Wood stock too dry?

[Certaindeaf]

Well that's what I'm asking, it's not the oil looking parts I have the problem with, they are "drying off" nicely and have the expected visual finish of an oiled stock.

It's the other patches that dry off far more quickly and have the appearance of very dry wood with a very matte finish, no shine, does not look oiled

Yea, you don't want it to look oiled, if you're using linseed oil. I guess. What you want, if I'm understanding you right, is you want it to look homogenous. use the boiled
you are using the improper product. if you want it to look homogenously "oiled", varnish/lacquer it or whatever.

 

[Misteramax]

Yes, sitting near, not in direct "sight" or effects of heating vent.


So you're suggesting this for the areas that seem to dry more quickly and look flat and matte in finish?
I'm not sure if I need to sand, the areas are essentially smooth.


Hmm, I have been applying oil with my clean but bare fingers.

Sanding isn't really an important step. It's just if you need to even something out or fill/repair a small area. But that's another conversation. Lol.

Let's use an old military stock caked oils as an example. I'm starting with air drying because heat plus wood grain with water is bad. Most people don't have enough water in a stock to split it, but you can mess with the grain enough you may help it delaminate im spots. Oil around wood grain acts different. Try to evenly sweat the oils out. If you do everything right, you're stock will show it's own character in the grain patterns. It's fine to see patchy in terms of patterns or shades.

 

[Rick4070]

Why?

I have a dry patch issue where it looks like it's in need of oil, not a drying issue.

Raw Linseed oil will keep soaking into the wood, and probably takes "forever" to dry.
It seems to me that you can either knock down the glossy portions with some rottenstone and oil, or gloss up the "matte" portions of the stock with the boiled Linseed oil.
Boiled Linseed oil will dry, and leave a somewhat glossy surface.
After the finishes match, you can always knock them back a bit with the rottenstone and oil.
Use a piece of thick felt boot insole as a pad, oil it, then dip in the rottenstone, and rub down the stock with it.
As an aside, I don't recall ever using raw linseed oil on any stock.
A drying cabinet can be made using some scrap plywood to make a box, with a 40 watt or so incandescent light bulb in the bottom of the box.

 

[Certaindeaf]

People are being gentle with you.. parts of that strate is too wet.. not too dry.
Anyway, a marshmallow makes a sweet rottenstone if you don't vent yer bubblegume good enough. puns!

 

[Medic!]

I'm gona paint a picture for you to put in your mine.

So you put down a coat of BLO. An hour later wipe off the excess and let it dry for a couple days to a weak.

The oil will soak into the wood and dry down there. Almost like a plastic.
It will form a resistant barrier to liquid. Both water and more oil if you let it dry!

Eventually the pores of the wood will stop taking BLO after many cycles of applying and letting it dry.
And you will get that nice even semi gloss finish.

And yes. It will have that mottled look during the proses.

Regular Linseed oil dose not have the goo boiled out of it. It's thicker and doesn't penetrate as well. And it doesn't dry as well.
Plain linseed oil may seam to dry faster. But it's prone to staying tacky. Especially if applied to thickly.

Mikey don't like it!

 

[phoneguy]

Wood Stock was not dry! It rained the last Two days and there was mud every where. The music was good. (yes am that old)

 

[F2CMaDMaXX]

Wood Stock was not dry! It rained the last Two days and there was mud every where. The music was good. (yes am that old)

That was bad, really bad.

Anyway, I'll reply to the other comments when I get home, I need a real keyboard!

Thank you for all the replies, we'll get to the bottom of this.

 

[Rick4070]

BLO isn't really "boiled" from what I know, it has driers/solvents added to make it quicker to dry.
You used to be able to buy "Japan drier" to add to it, to make it dry even quicker, not sure if it is still marketed or not....
I used to use BLO to wet sand a stock, after first raising the grain and sanding the whiskers off, (Or even wet sand the whiskers off using the BLO,) wet sand, let dry, repeat a few times until the pores were filled, then hand rub in a few coats of BLO, or apply a few coats of Tru Oil, cutting it back with 0000 steel wool, tack ragging it, then hand rubbing in a few more coats lightly using the steel wool between coats.
The final coat would be hand rubbed on, leaving a glossy coat.
For a matte "eggshell" finish, the Rottenstone and oil would be used.
A nice effect is to sand a piece of ebony and save the sanding dust, then using a felt pad and BLO, rub it into the grain, filling the pores, looks messy when dry, but after you card the "goop" off with the steel wool, then finish, the contrast with the wood and the pores being black looks pretty nice.

 

[Xaevian]

This sounds like the grain is raising in certain spots to me. 0000 steel wool between coats should help as Rick4070 posted. Full disclosure: I use poly, and have never used BLO, but I follow that process for the most part.

