Waterproofing wood rifle stock?

G

Gary O

Guest
I've always heard it said that you should seal and waterproof the wood riflestocks; buttstock, pistolgrip, barrell channel, etc. Question? What product do I use for that? Thanks...
 
I'm sure someone will come along with a huge amount more expertise that I have on rifle stocks but I know a little about wood in general. Ideally you don't want the moisture content of any piece of wood fluctuating with atmospheric; even with the finest, densest and most homogeneous piece of wood there will be expansion, contraction and movement. In construction, most pieces of fine woodwork are placed in humidity controlled environments, no problem. Sometimes you can't do that and the entire piece has to be sealed. No one type of sealer is correct for all woods and conditions but they have one thing in common, the sealers will penetrate. One condition involving wood that absolutely must be sealed is exterior wood door bottoms. A good carpenter in a commercial situation will spray the door bottom with polyurethane after cutting the door to fit but before hanging.

I'd say that if you're talking about the concealed areas of your stock, brushed or sprayed polyurethane will work. You don't need much, you're just sealing the surface, not building a gloss.
 
If you don't have polyurethane, most any oil finish will work. Most guys use clear, not something with a stain for the hidden areas of the stock. But a combination stain sealer would work. Just as long as it says wood sealer on the container. Max
 
For smaller areas, steal the wifes clear nail polish. Works like a charm, but dont get caught..
 
An excellent finish recommended by the late Ed Shulin (Master stock maker/instructor) to me over 40 years ago is Flecto-Varathane Number 66 Oil finish.
 
Long ago in a Galaxy far away, I did quite a few Rifle Stocks, mainly inletted blanks by Fajen. I would finish the outsides with Birchwood Casey True Oil, (labor intensive but hard to beat), and smear a couple of coats on all of the unseen surfaces.

If you look at most wooden factory stocks, that is how they are finished.............jackie
 
I have been finishing, refinishing gun stocks and wood for over 35 years. Many of them professionally.
There are many ways to accomplish what you are after. What generally determines how you do it depends on the final look you want.
Birchwood casey is basically a wipe on varnish/poly,
So you can hand finish using poly, wipe on poly, danish oil or many others and get a really beautiful finish.
OR
You can brush on a finsh OR you can spray. It depends on how much work you want to put into it and what you want it to look like.
If you just want functional and still get a pretty good look.
Sand it all down wipe on 2 coats of wiping poly all over, then cheat and use a spray can of poly like minwax. Spray on a couple of coats read the directions because some have min and max recoat times. This method would be the easiest and give a good solid finish.
If you want just pm me and Ill send you my phone or email and give you all the info you want,.
 
To be honest, I have used Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil because it was easy for me to get and easy to work with. I have always had the feeling that it was simply polyurethane varnish though a little thicker. There is a lot I can learn about gun stock finishes. I could sure us a seminar.

Concho Bill
 
Sealing Wood

I am by no means as expert but I have dabbled, excese the pun, in or with a variety of finishes/sealers for wood. If I wanted to seal a stock completely I would use Helsman Spar Urethane, several thin coats preferably sprayed on. It is the hardest and most durable finish I have found. Clearcoat automotive finish is also very good but unless you have a body shop that will sell you the industrial quality they use it is hard to come by. I have used lacquer sealer and Laquer top coat, which is the easiest product to work with, but it is not as durable as the previous mentioned finishes. Any of these finishes require several coats especially with laquer. The last stock I finished with laqeur I think I sprayed about ten coats of sealer, sanding between each coat and then sprayed about ten coats of lacquer, really looked good but was very tender. Unless some new developements in oil finishes have happend in the last few years they will not seal the wood very effectively
 
Lacquer is very sensitive to cleaning solvents.
As far as the automotive poly that they use now days you can go to a auto paint specialty store and buy the same thing that the auto body shops buy, thats where they get it. It is a 2 part mix though, at least as I remember but things change with time. It is more durable than most things.
Spar is good so is verathane and I dont remember who but someone make one called diamond coat.
Truth is most of them are about the same. Notice I said about.
I have a special formula I use to do furniture pieces that I make (made) not doing as much furniture these days.
However I dont know how durable it would be on a gun stock but sure makes wood beautiful.
The most durable thing that I have used is 2 part epoxy but it is reallllllllly a pain to work with. Not for the faint of heart.

For what its worth I am furniture and cabinet maker by profession.
 
Last edited:
Bill Wynne said:
To be honest, I have used Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil because it was easy for me to get and easy to work with. I have always had the feeling that it was simply polyurethane varnish though a little thicker. There is a lot I can learn about gun stock finishes. I could sure us a seminar.

Concho Bill
Click to expand...

Just some suggestions:
If the Tru-Oil is thick, then thin it out with acetone. Just let the wood drink it in until saturated. A few more coats of thinned finish will penetrate & seal better than a couple of thick coats. You can also mix it with tung oil to extend the drying time, but this is usually not the problem.

