I messed up my Garand stock.... (Restoration)

[F2CMaDMaXX]

I'm not sure what setup you're referring to, however i will state that BLO wasn't used when this rifle was made, it was raw.

 

[ron]

That is a nice looking G-ran. Nice stock.
Metal finish looks excellent. Take her out and shoot.
Fun Garand shoot. DRRC Dec. 10. They have ammo to
sell for match, M1 rifles, shooting matt and spotting scopes to loan.
Douglas Ridge Rifle Club - Service Rifle Program

 

[F2CMaDMaXX]

Sounds fun, but that day is my Wife's Birthday, needless to say i will not be making that shoot

 

[BillGabby1]

I dont have experience except for a few tools I made with wood handles and my yard tools. But I just keep applying thin coats and eventually they do darken up. I follow this guy and his old friend who does some amazing work. Maybe you can pick something up from his video

Here is the full series from start to finish very detailed and informative. Get your favorite beverage and snack, sit back and enjoy!
Gabby
Gunstock Carving and Checkering - A to Z - YouTube

 

[Capn Jack]

Hey Bill,
Careful with insect repellent around that Lin-Speed. It will soften it up and make it gooey.

 

[BillGabby1]

So far so good it's still as beautiful now as it was 30 years ago Jack.
B

 

[BillGabby1]

So, i left it a couple of days, having laid it out in the sun for several hours with a thick layer of linseed oil on the lighter portions.

Last night i used a 3M finishing pad to take off the thick residue left over from the dried oil. My intention was to thinly, hand apply more linseed tonight, after tack clothing it, but i forgot.....

So here are some pics of where it's up to, it's not bad, but other than getting a slightly shinier finish, it's not going to change too much i'm afraid.

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It looks like to me from the photos that you didn't do a complete job of removing the old finish, If I wanted it to come out uniform, I would "SCRAPE" it down to bare wood using one of those scraper blades marketed for that purpose, or the cheap and dirty way is to use broken plate glass which will give you straight AND curved pieces with which to do a better overall job of scraping it down. (The glass is very sharp and does a great job, but be careful and maybe even wear gloves to protect against cuts. You can take a hard rock and rub it along the edges where your hands will be and that will dull them and make it safer to use. (You can often get broken glass pieces from a glass shop for free). Then you will need to roughen it slightly with 350 or 400 wet or dry, followed by some 0000 steel wool, commonly called "four ought steel wool" in the trades. to remove the whiskers.
After getting it clean those dents will still be dark and will need to be steamed up. I usually use an old towel or wash cloth, and wet it and wring it out so that it's not dripping, then with a dry iron I'll place the wet cloth over the dent and apply the hot iron creating steam directly on the dent, and repeat as necessary to raise the dent. If after 6 or 8 applications it won't raise sufficiently. I figure it isn't going to work and just move on. The steamed wood will need light sanding and a hit with the steel wool.
At this time you can apply stain or dye and expect it to go into the wood reasonably evenly so that you don't end up with a blotchy looking job. once you get a good coating of stain or dye (BTW dye penetrates the wood while stain is a coating that remains on the surface like paint and can be sanded off.) Dye is more permanent and usually gives the best results. Now you can start applying a light (with your finger tips) coating over the whole surface, being sure to rub it completely in so there isn't any wet looking parts. Let it set about 24 hours (in the summer when it's hot and dry you can do 2 coats a day) then repeat, never putting it away with a wet coat, rub it in every time, if you want more uniformity of appearance and to completely fill the pores, the next coat you can use the 400 grit paper with the surface wet but not runny, and sand the whole stock and leave the slurry on there a few hours then wipe off or steel wool off any excess and allow it to cure for at least 24 hours, then repete till you have the gloss you want, then put it away for a couple of weeks to fully cure.
If you ever get a scrape or such you can sand it out and re-apply the BLO till it matches again. Just use the same grit paper and steel wool so it blends, and all you have to do is the scrape and not the whole stock which is what makes BLO such a great finish. If you want to you can re-apply a light coat once a year if you think it needs it, your call
People will tell you it never cures dry and that it isn't water proof.
It's true the oil continues to penetrate the wood and being oil never completely dries, but I refute the suggestion that it's not water proof, it is oil after all and the 2 don't mix, so being in the rain isn't going to ruin it, the rain will bead and run off not soak in, throwing it in the lake till next spring would do as much damage no matter what finish it has, water will eventually soak into the wood unless it is perfectly sealed in plastic.
So there you have it, it is labor intensive, but the satisfaction you get when it's done right is worth it and something to be proud of.
Enjoy,
Gabby
My BP rifle with 16 coats of Lin-Speed brand BLO done around 1973, never touched up!

