Wood and metal cleaning tips, not a full restoration|Page 3|Restoration, Repair and Maintenance|Forum|Winchester Collector

Phil said
Ok I am finally making some progress. Way too much work stuff and no play.

Please take a look and let know what you think. Sorry for the indoor pic’s. I wanted to take a few in day light sun but it has been raining.

This is after 5 coats of the 50/50 tung oil/ mineral spirits. To be honest with you for the first 3 coats I was not applying correctly. After some reading and experience I realized I was not rubbing in the solution hard enough as some indicate to the point where you create heat friction proceeded by wiping with a clean cotton cloth.

Basically the more elbow grease the better my results were.

Wayne,

Also I was very concerned with loss of the original red stain tint and starting reading up on the subject. I will let you guys let me know but I believe I have retained enough reddish tint that this one should be ok. I did read back on another forum called “Alkanet Colored Oil Finish” where you were experiencing with a 1oz. 50% tung oil/50% mineral spirits with 1/2 teaspoon of powdered alkanet root solution.

Do you use the alkanet version on projects like this one?

After you guys referred me to Mike Hunter’s Winchester Wood Finishes article in the Winchester Collector club magazine I sent an email inquiry and Trish Smith contacted me and is sending me a back dated copy. I read the article several times and just had to have a print copy. Mike’s research and analysis makes a lot a sense to me. BTW the 1894 rifle, boots and saddle on the cover are her dad’s. Pretty cool! Beautiful rifle and with family history, those are the best ones.

Thanks for your help,

Phil  

Here’s a project I just finished yesterday.  After a complete disassembly, I only cleaned the metal.  The wood had a very shiny coat of lacquer, which I completely removed.  Then I soaked the wood in mineral spirits for 2 days to completely remove grime and oil, after which the wood hung for 2 more days to dry.  Then I steamed out a couple of dents (have never been able to completely raise the dents but they always improve some).  Only 2 coats of tung oil were applied to this project, as shiny wood wouldn’t go with the plum patina of the barrel.

Phil:

First of all, nice job on the wood.  Personally, I agree that there is a little too much luster to the wood, considering it’s age and the condition of the rifle’s metal, but not too much.

There is nothing that will remove cured tung oil, short of sanding.  Some 0000 steel wool or hand rubbing some rotten stone might knock town the sheen some, but that will produce a satin finish.  I wouldn’t touch that stock with sandpaper.  If you do some light sanding, avoiding all edges of the wood, the sanded part will become lighter than the rest of the wood and then you’ll really have to put some more stain on it to try and blend in the colors.  Besides, the minor dents and blemishes are part of the character of the century old wood and blend in nicely with the rest of the rifle.

Phil:

I got my alkanet powder from Vienna Imports on eBay.  They currently don’t have it listed but many others do.  Look closely at the photos and make sure you are getting a powder.  Many of the ones currently listed appear to be finely ground, but not powder.  I’m pretty sure that powder will dissolve more color into the solution than a ground product.  This one looked best to me, from their photos but check for yourself:  https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-oz-ALKANET-ROOT-POWDER-Batschia-canescens/322176971301?hash=item4b033e7225:g:Gz0AAOSwvg9Xd0em.