Tru-Oil also works well in a sanded in finish, where the oil is sanded into the wood with wet-or-dry paper to fill the pores with the sanding dust and finish. A few coats & it's just the finish that being moved around to level the surface.
Regards, Ron
 
If you think about a tree,it sucks water up from the ground in a capillary action and distributes it to the leaves where it is needed for " tree business"( photosynthesis) So think about a handfull of soda straws. If you plug the ends, nothing is getting in or out from the sides,so sealing a riflestock is the same basic principal,except,if you take the sealed stock to a real humid place it will still swell and warp and if you take it to a real dry place it will still split and crack So ,so much for that "grasp of natural knowledge" ! Gotta be that's why they invented fiberglass. I do love the feel and beauty of a wood hunting rifle stocks and have never missed a deer or a woodchuck 'cause the stock warped. Nothin is prettier leanin' up against a hunting cabin wall than an oil finished walnut stocked sporter,and nothing feels better than draggin' that buck with a wood stocked rifle over one's shoulder,except maybe draggin' him with an Osage longbow in one hand.
Joel
 
Don't take this as gospel, it's pure opinion, but I did some stocks back in the early 80's both during and after gunsmithing school. The school, Pine Technical Institute, subscribed heavily to the Brownell's school of gunsmithing so most of the stuff I and others did was Tru-Oil.

IMO it has NOT held up well over time, and especially on hunting stocks...... USER stocks. I've watched them cloud up in the rain, knots break open and let in water, finish crack and curl. Edges at end-grain, like that perfect meld at the recoil pad, tend to swell and even discolor. In short I'd be scared to actually USE a Tru-oiled rifle for anything other than a light ramble in the busky beechwoods.... then get it inside and put it to bed.

It can be made truly beautiful, a hand-rubbed Tru-Oil finish still defines the genre in my eyes, but durable? Sealed? This hasn't been my experience. For really sealing and hardening the wood I'm currently hoping to use automotive clearcoat, Industrial Grade as mentioned. Luckily I've access to many wholesale level suppliers here in the Vanc/Portland area.

I don't have any answers but I hesitate to endorse Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil for the modern hunting crowd. There are some truly hard-core users in the woods today. That guy who walks out of the crick with a fish in his mouth wouldn't last 20 minutes with a linseed based finish on his rifle :D

al

al
 
Nader, I plan to make a stock from Osage, if it ever dries. Have you done any finishes on this wood. So far it's kinda kooky, fresh cut it is yellow but truns to a dark brown as it ages, sand off the brown and viola, it is yellow again. This is a wannaseewhathoppens project, don't think a full stock would make any weight limits in LV, HV classes, the wood is almost as heavy as iron.
I live in a small town and do not have access to speciality paint shops, fortunately the folks that do my body work, and I keep them busy repairing my tail gate, keep backin onto objects, will sell me the clearcoat. Warning the two part mix will mess up a spray gun if you forget and leave it in the gun. It sets up rerally good inside the gun...
 
Waylon my sympathies to you. Make sure you will is in order.
I made an executive desk for the Dallas County Cornor out of that stuff. I will never work with it again and if I do they will have to pay 4x the price.
Nightmare and yes drying is an issue as well as warping cracking and splitting.

RJM putting acetone or lacquer thinner into an oil based finish is ok but ONLY FOR THE FIRST COAT. Because acetone or laq thinner will normally pucker an oil finish so when the 2nd coat goes on it will crinkle up.
I know I found this out the hard way trying to make poly dry quicker on a table top. Needless to say I got to strip the top and start again.

Most things sold as Tung oil are not true Tung oil read the label carefully and you will normally see it is called a Tung oil finish.
It has other polymers such as polyurethane or vanish mixed with it.
True Tung oil is hard to find. I usually buy mine at Woodcraft. You can find it online. True Tung oil is an oil finish which means it is not a film finish. That means it does not build above the surface of the wood.
However the mixture that I eluded to in the previous post is a mixture of tung oil, poly, spirits, and turpintine. Works great beauuuuutiful finish but dont know that I would want it on a rough used field gun.
 
A little box that Vern built for me.
IMG_1251.jpg

Sorry I didn't have a picture to post of the whole box. It holds the custom leather tooling tools that Jay Lynn Gore makes. The tooling on the front is Jay Lynn's work.
Butch
 
Vern, I thought I had worked with some hard to work with wood. I did a stock with Mesquite that was a headache. Fortunately it was for one of my guns. That blank was about 40 years old and was like working with ice. The wood was so hard and brittle I had to use an angle grinder with 60 grit snading disc to rough it out. I tried the boiled linseed route but the wood was so hard it wuold not penetrate even with about 75% terpentine. I finally gave up and used Johnsons paste wax. A lot of trouble but some of the prettiest wood I have seen. I have used some wipe on Urethanes that do a nice job. One advantage is if you get a scratch it can be snaded out without doning the whole thing. Ever worked with Purple Heart, that is another story. It is as hard as Osage or maybe harder, beautiful wood though. I use it for tips, caps and spacers..
 
Butch, from what I can see that is a piece of work. If Vern did the carving he is truly a very talented woodworker...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top