A bit about finishes from another board a few years ago...

by John Meeker , West End of Lake Erie, Monday, January 23, 2012, 22:02 (4688 days ago)

Might be of use to someone here...

Was asked to evaluate a finish kit a fellow intended to market:
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Here's my ree-Port upon your Olde English iteration of a classic high-dollar double-gun rubbed-oil gunstock finish..

Since receiving your nicely labeled bottles, I started with your samples. It was a refinish job, so in many ways, it's not starting from the virgin wood newly shaped gun stock wood and proceeding with your exact directions..

I note that on new wood, your directions start with raw linseed oil. Many Brit recipes for French polishing with shellac or other finishes also start with raw LO. However, it is very slow to polymerize, and actually doesn't crosslink very well at all. Timed and controlled warm water poultices will quickly blow it apart, on objects that have been over-sloshed with the infamous Museum Reviver glop of yore -- RLO, beeswax, & turps.

However, what RLO does very well is turn brown due to chromophoric activity, in response to sunlight. I suspect that puts a 'depth' into the wood over time, but I think it was used so liberally originally because it was plentiful, cheap, and gave wood a quickie saturation that popped out the figure, a minimal amount of protection, and was a base for further elaborations or maintenance coatings -- wax, oils, etc.

At any rate, I also skipped the Van Dyke brown filler, as the pores of this stock had tint already, and tests showed that the pigments would darken this particular piece too much.

So, forward with the red dye, sanded in with rubber eraser blocks and whatever grit seemed to provide gain for the effort, but didn't over do it. Nice color and further slurry fill. Remember that we have a relatively high RH in the Upper Midwest, so I gave it about a week to cure, then started with the oil. Also lightly sanded that in with 500 or so, which didn't hurt the red much.

Now, some fifteen or so rubbed coats later, the depth is developing and the figure is starting to pop out with its inherent chatoyance -- i.e., figure changes in response to shifting light. Some observations are, that at first I went really purist, just minimal dabs necessary for coverage dab and rubbed palm dry. It seemed to be very malleable to use, but pretty thin finish deposition in the pores.

After a few coats, I rubbed oil on more generously, but just didn't have the obsessive quality I needed for rubbing the oil bone dry for each coat. I took to leaving a bit of an oily feel, tho not a 'coat' per se, and hung it in the shade to cure each day. When I took it down I noted that the oily feel had thickened up, and with that traction I would hand rub the film down hard with no additional oil and let it sit another day.

It started to build in the pores at better pace and now I'm within three or four coats of a classic looking finish. I'll probably try the whole 'factory' procedure on the next stock that needs it, and give you my impressions on that, too. As it stands now, it's pretty much a foolproof way for the home finisher to get a nice looking 'pro' finish, with what amounts to relatively little working time, tho a bit of waiting time.

Tricks like UV lamps, or drying cabinets might boot it along, but for home use, keep it simple. Same goes for adding a drop of Japan dryer to each treatment session. The oil might get a bit stiffer on the surface more quickly, but is that a good thing for the home user? Prolly not. Streak free and rub till dry is just fine there.

I appreciate the opportunity to sample your finish and would always be happy to play around with any further developments. The "pairfeckt" wood finish is not yet made, so it's a warranted life time quest! Never boring. ;~`)

Hope that you find this useful, and certainly do think that you can retail this to the home gunstock finisher. I'd be interested to see how the final oil finish worked with a tad more varnish in the oil mix, but it might become too intractable for amateur use.