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andycee@hotmail.com
06-26-2009, 7:55 AM
What would fellow calgunners recommend as the best general treatment for rifle and shotgun stocks. I don't want to sand and refinish them, just bring them back to a good appearance. Lemon Oil? Refined linseed oil? Murphy's oil soap as a pretreatment? Any advice would be appreciated. I hope this is the right forum for this question.

gt6065
06-26-2009, 9:56 AM
use Howard's - "Feed-N-Wax" wood preserver-
available at Wal-Mart -16 oz @ $7.00

GhillieGuy
06-26-2009, 10:01 AM
I'm sure it depends on the type of wood and type of finish that is already on it. My guess is it's walnut/stain type finish? One of my projects right now is restoring an enfield that has seen some battle time as to speak. I didn't want to refinish the stock or metal, so i cleaned to stock up and applied some minwax tung oil to the finish to help darken it and bring it back to life. Turned out nice for not stripping the old finish off prior to stain.

ucla_jtsuei
06-26-2009, 1:49 PM
I'm sure it depends on the type of wood and type of finish that is already on it.

This is right. It depends on what the existing finish is. For the sake of historical continuity, I'd apply another layer or two of the existing finish - like, say, if you were refinishing an old 91/30 stock coated in red/amber shellac, I'd apply another or two layer of it. If it's an old Garand stock, I'd pick diluted boiled linseed oil (keeping in mind that drying times are at least 24 hours).

But if you don't want to go that route, I'd recommend a mixture of beeswax and orange oil. Those mixtures are commercially available at most hardware stores you'll ever visit. The orange oil boosts the shine, and the wax acts as a preservative and waterproofing agent.

andycee@hotmail.com
06-26-2009, 3:26 PM
Thanks to all of you. Most of the rifles that I am referring to do not have hard, high sheen coatings. I'll give these a try.