 

[jbett98]

I'm having a hard time picturing anything too dry in the Western Oregon area lately.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Wood Stock was not dry! It rained the last Two days and there was mud every where. The music was good. (yes am that old)

Jebus. Don't make me go animal on yer arse!

and I know.. a little early.. sue me

 

[Certaindeaf]

This sounds like the grain is raising in certain spots to me. 0000 steel wool between coats should help as Rick4070 posted. Full disclosure: I use poly, and have never used BLO, but I follow that process for the most part.

Probably limp wristing it. so sad!

 

[thorborg]

Was your stock was excessively dark?, good chance it has been over loved and protected throughout its life and literally impregnated in splotches with oils and solvents to that end. If you have a collector, and what you have done so far can consider it "Unaltered" you might consider putting it away to dry thoroughly then give it a little buff. If still a texture a difference, several coats of wax should fill the pours and normalize the zonal differences..
A properly cured linseed oil finish should not feel moist nor oily. If so, it will attract dirt and dust discoloring the surface which gets rubbed in instead of wiped off when cleaning..
Not an unaltered collector;
At the stage your at, I'd start with a light, water base, Epoxy / paint finish strip and wool which should eliminate surface differences, Repeat if necessary (allow a week or so for complete dryness) till not blotchy in color, (if strip is too deep some color may bleach out, some color may need to be applied) reapply your finish of Boiled linseed oil, put it away in a warm place but out of smell range for a week till thoroughly set and dried. (The smell is of no bother to me, but the wife..) wool and wax, buff, or wax and buff, or repeat application.
Imperative every coat of oil dry completely before moving on.
Humidity retards cure and could add weeks between coats if high.
Once up to snuff, several layers of a good paste wax with a reasonable amount of Carnauba in it will keep it clean and smooth.
If it were me, I like the Birchwood Casey products, True Oil and Gunstock wax.
Less diddling around than boiled linseed. comes in little bottles, has a faster reapplication time. Applied with my fingers it's like becoming one with your gun and gives me that bright shiny hard appearance but without the brittleness of lacquers, or the hard to repair dents in polyurethanes. Along with the wax, it can be gloss or mat. Nothing easier when spot repair is required.
Good luck with your project.

 

[Misteramax]

Was your stock was excessively dark?, good chance it has been over loved and protected throughout its life and literally impregnated in splotches with oils and solvents to that end. If you have a collector, and what you have done so far can consider it "Unaltered" you might consider putting it away to dry thoroughly then give it a little buff. If still a texture a difference, several coats of wax should fill the pours and normalize the zonal differences..
A properly cured linseed oil finish should not feel moist nor oily. If so, it will attract dirt and dust discoloring the surface which gets rubbed in instead of wiped off when cleaning..
Not an unaltered collector;
At the stage your at, I'd start with a light, water base, Epoxy / paint finish strip and wool which should eliminate surface differences, Repeat if necessary (allow a week or so for complete dryness) till not blotchy in color, (if strip is too deep some color may bleach out, some color may need to be applied) reapply your finish of Boiled linseed oil, put it away in a warm place but out of smell range for a week till thoroughly set and dried. (The smell is of no bother to me, but the wife..) wool and wax, buff, or wax and buff, or repeat application.
Imperative every coat of oil dry completely before moving on.
Humidity retards cure and could add weeks between coats if high.
Once up to snuff, several layers of a good paste wax with a reasonable amount of Carnauba in it will keep it clean and smooth.
If it were me, I like the Birchwood Casey products, True Oil and Gunstock wax.
Less diddling around than boiled linseed. comes in little bottles, has a faster reapplication time. Applied with my fingers it's like becoming one with your gun and gives me that bright shiny hard appearance but without the brittleness of lacquers, or the hard to repair dents in polyurethanes. Along with the wax, it can be gloss or mat. Nothing easier when spot repair is required.
Good luck with your project.

Good post and tru-oil is great stuff.

 

[Xaevian]

Probably limp wristing it. so sad!

I am not really sure how a limp wrist would effect the end result of even a mediocre boiled linseed oil (BLO) job.

Sorry, couldn't resist the setup.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Cookin' wid gas now!
that was great

 

[F2CMaDMaXX]

Alright, going to try and summarise peoples suggestions, kinda....

So this isn't a bad/altered/restarted finish, it's actually a good finish, just tidying it up.

I did have rough/raised areas (in these same dry areas) previously, but used a finishing pad and they're fine, it did clear up a lot of the dry areas, but many still remain.

After talking this out and taking everything here into account, it seems i overlooked one small thing with using raw linseed oil; that i won't necessarily be able to get a 'closed off' finish with it.


Short version, i need to clean off what i have there now, and then finish with BLO, all this explains my Garand stock (was a refinish) result too.

I've just ordered some nice pure BLO and i'll start work in a couple of days, thanks all for your help, suggestions and general lambasting - whilst not everything suggested was strictly true, a lot was, and it put me in the right direction, thank you

 

[taroman]

I use Tom's 1/3 Mix Military Gunstock Wax on my Garand and carbine.
Works great.
Get it here: Products
Tom's 1/3 Mix