Black Walnut

PeterB said:
Drying time for Tru-Oil depends on your locale. In my high desert, it takes about 4 hours. Higher humidity makes for longer drying time. To keep the hardeners from forming at the top of the bottle (and leaving fewer hardeners in the liquid remaining), simply drop in kids' marbles to raise the level until the air pocket is gone. Voila! Now to fill the grain in walnut quickly, after the initial coat of 1/2 Tru-Oil and 1/2 paint thinner to go as deeply into the wood as possible, apply a thick coat of Tru-Oil and when it gets TACKY...SMEAR it over the wood which will fill most of the grain. A second thick coating similarly applied should fill all of the grain. You can do the same with Pro-Custom Oil. Different oils will give different colors which you may prefer from time to time. Tru-Oil darkens a bit like linseed oil but is not photosensitive like linseed oil which darkens over time. Tru-Oil is 5 times more moisture resistant than linseed oil. Pro-Custom Oil tends to keep the natural color of the wood. I have an article on gunstock finishing if anyone is interested.
Click to expand...

I'd be interested in the article, Peter.

If I'm looking for a satin finish (not glossy), is there any advantage to using Tru-Oil over Danish Oil? I've been using Tru-Oil and rubbing the gloss back to satin with sandpaper or steel wool, but if there's no advantage I'd like to save a step (ie, time) in the finishing process.

Here's an example of one I did:
P1030274_2.JPG
 
Peter
I am getting the Black Walnut from a Stock maker down the road from me. I went down to see him and he gave me a couple more pcs. He said he would take a knife anytime so I think he may get next on the list.
 
Trading is great! I am getting a 13# and 15# mammouth tooth this way. Good for you.

Most fine shotguns are finished in a matte finish and the final step is rubbing down with 0000 steel wool before waxing. Some finishes are matte, but the usual ones used on guns use this process. By the way, we NEVER use felt backed power finsh sanders for this as it creates whoop d'Dos in the hard and soft areas. Piotti does this on their $20,000 shotguns and they are the laughing stock of American custom gun makers. It saves time but looks AWFUL. My neighbor of old was a fine violin maker and cursed sandpaper. He would only use broken glass and scrape. He would also only use wood dried at least 75 years as it tempers and gives finer musical tone. Lots of neat crossover thoughts but likely not much use to a knife maker. The smaller grips sand (or scrape) quickly.

I have seen myriads of formulas claimed to be the best finishes, but it is the techniques of applying them really seem to be where the magic is. Personally, I prefer Tru-Oil to DTung oil as you can put it on thicker have have more reliability in drying. If you use any finish in bottle form, add marbles to raise the surface level as it is used, and you won't have a scale form and lose hardeners in the liquid.
 
Matt, that is very true. It takes a good hour to remove surface finish with steel wool on a gunstock...for EACH coat. Time adds up, but the real time is in the forming and sanding prior to finishing. Some woods are uncooperative. I had two OLD blanks (75-100 years) which had incredibly tempered and sandpaper would not touch them. I had to use the broken glass technique and scrape them. A friend did a stock FOR me and it was soaking up finish like crazy so to make sure it penetrated well, he put it in a refrigerator to slow the drying. It took 65 coats, but turned out beautifully. Some woods like flat bean mesquite and maple can be gorgeous when a flame technique is used. You might not be able to use that technique on stabilized wood. I have some fine feather maple I am going to try that on in the next couple of days. When you have really exotic beauty in wood, you need to use every technique and effort to bring it out. Your Claro feather grips are things of beauty.
 
Peter ive heard about that broken glass method, bet never tried it, too worried I would gouge into the wood or scrape something I didnt want to srape! Thanks on the scales, I have a good supply of that nice stuff.
 
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