alkanet applied as a finish.
Stocks that I did rub with denatured alcohol definitely did look lighter after drying and needed some color added.
If using alkanet, keep in mind that this is not like a wood stain. The alkanet and alcohol mix will look deep red but when applied only adds a faint amount of color to the wood. You would have to add numerous coats to approach the effect of one coat of Herter’s or Gunslick French Red Gunstock Stain. The advantage is that you can control how much color is added to the wood before making it look overly dark or red.
"This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."
Wincacher,
I should clarify that while I had to soak the forend overnight in acetone to remove additional oil, I only dipped the butt stock in acetone for approx one hour. Immediately after dipping I could see old finish lifting off. Looked like varnish or lacquer to me. Keeping in mind this old finish was not removed with the previous overnight min spirit soak and the color remained quite dark.
After this short acetone soak, I rubbed it lightly with fine steel wool and it cleaned right up. No further treatment required. I have attached a couple of pictures after drying for 24 hrs.
I was hoping for a little darkening with the oil treatment however I am hesitant to proceed at this point. Seems like I need a little richer tone to make the grain stand out. I really like the results you achieved in your photos. Do you have any suggestions on how I can move in that direction?
Thanks in advance and I apologize for all the questions,
Jim
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