Marauder Restyle Part Duex

[Sharps40]

Some pics comeing soon. The wood is finally off the action. Initial sanding and fitting is done with the metal and the buttplate installed to control how much sanding occurs near the critical parts interfaces....don't wanna remove too much wood. The stock is even with the upper and lower tangs so it can be gripped without bite and the panels of the wrist are just like the forend wood....a bit proud of the action panels. The gap between the action panels and the wrist of the stock might be a touch larger than I like but it'll be okay.....the undercuts fit inside the action nicely.

For now, I'd sanded and wet sanded the wood to remove whiskers. Then rubbed in two good coats of Tru Oil with light sanding between to freeze and cut off any last hidden whiskers in the walnut....don't want the wood to whisker up one really humid or wet day....once it does its always rough to the touch afterward.

Tonight I did the final sanding to remove that second coat of Tru Oil, just barely back to the surface of the wood....does a nice job fillin the pores in Walnut too....

I then removed all the wood, touched up any final spots with 220g and dusted it off and rubbed in hard and hot a third coat of Tru Oil. When that's dry, I'll knock back the gloss and level the finish with 0000 steel wool and rub in 3 or so more coats steel wooling inbetween. The final rub down will be with Brownells fff to bring the dull steel wooled finish up to a satin sheen that is smooth, warm and soft to touch. Nothin much like. And as always, the top coat is two layers of buffed Johnsons paste wax......good ol stuff and smells good when ya rub it in.

But with the dry time between coats I can get back to Renegade project, need to sharpen my chisels, got some barrel key panels that need inletting into a nice chunk of walnut.....and I gotta get a big cardboard box, pan of water and a light bulb ready for blueing all the metal.....

 

[Sharps40]

Fourth trip down hand buff lane with this wood. 2 coats on with the wood and buttplate installed, lightly sanded back to the surface to freeze and remove whiskers. 2 coats with the wood metal and buttplate separated and deglossed/smoothed with 0000 steel wool. Butt is heavily sealed.....action inlets will be too before we are done. Time to reinstall the buttplate and rub in hard the last two coats of Tru Oil, deglossing and smoothing with 0000 steel wool and then the final rub out with fff and a topcoat of good paste wax.

The high gloss and dust pins and finger smears and such of coat 4

And the degloss, removal of the dust pins and finger smears via 0000 steel wool. Back to the surface, leveling the finish and providing the ground work for Soft, Warm and Satin Glow.

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[RamRoddoc]

Sweet, I kind of like that sap wood, it gives it some character.

 

[Hayata]

Another stunner from Sharps!

You, sir, are are a true artisan!

 

[Sharps40]

I thought bout staining that sap wood but then I remembered....I ain't put stain on a stick of walnut in 25 or so years so I figgered no sense in startin out my fifth decade by ruining a piece of walnut with stain!

- - - Updated - - -

Sixth and last coat of tru oil just got rubbed hot, hard into the wood. Lotsa folks say they lay on 10 or 15 coats of TruOil.....I spose if ya like the look. It'll sure shine, like a low grade porn stars hooties when sprayed with Ultratittium Boob Gloss jes before the Action Scene.....but I prefer something a bit more subdued, traditional hand rubbed satin, it glows, lets the wood shine thru.....So, using truoil, no sense tryin to speed up the process and weaken the finish by mixin in armor all for the fast set...it sets plenty fast to rub in 6 or coats of finish in just 2 days...just rub in drops with the heel of yer hand, hot and hard till its almost dry and yer hand hurts from the friction heat....wait 3 to 5 hours, buff with 0000, dust and topcoat again. Tonight or tomorrow we'll do the last leveling with 0000 steel wool and a good rub out with fff compound.

 

[Old_School]

I've never been able to get TruOil to dry that fast. Obviously, I've never applied enough friction to get it hot enough!

 

[Sharps40]

Tru oil will usually dry in three hours or less at or above 65 degreed F. It and linspeed are ment to be fast finishes. But neither dry that fast when folks glop it on. It takes about 4 to 6 drops to do each coat on a marlin forend. Maybe a 10 to 15 drops to do the buttstock. I sorta finger dunk the tip of the lil finger, smear it on and then work it in hard pulling the finish out from end to end to minimize blobs and overlaps.

But this is a hand rubbed technique....finish is in the wood not on it. Some folks like it sprayed or built up thick. It gives the wood a look like a bar top with its high shine and very thick epoxy top coat. Either is fine. I don't like bartops or Browning style high shine though....so, mine wind up all more on the subdued and satiny side.

 

[Sharps40]

Forend and front half of the stock are deglossed/leveled after the 6th and final coat of truoil has kicked over......I'll finish deglossing and leveling the back half of the stock too.

Here the forend and the front half of the stock have been handrubbed to a soft and satiny final glow using terry and brownells fff. I'll finish rubbing out the back half of the stock too.

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After the final rub out with fff, a coat of Johnsons paste wax is rubbed in....hard, heel of the hand, till it's hot and dry. Then its buffed off with clean terry leaving the wood glowing, grain showing, golds, reds and greens of the wood all highlighted.

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Done....wrapped em up and boxed em up and put em in a dent free place till its time to do the final build after rust bluing all the metal.

 

[Buckeye76]

Can I use Tung oil with the paste wax the way you are doing it? I've never used Tru oil, normally just the tung oil. Its a slow process because it takes a while for it to dry sometimes, but I've never used the wax with it.

 

[Sharps40]

Don't know. I have no experience with tung oil. I have some oil finished furniture....the first coats were oil....the top coats for the last 14 years has been paste wax and/or lemon or orange oil.