 

[F2CMaDMaXX]

Thanks for the tips, although i have to say, even though i had to do a 'full' restore, i wasn't trying to do one, and haven't really. It's back together now if you look at the last pics, it started darkening as non boiled linseed oil will do, it's in the safe now to settle, i'll re-apply as needed when it dries/soaks in areas.

 

[BillGabby1]

Just be sure in the future if you plan to do a nice stock, to use BLO and Preferably the Lin-Speed, which gives the best results. I don't know where you heard that using raw linseed oil was the way to go, every source I ever heard said use BLO as the raw stuff will never cure the way BLO does. That is what I've always used with great results.
Just saying.
Gabby

 

[F2CMaDMaXX]

Boiled linseed was never used when these were made.

Raw linseed still contains the pigments that 'discolour' with age, giving the red tinge; boiled linseed oil is raw linseed oil with the imperfections boiled out, so the colour it is when applied, is what it is years later, artists wanted that aspect.

 

[MountainBear]

Gentlemen. I have been professionally gunsmithing for about ten years. I tinkered with guns around old men for years before that.
The conclusion that I've come to is that there are as many "ways to go" as there are gunsmiths. I've never been a fan of linspeed. I've always used Velvet Oil. Duane Weibe makes some of the best looking rifles I've seen and he swears by a seafin teak oil mix. Some milsurp rifle restorers I've talked to have sung the praises of raw linseed oil, as it does age to a nice reddish color. For my own stuff, I generally clean up milsurp stocks with tung oil and then use a gunny's paste on them.
People are always quick to get online to say you should have or should be doing it this way or that. When someone has done good work, seems we ought to just compliment them on their work. Then say, if you ever have another project, this has always worked really well for me.
Anyone who talks in absolutes in gunsmithing is wrong. There are very few if any.

 

[F2CMaDMaXX]

Tung oil was the other option I looked at, later M1s used that.

 

[BillGabby1]

Gentlemen. I have been professionally gunsmithing for about ten years. I tinkered with guns around old men for years before that.
The conclusion that I've come to is that there are as many "ways to go" as there are gunsmiths. I've never been a fan of linspeed. I've always used Velvet Oil. Duane Weibe makes some of the best looking rifles I've seen and he swears by a seafin teak oil mix. Some milsurp rifle restorers I've talked to have sung the praises of raw linseed oil, as it does age to a nice reddish color. For my own stuff, I generally clean up milsurp stocks with tung oil and then use a gunny's paste on them.
People are always quick to get online to say you should have or should be doing it this way or that. When someone has done good work, seems we ought to just compliment them on their work. Then say, if you ever have another project, this has always worked really well for me.
Anyone who talks in absolutes in gunsmithing is wrong. There are very few if any.

LOL The first thing you do is tell us how you do it and that you weren't a fan of a product.

In my long winded dissertation I was recommending a process as much as a product, and I use both regular BLO as well as the special Real BLO in Lin-Speed. Just for different jobs.
If you look on the label of a hardware or paint supply BLO , you will find there is very little Real BLO in the can if any. Which is why I use the real thing, and have done so with good if not great results for years. I let my photo speak for itself. I also have used many of the other products, but have learned the same holds true of off the shelf brands of Tung oil and others that the product in the name isn't even in the can.
Just some more food for thought.
Gabby

 

[MountainBear]

If you care to read, the point was saying how I've done it as a professional, but also how others have done it. The demonstration was that there were many opinions. Never once did I say my way was the only way, or even the right way.

In contrast, your posts told the OP he didn't do it right (should have scraped it to bare wood) and that if he ever had a nice stock to do to use blo/linspeed, "which gives the best results."

The point of my post, to contrast it to yours, was to say that while I have a way, you (obviously) have a preferred way (and yes, he bp stock looks nice), that there is no one right way. Honestly, there is no one way to get "the best results." There are certainly ways of doing it wrong, but your way looks nice, my way looks nice, other gunsmith's ways look nice, and for what the OP was going for, his way looks damn nice as well.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

I think that there are many "right" ways of doing gunsmithing.
If you are getting the results you like and want , then you did it the "right" way.

That being said , if you are doing a restoration for historic purposes , then it might be best to use methods that were available or what was used during the firearm's period of use.

I have done both ("historic" gunsmithing or using the latest and newest products) depending on whim , if the gun was mine , the intended use of the gun afterwards etc...
Andy