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I have two final finishes one being Linseed oil and the other a harder Linseed oil with more dryers in it. I recommend it for a shooter that will see heavy use and rain.
I also for a small amount more do cut in's of wood on stocks. I love seeing wood back in service and not tossed in the Garbage. The only stocks I cant fix are the ones sanded all over so badly that I would have to put pieces of wood as a overlay on the complete stock. This is a total waste and have had 2 like this so far. I also draw the line on some absolutely shreaded ones unless it is a collector's stock.
First I get a hold of E-Z-GO hand cleaner or GO-JO which is waterless and gritless. Most probably any will do. I rub it on stock in sink of course and then let it set for about 15-30 minutes depending on amount of dirt and if markings are on stock. Now I take and rub on a hand full more then take a tooth brush and rub it but not real hard near edges and cartouches. I rinse with warm water again careful around markings incase their weak. Use the tooth brush to brush off hand cleaner while rinsing. I have never lost a Cartouche out of almost 2,000 stocks refinsihed to date but still be carefull if doing marked wood. I also use a differnet stain for other military stocks.
If the stocks is heavy oil and no cartouches use Trisodium Phosphate and make a paste out of it then tooth brush it on. Wait 10 minutes and rub some water on with the tooth brush to make sure it doesn't dry on stock. Now wait about 5-10 minutes and rinse you will see the dirt still but after it dries you will be amazed. You can repeat this method until happy but again be careful if there are Cartouches.If the stock is terrible I use a cement plastic mixing tub with TSP {Trisodium Phosphate} and hot water. I soak them for a day if needed. I scrub them periodically to remove the grime the TSP brought out at that point. Let water cool down don't worry about getting new hot water in the tub even though hot water is best. Now when satisfied rinse them off and hang dry for a day or more. The stock will look dark when you take it out but when it dries you will fall over. I alos use Bix Stripper in bad cases then TSP to rinse the residue from striper off.
Now you can steam if wanted I use a bucket of water ,a rag and a iron with steam cycle. I soak the rag and lay it on stock dents then iron it until steam stops or water is out of rag. I fold the rag sometimes to hold more water and the steam last longer. This is a hit or miss thing it may take days of this to see results. Most times it just lightens them up.
Now sand lightly with 100 or 120 if needed but lightly to not put big scratches in the stock when happy with this Then take 220 and lightly sand the whole stock in direction of grain and periodically use 0000 steel wool to smooth it out and see scratches that need to be 220 out. When happy with this steel wool the whole stock until smooth .
I now stain M44's with FIEBING's Leather dye I get at a local shoe repair store. I put it on with gloves of course and a small rag or the applicator they give you. It will seem very dark but when you put the first coat of oil on it will lighten up.
You should let stains dry 24 hours.
Now the next day If Stain lifted grain you need to lightly steel wool it down. I use Boiled Linseed oil {you can use any finsih you like especially if it will be in rain} and if in a very humid area I mix 3/4 cups of Linseed oil to one table spoon of Japan Dryer to help with drying. Now I brush on or use a small piece of rag to put Boiled Linseed Oil on {use gloves then hand cleaner off the oil from the gloves after you are done} and wait 20-30 minutes then take a old t-shirt and rub the oil off making sure there is no excess anywhere. I rub it to death to buff it kinda. I repeat this every 24 hours till 5-7 coats are glossy and even with no dull spots.
WARNING hang the rags out and never let them sit balled up on the bench they will self combust and you will burn you're house down. It almost happened to me and I was very lucky. I finished for the night and went up to my office with a stock to get some photos off for a client. About a hour later I was fighting with myself to take the stock back to the shop or leave it until morning in the office. Finally I took it back and set it in a rack outside of the shop and noticed a stock with a repair pin shining and decided to touch it with a dark brown stain pen. I walked in the shop turn on lights and fell warmth then noticed a vapor in the air like steam on hot pavement. I was confused what was going on and then smelled something weird. I looked down to my right on the bench and heard a small woosh and low pop sound and the rags ignited in a light colored flame. I picked them up and ran to other room and tossed them in the wash tub and rinsed them. If I hadn't gone down there my home would have been lost. You can also wet them and toss them out in the yard till morning but keep them away from house. They make a special can for this purpose if you decide to do this a lot.
Remember Linseed oil is a weak finish but can be rubbed back on at any time. If being used heavily and in rain try a harder finish that you can dull to look like Military. Birchwood Casey True Oil can be used like this and instructions are on the bottle.
Now I take #0000 steel wool and lightly dull surface with it. Then I take Minwax Furniture Polish for dark colors {light one will stick in grain and look like white paint if you leave it to long} and put two coats of this on and I am done. If you have any questions feel free to email me at Rborecky@mindspring.com
Rick lives near Cleveland Ohio with his wonderful wife and kids. He refinishes and repairs stocks as a service for $40.00 + shipping.
He did a great refurbishing job on a beat stock that came with the "rusty" Mossberg US44 .22 LR rifle I bought from the CMP. You can see an example of his work by clicking here (120 k) or here (166 k). "In the photo the stock on left is a request for a nude oil only stock. The middle one is my close to original color but naturally after a good cleaning and right one is a before photo the way they normally come from the CMP."
Yes I have a small web page I did 3 years ago that shows my shop when I started which I need to update. I do all kinds of stocks and am well known for my repairs. I do on a average 7 - 15 refinishing jobs a week and 60 repairs a month where I don't refinish them just do repairs. I have a few contracts for that alone. My motto is "If I cant fix it, it must really be broken" I have replaced complete sides of Garand stocks mainly on very hard to find Winchester stocks.
I am a very reasonable price guy and have only had one complaint out of almost 2,000 stocks in the last 3 years.
I am also currently making 1911 grips from all kinds of wood so I am always doing something new.
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