Tru-Oil, Hassles with the Bottle
Someone once said, "We get too soon old, and too late smart."
So it's been with me and Tru-Oil. Over many years I've finished a dozen stocks or so. Never more than one or two at a time, and I've always been openning old bottles to find a hard crust on the top that I've had to break through to get to the liquid oil beneath.
With my last bottle, (10 years ago?) I decided to leave the foil inner cap in place and just punch a small hole in the middle. I now store the bottle upside down and when I need oil I just remove the outer cap and squeeze a few drops onto my fingers. When I've finished, usually several days and several coat later, I re-place the white cap a final time and resume the upside down storage.
Maybe common practice to many, but a new game for me. I'd like to think it might help a person or two.
Take care, thanks for listening, and stay safe.
Rob C.
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Good idea.Thanks
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What I do is find some cheap glass beads or marbles and drop a few in to bring level to the top, prevents air from spoiling it and getting hard.
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More than one way to skin a cat for sure. Good to hear from you both!
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Been doing that upside down bottle for years.
If you are not already doing this, give it a shot.
When applying additional coats instead of using steel wool per most instructions put the tru-oil lightly onto just one small section of the stock and wet a 4x4 piece of folded 800-1200 grit wet dry sandpaper (available from automotive stores, and use the sanding to apply the additional coats. Work fast and do not go back over a section that is drying unless your sandpaper is also wet. Also do not apply so much try-oil that it want to run. Hang the stock and watch while you are rinsing the sandpaper in mineral spirits (do not use the odorless spirits, tru oil does not like it)
If you see a run or sag do not try to dry sand, try wet sanding with tru-oil or leave it until dry and wet sand the run or sag when the next coat is added. Best to let the tru-oil dry for 24 hrs between coats, be patient. You will be surprised at how the extra fine sandpaper levels the coats as they are applied. Working too fast between coats and applying to much oil per coat will cost you additional time. What is nice about tru-oil finish is it can be re-worked and/or more coats added with out removing the previous coats. This method also works good as a filler seal coat for the first coat.
I also wear snug fitting latex or rubber gloves and they can be rinsed in mineral spirts and re-used if not the disposable type.
If the final coat is too glossy for your taste, wait until completely dry and very carefully use the conditioner from the tru-oil gunstock kit. The conditioner is a mild rubbing compound abrasive and will remove the gloss fast taking it to a semi gloss.
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okie743
I'll give your method a try on my next stock. Have always used the 0000 steel wool but have to be careful about the steel dust that can hang around in the nooks and crannies of interior inletting.
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RCrosby: 31516427703579/comments/31516439701403
okie743
I'll give your method a try on my next stock. Have always used the 0000 steel wool but have to be careful about the steel dust that can hang around in the nooks and crannies of interior inletting.
Yep about the steel wool dust.
Get yourself couple sheets of the close to 1200 grit wet dry, do not go below 800. You can also just leave your 4x4 wet/dry sandpaper in the stinky mineral spirts until next coat and the mineral spirits is a good thinner for the tru-oil. You will be amazed how the wet sanding with the fine sandpaper during the additional application coats of tru-oil makes it come out smooth. Tape off the checkering. You can go back later and just blot in some tru-oil to the checkering if desired, but do not load up the checkering and you can thin the oil and use a small brush and use a rag or sponge to soak/blot out the excess in the checkering and only one thin coat is needed for the checkering. (usually) Also do not sand the checkering during the prep and if the checkering needs to be re-cut/re-traced do it before re-finishing the stock.
Stay away from the odorless mineral spirits, tru-oil does not mix well and the odorless has a white color and sometimes has white blobs. Works ok with some (not all) oil base paints but does not mix well with tru-oil. Long term storage of tru-oil is not a good thing, so do not buy any more than you will use up with-in few months.
The tru-oil kit that I was referring to is the Birchwood Caseys gunstock tru-oil kit, cost about $12-15 by shopping around.
Another hint. I prefer the Birchwood Caseys RUSTY walnut wood stain. It gives the stocks a Winchester reddish ting. It has to say RUSTY on the label or it's just regular Walnut.
Some places advertise RUSTY Walnut stain but it's not.
Here is what it looks like. Read the notes.
whoops failed to post a link: Just do a search for such!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Also if all the original sealers or oils are still in the wood your stock will become blottchy looking. On old stocks I use hot water and other products to get the wood down to bare wood.
The hot water will lift the oil out of the wood. (and aids in wet sanding the wood. If you put about 2 coats of tru-oil on the stock or wood and it's not the same appearance the wood is most likely still sealed in spots and not accepting the first coat of tru-oil and additional coats will not look correct. Stop let the wood dry really good for couple days go back and sand it down to bare wood and use hot water and de-greaser again. Sometimes previous epoxy finishes have soaked in and preventing the tru-oil from being soaking into the wood.
I also do not tru-oil a stock with-in 6 mo's of deer season, the stocks tru-oil odor will linger for quite awhile. (and deer do not like the odor)
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I found out the hard way that Tru-Oil has a limited shelf life. The big bottle I had reached a point at which it developed the infamous crust and would never dry once applied. I bought a much smaller bottle a few months ago and am now happily applying and drying. I do as suggested, punch a tiny hole in the top seal and store upside down. I also wipe the bottle-cap threads after each use to make sure the cap doesn't get stuck.
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Like the idea of wiping the threads. Makes sense. Will add that to my routine. Thanks.
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