Went to the gun show a couple weeks ago in Greensboro. Had no intentions of buying, just to look. At about 5 minutes in i walked by a table with a few old long guns on it. There on the table was J Stevens model 54 410ga. bolt action shotgun with no bolt assembly. Made sometime between 1933 and 1944 i think. Price tag was $75. Way to much i thought to myself. Maybe if it had a good working bolt. The stock was really nasty looking. I don't know what was on it . looked like at least three layers of some kind of crud. Anyway, I walked around that place three times in about two hours. Stop by and looked at that 410 each pass. Could not get it off my mind. Started out the door to go home. Turned around, went back and offered the guy $60. I got to put this thing back into shooting shape. I found a bolt assembly on ebay. The metal is not in real bad shape. The barrel looks like it had been pitted a little and reblued. The inside of the barrel is as shiny as a new nickel with no pitting at all. I think I'm going to reblue the butt plate and trigger but leave the rest of the metal as is. I stripped and krud kuttered the stock and i think it came out pretty good, considering what it was. I'v gone back and forth a dozen times between linseed oil, tung oil, tru oil, minwax antique and just stain and poly. I did a 22 rifle with stain and poly about 12 years ago and in my mind it looked great. And it still looks like it was just done yesterday. Anyway, I decided on tru oil. To make a short question into a long story. Any "experienced" tips on applying tru oil?
Tru oil tips (NC)
- Thread starter tws3b2
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Nice find! I hope you get it bump started soon. 
I redid a Rem 788 stock with Tru Oil a while back. As I recall, it was really easy: wipe it on, let it sit 5-10 minutes, wipe it off, let it dry overnight. Buff with #000 or #0000 steel wool, repeat. Do it until it's the sheen you want.
The only thing I wished I'd done different is dye the stock first. The 788 was a "poor man's gun" with a Beech stock stained to a light brown. When I stripped that off, it was really blonde (not that there's anything wrong with that!), and the Tru Oil didn't darken it hardly at all. It was a real clear coat.
Keep postin' pics of your progress, please!
I redid a Rem 788 stock with Tru Oil a while back. As I recall, it was really easy: wipe it on, let it sit 5-10 minutes, wipe it off, let it dry overnight. Buff with #000 or #0000 steel wool, repeat. Do it until it's the sheen you want.
The only thing I wished I'd done different is dye the stock first. The 788 was a "poor man's gun" with a Beech stock stained to a light brown. When I stripped that off, it was really blonde (not that there's anything wrong with that!), and the Tru Oil didn't darken it hardly at all. It was a real clear coat.
Keep postin' pics of your progress, please!
Nice. I will look up the armor all.Cheap and excellent applicators are paper coffee filters.
If you are stripping to the wood, you will want to pore-fill.
I’m not a big fan of sanding between coats of Tru Oil, but if you want a super-smooth finish, it wouldn’t hurt to sand occasionally.
BE PATIENT. This could take 20-40 coats. Very thin coats.
A big tip I wish I knew on day one... poke a pinhole in the paper under the lid of the Tru Oil bottle. That’s all you need, and it prevents the air from getting in. The Tru Oil will dry and get gummy in the bottle.
The way I apply, squat some on the wood, rub around with the paper filter. Blue paper “shop towels” work OK, too. But I prefer coffee filters. Throw away after each use. Cheap as can be. After rubbing, I let it dry a little while, then give it a more serious rub down.
Then let it dry 4-6 hours, or overnight. As you can see.... 30-40 coats is going to take a LONG time.
I once true using the “Armor All trick”. I wasn’t impressed, as sometimes it would get hazy and need sanding back. Google “Tru Oil Armor All” to see what I’m talking about. If I were doing a rifle stock, I might try that trick again.
This is after 12 coats, no pore filler:
Different guitar, first coat going on:
View attachment 151334
This one got about 30 coats, and I gave up on going for a full-gloss finish. I did no pore-filling, so you can see the uneven finish.
View attachment 151335 View attachment 151336
Thanks
Gives it the look of old, sunken lacquer. '70's/'80's Les Paul Custom?
I picked up a beech stock for a Marlin 995 for my Marlin 795 from Numrich. Was super dusty/grody & I suspect some mold on it. Gave it a very light scrub with soap 'n water & a green scrub pad & after it dried a very thorough rub down with 0000 steel wool. Wiped it down with tack cloth real well to get as much of the steel particles as possible. Had to tweak the inletting to fit the new style trigger guard & opened up the barrel channel to free float the barrel, then applied 2 very thin coats of TruOil with a cotton diaper (think spit-shining boots) & let it dry a couple days. Rubbed it down with the 0000 again, again with the tack cloth, 2 light coats & repeated that process probably 3 dozen times.
Turned out great & it looks & feels like real gun now, instead of a toy.
I've done a few guitar necks with it. Great stuff.
I was only going for a very thin protective finish. Worked great, and still has a natural feel.
I was only going for a very thin protective finish. Worked great, and still has a natural feel.
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