Salopian,
Thanks for the nod and I will definitely try Liberon. They have a host of products; can you be very specific about which I should buy? I'm always looking to try new finishes, especially when they're recommended by people with firsthand experience on gunstocks.
Chuck,
Ya got me......I've never actually used straight-up polyurethane on a gunstock. I've only ever used the Waterlox "original sealer" and "original satin oil", what they call their #1 and #2 selling products. With the polyurethane remark I was really refering to Tru-Oil.
My first projects were rifle stocks in the 70's and 80's and I did many of them with Tru-Oil. Varmint rifles get handled very little and most of those are still beautiful today. Tru-Oil is a good finish and I still heartily recommend it to novices and/or people who want to do a passable refinish on a gun or two but aren't looking to make a hobby of it.
I was perfectly happy with Tru-oil until I got into shotguns in the late 80's. Target guns get handled a tremendous amount and game guns are gonna get scratched. I found Tru-Oil was cheap, available, easy to use and did a darned fine job of sealing and protecting. Also, I was able to duplicate the Weatherby-type, high gloss, mirror finishes that were a fad in the 70's. But when I got interested in shotguns, the gun writers convinced me what I really wanted was a "satin, low-luster, hand-rubbed oil finish." Tru-Oil started to let me down....no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't get satisfactory results by cutting the gloss off. I also found it left something to be desired when there's a need to retouch.
I read an article by Jim Carmichael in which he canvassed a number of pro stockmakers for what finishes and techniques they used. That's where I first heard of "Danish oil", a tung oil/urethane blend sold by Deft and Watco. I tried it and was instantly hooked for the next several guns. Still not ecstatic over the luster but thrilled with the "retouchability" of wear spots and removing scratches without a complete refinish. Virtually all of our modern finishes are blends of urethanes and either tung oil (Waterlox, Watco Danish, Permalyn)or linseed oil (Tru-Oil, Minwax Antique, ProCustom). I've developed a bias towards tung oil blends. Tru-Oil is a linseed blend and I think it tends toward the urethane end of the spectrum.
About this time I learned of Permalyn with seems to be nearly identical to the Danish oils but "formulated for gunstocks" and I did a couple with it. This was the comp gun with honey-colored Caifornia English. Remember the 30 page thread on alkanet stain and a couple of folks commented on stains passing right through a cured Tru-Oil finish? Well, my skin oil passed right through the Permalyn finish and darkened the wood. I stripped, bleached and redid and it happened again. Finally redid with Tru-oil (unlike the stains, my skin oil didn't penetrate) and told myself I was happy with a glossy comp gun.
After doing a couple of game guns with Waterlox I used it on a second comp gun in CA English and there's no hint of discoloration after about 45,000 rounds.
FWIW, these stocks were done with 1) Waterlox Original Satin Oil Finish and 2) with the Original Sealer. I like both but I prefer the slightly lower luster of the first. The important thing to me is that those gloss levels are inherent in the finish....thats the way they dry......no rubbing or other doctoring required.
