Henry Rifle Forums

I am headed down the home stretch on getting the finish done for one of my 39A's that I want to be gloss finished wood. Maybe 1 more coat and then let it cure for a couple months and then polish it. It is getting Tru-oil rubbed on it and using Armor-all wipes between coats. It dries super fast using the armor-all between coats and is harder than straight Tru-oil. I know most folks will say it can't work but all most all my stocks are done that way and have never changed in appearance or gave me a bit of trouble. I have been able to put 6 or more coats on in a day if I want to get one done fast using this method. The next thing I will do is some minor fitting on the stock but a lot more fitting will be required to change the barrel channel on the fore arm from octagon to round barrel application. The finish can cure while I am doing the fitting. The first picture the stock has a little haze to it because it was drying to fast while rubbing it on.

The opposite side. Should look good after it is buffed and polished.

Nobody does it better, Bandit! Awesome wood and finish. Thanks for sharing it with us.

That is real purty!

CT_Shooter wrote:Nobody does it better, Bandit! Awesome wood and finish. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Amen to that. I drool every time I see one of your wood projects.

So you mask off the checkering, so it doesn't get slick?

That looks really good. I have to get around to trying Tru-Oil. I like to slowly rub an oil finish in by hand, and I'm afraid of the drying speed of Tru-Oil. I have heard of the Armor-All trick. I like working with linseed oil, but the finish isn't overly durable, and it takes a long time to dry. On my CZ 455, I tried some Lee Valley polymerized tung oil, and found that to be a good in-between, time wise...slow enough to really rub it in, but quick enough to completely dry over night. It also makes for a high gloss finish...too much so for my taste. I had to knock the shine back a bit on mine by applying a non-hardening chopping block wax with 0000 steel wool. This gives it a semi-gloss finish that is pretty close in gloss level to many factory finishes.

Henry88 wrote:So you mask off the checkering, so it doesn't get slick?

Henry88,
I mask the checkering off with painters tape. If the finish builds up in the checkering it will look like a Bubba job. The checkering should be kept free of finish except for a sealer coat of Tru-oil thinned down with mineral spirits applied with a tooth brush then wiped while still a little wet with a lint free cloth to remove what doesn't soak in. Only takes a small amount on the brush to do a complete panel. You don't want a build up of finish in the checkering where it loses its line depth and take away the grip. After removing the tape I take a checkering tool and go around the border to clean out any finish that crept under the tape which is very little since going with the painters tape.