I'm not getting a response to these stock finishing questions in the DIY section so I thought I would post it here.
Over the last two months I have been testing various finishing methods based on the red oil and slacum information I have found on this site. I have a few questions for those of you that have used red oil and slacum for a while. My refinishing experience has been limited to about 15 guns over a number of years and finishes included varnishes, tung oils, Timberluxe, Tru-Oil, Pro-Custom Oil and Dem-Bart oil. So, I am not a rookie, but I certainly am not a professional. By the way, I'm a biologist by degree but a chemist for 35 years by profession.
First I would like to explain how I am testing the various slacum and slacum blends. All of the various slacum blends were tested on 3 x 5 flat pieces of walnut. I cut them from a number of plaques I picked up at sporting clays events over the years. In all, I have used about 25 of these walnut boards with different finishes. All of these boards were sanded smooth to 800 grit and prepped the same. I varied how many coats of red oil I applied on a number of the boards to see how the grain came out and I tried a number of different methods of application including trying to dry under UV light, rubbing down with steel wool or emery cloth between coats of finish oil to fill pores. I have tried or am trying a blend of the typical slacum (BLO, Carnauba wax, terp and Venice terp) on it's own and mixes of slacum with tung oils, Minwax Antique Oil finish, Master Pro Gel and with some red oil mixed in. The tung oil and Minwax AO were tried at a couple different concentration with slacum. All were applied after a number of coats of red oil we're rubbed in and dried. I have even tried talc to fill pores and heating the solutions before application. I used just tung oil and Minwax Antique oil over red oil on some boards as a comparison. At this point, I am still working on these samples so I am not prepared to discuss all the results. I can say that some have turned out pretty good and others were failures. I learn something new every day about the various finishing products and how to apply them for the best finish.
The questions I have are:
1) Do you rub/buff/polish in the finish oils after they have become tacky or after they have dried, just before the next coat? Some people rub it in by hand and others use a cloth with some of the finish oil on it. What's best? How hard do you rub?
2) Do you find that the stock color lightens or darkens after more coats of the finish oil?
3) Have you tried adding some red oil in the finish oil? Is so, how much and what have your results been? Does it tend to hide the grain?
4) Do you allow the slacum to completely dry between coats? Sometimes I find that it is still tacky the next day. Is that from putting it on too thick? As I get more and more coats of finish oil on, it takes more drying time. Does it need to completely dry with no tackiness between coats?
Once I am finished with this testing I would be happy to give you more details about my methods, formulas and results and what I plan to put on a new (old) William Evans I picked up recently.
Any suggestions or helpful comments?
