doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DIY Gunsmithing @ doublegunshop.com Oil Finish - How Long ?

It's probably a "how long is a piece of string" question, but, if an old walnut stock and fore end have been cleaned of old finish/soaked in gun oil, how long would you expect it to take to give a good sealed finish ?
I've never counted the days on the ones I've done up to now but the question has been asked and I'm stumped if I could give an accurate(ish) answer.
I've usually used off the shelf products that are available here in blighty and have settled on the "trade secret" brand which comes as 3 bottles in a box. There's alkanet oil, a stock oil called "rapid oil" and another bottle called "T35 oil" which is used to accelerate the drying. I don't normally use the latter as I've not really seen the benefit.
I've used walnut oil preparation on a few as well and had no problems with the outcome.
Obviously, some wood soaks it up quicker than others and grain filling can take a bit of time before the proper oiling and hand buffing starts so what kind of timescale would you say it would take from clean, flat and bare wood to nice finish ?
Any input and answers will be appreciated.
Thanks,
Nick.

As long as it takes. Might seem a daft answer but each stock is different . One may look great after a few applications others take longer and there is nothing more annoying than that one patch that will not seem to finish as the rest does .

I have been using Trade Secret for years , not just that a good friend makes it but because it suits me . I tend to add a couple of drops of Terebine to a small amount of oil on a saucer ,just enough to use as it speeds drying time and when you may have 5/10 stocks at a time it all helps .

Thank you Gunman, that's the problem I have with the one I'm finishing at the mo, there's a patch which is still soaking the oil up while the rest is getting there. I've learned to be patient and that trying to rush usually results in a step back so will keep at it until it's right. This particular stock and fore end were full of gun oil, it was surprising how long it took to clean up, it was covered in whiting and left in my car on warm days over and over before the oil stopped seeping out. I gave it a careful rub with weak oxalic acid solution where the worst staining was and then it was thoroughly rinsed off several times before flatting off. The colour and figure is quite even now.
It's good to hear you're a trade secrets fan too. It seems to do the job well. As you say, every piece of wood is different but it's satisfying when it all comes together and you have a nice finish.

The method I use for removing the oil from oil soaked gun stocks is low cost simple and extremely effective. The basis of my method is a heated garden seed propagator with a heat output of 11 Watt�s the cost on this side of the pond of about �15, this is used in conjunction with an absorbent clay base cat litter.
The method of use is simple surround the stock with cat litter to absorb the oil as it is driven out by the heat which can take from a few days to a few weeks. Now because the heating element is of such low wattage and spread over a large area it is safe to leave the gun stock in the propagator for extended periods of time, the cat litter absorbs the oil perfectly and if it becomes saturated it is very simple to replace.
In the photo is the propagator with a gun stock so you can determine the size. I have not cleaned it because I removed some seeds that the lady gardener I married was propagating at the time, getting myself in to deep trouble as a consequence.
The other photograph I took at the same time are of some �Opium� poppies that have some colour introduced in to the strain, they are legal to grow in gardens here because we do not have a warm enough climate or enough sun to be able to extract Opium from them. If you look closely though you can see a �Fox glove� this is a wild plant that is at home in a garden or in hedgerows, its Latin name is �Digitalis Purpurea� a plant I keep well away from because touching the leaves can really effect your heartbeat. I better make things right with my wife over emptying the propagator because there enough foxgloves in the garden to kill a couple of hundred people not to mention the �Monks Hood�.

We grow both fox glove, popies, and monks hood on this side as well. FG it is a bi-ennial here in NY, re-seeds it self as the wind carries them all over. never felt my heart rush when i trimmed them back after seed dropped, but maybe that is why we like to garden. always wanted to tour english gardens and hope to do so when i retire next year. home gardens/ gardeners are an expanding theme over herw. we have something called Open Days, where home gardeners open their gardens to the public for several days. great fun and a nice bunch of people, a little eccentric, but aren't we all.

Forends and stock heads that are very oil sodden ,I found standard thinners [auto paints ] is always good to start , give a good soak before sweating .

It looks like a heating pad under a foil tray filled with cat litter would work. Those electric germinators are a little pricey over here.