Walnut stock stripping and refinishing project

[vance]

First time doing this. My son has a Voere M98 sporter in varnished walnut and I have same rifle with an oil finish on the stock. He likes how mine doesn't show scratches like his.
I stripped the varnish (1969/70 DOM) using a gel stripper and it went surprisingly well. Did 4-5 applications and scrubbed away softened varnish with a stripping pad (medium) and used an old tooth brush on the checkering. Delighted with how the checkering cleaned out without any loss of detail. Minor sanding of scratches in the wood with 220 grit sanding pad.

Will apply the oil finish this weekend. Using Rubio Monocoat Hard Wax Oil, which is what we have on our flooring in our home. Matte finish, seems quite tough.

Plan to sand in first 2-3 applications of oil cut with mineral spirits to fill the grain, then finger rub in the remaining coats of straight oil.

If it turns out as I hope, will start gradually stripping all of my varnished stocks.
Advice, thoughts is/are welcome.

Vance

[270person]

I do a similar process but with only one laquer strip and I like the boiled linseed oil finish. Takes some time but I far prefer the look to the TruOil results. It becomes a labour of love and each one you do is a little bit better.

[vance]

Thanks for the input. I just kept going with the stripper gel until I got to bare wood. Grip area and buttstock upper and lower surface took longest to let go.
I was worried that the stripper would damage the white spacer on the pistol grip, which I am guessing is plastic, but it didn't.
I don't care for the Tru oil look as it is glossy and leaves a surface urethane layer which then scratches. I also like the hand-feel of wood, without the layer of "plastic" film.
I have used raw tung oil on SKS stock refinishes (and 2000 sq feet of wood floor at our cabin) and liked the look and feel. I think the product I am using will approximate that.
My understanding of BLO is that it has urethane/polyurethane added. Is that correct? If not, I will reach for it next time.
Vance

[sns2]

Following closely

[leo]

After I strip a stock I wet sand it with oil from 220 grit to 2000. Wood feels warm and pores are sealed and smooth as glass.

[270person]

Originally Posted by vance

Thanks for the input. I just kept going with the stripper gel until I got to bare wood. Grip area and buttstock upper and lower surface took longest to let go.
I was worried that the stripper would damage the white spacer on the pistol grip, which I am guessing is plastic, but it didn't.
I don't care for the Tru oil look as it is glossy and leaves a surface urethane layer which then scratches. I also like the hand-feel of wood, without the layer of "plastic" film.
I have used raw tung oil on SKS stock refinishes (and 2000 sq feet of wood floor at our cabin) and liked the look and feel. I think the product I am using will approximate that.
My understanding of BLO is that it has urethane/polyurethane added. Is that correct? If not, I will reach for it next time.
Vance

Sounds like it will turn out nice. We can compare pic if you wish. Not 100% on BLO containing urethane/polyurethane, mine doesn't according to a quick google search, but I know a lot of guys will cover boiled linseed oil with urethane. I wouldn't. You have to be 100% sure the blo is very dry and not still gassing off or you'll make a mess.

Once I get mine stripped of finish, mine have always been one application, but I wrap the stock with tinfoil to keep things wet and let it sit for 5 minutes. any little bits leftover sand out easily. I sand for probably a good hour with 220 - 400 grit to get rid of any little nicks and imperfections. Then I'll dip a finger tip into the boiled linseed oil, rub it into an area roughly 4 inches square and wet sand it in with 400 grit. I do the entire stock minus the checkering of course and will repeat the process another 3x roughly at roughly one week intervals. Each oil and wet sand takes roughly one hour.

Once I have the tiny cracks and pores filled I'll begin the process of hand rubbing coats of linseed oil into the wood. No smart comments please but I'll apply very little oil and progressively less with each coat and hand rub it in to the point my hands get really warm from the friction. The hotter the better. Each coat and hot rub will be right around an hour. Some guys do 1-2 finish coats. The one I'm working on now will be 3-4. I went totally matte finish on my first couple but want a little bit of sheen on this one just to see how it looks. It's not a surface gloss like the TruOil gives. Seems to come from deeper in the wood.

Each coat of BLO will dry for at least a week before the next application.

If you can get around the cameraman's dumb commentary this old guy knows what he's doing and the vid shows the variations you can get with the glow, depending on how many coats you hand rub in.

https://youtu.be/mzVdsln29o8

[vance]

I really appreciate these detailed and thoughtful comments. Will re-read them tomorrow. The stock will never feel or look the same to me after this process.
The role of heat in introducing the oil into the wood makes sense.
270person, do you mean that once you apply the varnish stripping gel you wrap with foil for 5 min?
I started to type "once you apply the stripper gel do you wrap with foil for 5 minutes?", but deleted that.
Trying to stay above the low road
Vance

[270person]

Originally Posted by vance

I really appreciate these detailed and thoughtful comments. Will re-read them tomorrow. The stock will never feel or look the same to me after this process.
The role of heat in introducing the oil into the wood makes sense.
270person, do you mean that once you apply the varnish stripping gel you wrap with foil for 5 min?
I started to type "once you apply the stripper gel do you wrap with foil for 5 minutes?", but deleted that.
Trying to stay above the low road
Vance

Yes re the stripper and foil. I lay out a length of foil long enough to wrap the entire stock, paint it on thick with a brush, then wrap and seal up the foil just to keep it wet. stuff dries quickly. Peel back the foil, use a plastic blade where possible and just wipe off the rest. Stiff bristled toothbrush for the checkering.

Last one had a couple of tiny shiny spots still but a quick sand took them right out.

Start to finish will be roughly 12 - 15 hours work time with a week minimum between steps to dry properly. Like the man in the vid says..."use too much bol and your 7-10 day dry time will be 6 months." 1.5 to 2 months to do the whole job.

[vance]

When we built our cabin 10 years ago, I wanted a traditional oil finished wood floor. What I learned then was that tung oil and linseed oil are both natural oils that cure (polymerize/harden) with exposure to air. The natural oils take about 21-30 days to do this.
Raw tung oil with citrus solvent in the birch and tamarack flooring that was slowly saturated and then left for 28 days has been very durable and matte.
Danish oil, tung oil with urethane added, etc will cure faster, but with a surface film.
Manual rubbing of the wood surface, patience and many small light coats makes sense
Vance