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Updated with a "digest" of the Purdey process as demonstrated by Purdey finisher James MacDonald.

James,
Naptha purchased from chemical supplies company.Rose Pink is in an old recipe but I never tracked it down .Does dissolved mothballs produce Naptha ? Can I access the Purdey finishing treatise?

I thought you were referring to Naphthalene, which is a major constituent of mothballs. As opposed to Naphtha, which is standard lighter fluid. I was wondering if maybe the naphthalene gave a certain old-closet kind of smell to the gun!

If you look at the Digest, PAGE 37 (Direct Link), I've just reformatted the outline of the purdey process.

The full video can be accessed by clicking the underlined link in the title of that section or by clicking here HERE

To go to the specific time for a given step, you can look at the time in the screenshot that I included from the instagram video.

On that note, every place in the Digest that has underlined text is a hyperlink that will take you to the source of the information, a purchasing source, etc.

Is there any actual formulas for the purdey slakum? I live in the humid south and my minimal experience with the slakum I've mixed is getting them to dry without excessive dry times.

From Salopian:

"Here you go boys,
Purdey's London Finishing Oil
For Darkening, Filling & Polishing
All measures are in English (UK)
1/2 pint of Raw Linseed Oil
2 ozs of Plaster of Paris (Dental Quality)
1/2 fluid oz of Butter of antimony
1/2 Gill Spirits of Wine
2 teaspoons of Vinegar
1 teaspoon of Venice Turps.
You can leave out the Antimony if you don't want to darken the wood.
Leave out the Plaster if you don't need to fill the pores.
That's what is in Slacum Oil."

see also: https://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubb...e=0&fpart=1

As for climate, England is fairly humid even if it isn't quite the bayou. I suspect drying times have more to do with ingredients and application than the atmosphere. nonetheless, I built a drying cabinet to have a little more control

FWIW, for oil finishes, I find UV light does more to help drying that most other factors. I don't think it is drying so much as curing that is involved. A couple hours outside in the sun helps a lot (though dust/lint problems then become an issue).

Thanks! I saw that on the document but wasn't sure if it was it. Will boiled linseed work or does it have to be raw?? Another question is will the pure grain ever clear be the same as the ethyl alcohol? The last I made I heated up and cooked. Is this prepared in the same way? Thanks and sorry for all the questions.

Hi

Does anyone here have any first hand experience with J.V. Howe's formula number 1? I would like to hear about it.

PhysDoc

An old thread but this treasure trove deserves continuity. Thanks to Woodreaux for compiling all the info from various sources including the threads here that I've plowed through many times!! Some comments and some questions:

Dig's Red Oil. I had noted Dig mentioning "I find I get better colour from alkanet root steeped in raw linseed for several months - rather than using it in alcohol or turpentine, which dilutes it too much in my experience." So "raw" rather than the originally mentioned BLO.

Question: specifically for red oil, do people use raw, unfiltered edible flaxseed oil or refined linseed (flaxseed) oil? Refined is incredibly pale and steeping it with alkanet root produces a very low viscosity, bright red rather than red-brown oil. (At one point many years ago I purchased some red oil from Dig and it was markedly red-brown versus the bright red produced by the batch I did in 2016. I steeped 80g of alkanet root in 250mL each of food-grade flaxseed oil and walnut oil for a year. To this day it remains of very low viscosity - there's no way it would sit on the stock in the way the red oil does in the Purdey video - and bright red rather than red-brown. I'm actually afraid to try to use it. Damascus had suggested colouring it with Vandyke Brown Artist's oil paint.Thoughts?

Dig's Finishing Oil recipe:

Raw linseed oil – 16 oz
Spirits of turpentine (best you can find) – 2 oz (Diamond G Forest Products produces a highly recommended version)
Carnauba wax – 200 grains
Venice/venetian turpentine - 2 teaspoonfuls
Mix together and heat until it simmers. Simmer for ten minutes then allow to cool.
(A small measure of modern terebine / Japan driers)
Be careful it does not catch fire -!!!!

I changed BLO to raw and added the line in parentheses because Dig had noted later that he was experimenting with modern terebine and had later commented "The finish I am using at the moment with best results is with turpentine rather than terebine as a drier and raw rather than boiled linseed oil." ("Modern terebine" in the US would be something like Japan driers.) I was a little confused regarding the driers and what would be replaced with terebine given the two types of turpentine. The document clarifies this by having "2 Ounces Spirits of Turpentine or Terebine Drier." Thank you.

The Purdey formula provided by @Salopian doesn't contain any wax. When he posted the recipe he noted "You can leave out the Antimony if you don't want to darken the wood.
Leave out the Plaster if you don't need to fill the pores. That's what is in Slacum Oil." (See post above from Woodreaux.) Yet later he commented "Artist's linseed obviously is more refined and if you are making personal amounts it has to be the way to go because the cost is relatively small. If you want a filling oil use the carnaube and the plaster of Paris. If you just want a smoooooooth finish just use the modified oil finish less the wax and silica." I note the "carnaube and the plaster of Paris" but maybe he purely meant the canaube in Dig's formula and the PoP in the Purdey one. I'm wondering whether the formula ought to contain wax, particularly as the folks at Purdey mentioned in their IG video that “It has a drier and it has some wax, and that’s about as far as we’re prepared to go” (Tom.) Thoughts?

It might also be worth adding to the document the other red oil recipe posted by Salopian:

"Sheraton, the furniture maker used 'red oil' to colour mahogany. Here is a modified version of his 'red oil' recipe.
Take 4oz of alkanet root, broken into short strips,as much opened with the hand as possible, so that the bark of the root which tinges the oil may fly off, steep in 1 pint of raw linseed oil to which you have added 1 tablespoon of the oil of the spruce, steep for a week and strain it through a cloth.
This makes a strong colour, you may have to dilute the colour with more linseed oil to suit your need. Oil of the spruce I believe is turpentine."

However it seems that spirits of turpentine, aka turpentine, is quite different from "oil of the spruce". Apparently, turpentine oil is made from the resin of the pine tree, while pine oil or "spruce oil" is distilled from the needles. Turpentine is a volatile and flammable liquid, while pine oil is a relatively stable liquid.