tip's carolina flintlock - stock finishing ...

[RobD]

as posted at the flintlock forum, tip's carolina .45 flintlock rifle that i received in-the-white ...



stripped down to the bare stock ...



i whiskered the wood with naphtha and light 4/0 wooling, and then a buff out with paper toweling.

2 coats of laurel mountain forge 'lancaster maple' alky stain ...



i wanted to really seal the wood, particularly the barrel and other inlet and mortise areas, so i gave her 3 wiped on coats of permalyn sealer (yeah, i know, plastic stuff), and injected quality water thin cya to certain thin wood areas ...



i think i'm gonna attempt to assemble and shoot her as is ... kinda dreading the assembly part (gulp!), i did wool down the barrel channel real good and didn't wipe the lock and trigger mortises heavy ... but still, i hope i don't hafta do this >>>--->  

[RobD]

finishing questions, please ...

instead of permalyn (plastic), what are other good rifle stock wood sealers?

i think i read where an "oil" finish (true-oil, tung oil, etc) can be used over permalyn sealer?  or how 'bout rubbing in pure beeswax?

i'm leaving all the iron as unfinished, to patina on their own.  what's a good protector for the bottom of the barrel that lays in the stock's barrel channel - oil, beeswax, johnson's paste wax, all of them or ...... ?

any oiling or other protection for the lock and trigger?

tia!

[Captchee]

wax finishes are  document able . however they dont last , so they must be maintained .
 myself i use Tung and linseed .  Tung is 90% impervious , where linseed is only 10% impervious .
 thus linseed will take a stain better then Tung  because the stain can go through the linseed where it wont as well through the Tung .also Tung penetrates very deep . as such it makes it rather hard if you ever have to restrain or do a repair to the stock

 so what i normally do is apply 4 or 5 coats of linseed  , sanding between coats .
 Tung oil will not penetrate linseed  but it will bind to it . so i then do 2 or more coats  on top  tell i get the finish i desire . If its to shinny , I simply buff back the  tung oil with  burlap or 0000 steel wool

[RobD]

thanx for the scoop, captchee.  what type of linseed and tung oil?  i know of many different formulas and blends of each, particularly tung oil that can be had straight up raw, or in a resin based blend.  like nitrocellulose lacquer, native tung oil never cures, not ever.  the blended stuff (with polymers, like in the min-wax brand) will cure out a thin coat more or less within a day.

[Captchee]

for  linseed i use boiled linseed . some it  has driers  . also keep in mind Linseed itself never dries 100% thats why old stocks often are very dark .
 yes the same thing is true with Tung . but with dries added it will dry  just as you say .
 myself i use Tung by Minwax
all coats after the first couple float coats  of linseed , should be  thin hand rubbed coats

[RobD]

i used to use blo for sealing turned salt water fishing plugs.  it takes a good week or more to at least surface cure after a 30 second dip in the blo tub.  i hate that stuff and have moved over to thinned epoxy (using acetone) and/or a wicked in coat of quality water thin cya (soaks almost instantly into the grain, seals and hardens it), then a sprayed epoxy top coat finish after the colors are sprayed on.

min-wax tung is the polymer version, and will cure as i mentioned above.  however, it sorely lacks in durability when compared to any good resin based polyu.  i've used it for finishing guitars, though these dayze i much prefer min wax wipe on polyu - this is really good stuff that cures 3x faster than min wax tung oil and won't mar or scratch as easily as the tung stuff.

i can see where finishing 18th/19th century replica (or near replica) gun stocks is either being, or attempting to be, as historically correct as possible - or just use 20th/21st century petro/chemical finishes ("plastic").  i can see valid value in both, though i'm sure there will be diehards for either camp.  me, i'm a shooter first and "absolute period correct" isn't much in my vocabulary.  in the long run, it's all subjective and all good, we do as we want.  

[Captchee]

well if your wanting the lock of plastic , then use plastic coatings .
 Lacquers are also period and will give a good thick coat . they are often seen on military type muskets .

 Myself ,  I have  found Tung to be  very resilient and long lasting on gun stocks. that’s why I use it .
 Your gun however is your choice .

[RobD]

nah, my lock is iron, not plastic.  :lol:

[RobD]

plastic coated wood    ...

[Captchee]

dont know  how they  would have looked at it , im not them .

[RobD]

dont know  how they  would have looked at it , im not them .

exactly.  me either.

[sse]

The curl on that is amazing...

[RobD]

re: what i've said up above about finishes ...

i think they're all good in one way or another.  to those who feel the need for a pc/hc wood finish, then obtaining or making the stains, sealers and top coats (if any) that were known to be used by gunsmiths of the era one wishes to emulate is entirely in order.  

imho. substituting a modern finishing material based on petro chemicals, or formulas unheard of in the 19th century and back, could never be pc/hc.  so, if pc/hc is important, one would never use permalyn, or polyu, or acrylics, or any modern concoction that has polymers in it, such as min-wax tung oil - all that stuff is just wrong if one *requires* a pc/hc firearm.  glad that ain't me.  

[Uncle Russ]

re: what i've said up above about finishes ...

i think they're all good in one way or another.  to those who feel the need for a pc/hc wood finish, then obtaining or making the stains, sealers and top coats (if any) that were known to be used by gunsmiths of the era one wishes to emulate is entirely in order.  

imho. substituting a modern finishing material based on petro chemicals, or formulas unheard of in the 19th century and back, could never be pc/hc.  so, if pc/hc is important, one would never use permalyn, or polyu, or acrylics, or any modern concoction that has polymers in it, such as min-wax tung oil - all that stuff is just wrong if one *requires* a pc/hc firearm.  glad that ain't me.  

Exactly! You've described it all in a nut shell, and it's just not that hard to understand.
Different strokes for different folks, and that's exactly how it should be!

Uncle Russ..