How to do an Aged Oil Finish

[Candyman]

Have you ever wanted to refinish a stock but wanted to give it that aged look?
When refinishing a Walnut stock it is not that hard but, when doing a hard wood stock you can end up with a light color that just doesn't look right.
This post will show you how to get that aged look to a light colored stock, Walnut or Hard Wood.
As always we need a Victim. Todays Victim will be a US 1917 stock made of Birch that was painted gold. :shock:

The first thing to do is to clean the stock. The best way to remove paint is to strip it off with a chemical stripper.

I will not go over how to strip the stock, but here is a link that will cover that.
http://www.surplusrifleforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=137&t=61170

Once you have the stock cleaned you will need to address any repairs. This was an easy one.

 

[Candyman]

Part 2

The stock was covered with scratches due to someone tried to scratch the paint off at one time. You can also see that the chemicals in the paint also discolored the wood a little.
To clean up the scratches I gave the stock a light sanding with 100 and 150 grit sand paper. Remember to always use a sanding block when sanding.

Here it is after the sanding was done. Now it is ready for the finish to be applied, And no you don't have to go out and find some old oil.
To get that aged look do not sand the stock super smooth. Finish sanding with 100 grit and then do an oil scrub coat with 0000 steel wool and BLO. Let the oil stand wet for aboul 30 min. then wipe the stock dry and let it dry for 24 hours. Do another oil scrub coat the same way.

The stock will take on some color once you have done the Oil Scrubs. A mistake that a lot of people make is, they think that the more oil they add, the darker the stock will get. But after the 2nd coat of oil the stock will not get much darker. Over time BLO will get darker.

Now to add some age to the stock.
After the 2nd oil scrub coat is dry use a brown leather dye (alcohol base) and use a rag to wipe it on the stock. ( Chestnut Ridge Military Stock stain will give you a more redish color) Allow the dye to dry for 2 or 3 hours and then apply a thin coat of BLO by hand. (It would be best to ware rubber gloves when doing this because, some of the dye will come off the stock) Rub this thin coat of oil in until the stock is almost dry then let it dry for 24 housr. Rub in one more coat the same way.

If you you want to add a little more age to it you can add a little bit of black dye to the brown and apply it the same way you did the first coat of dye. Then do two more thin coats of oil.
Allow the stock to dry for two days then wipe it down with a clean rag. The last thing to do is to apply a wax top coat.

Remember that anytime you use an Alcohol base stain with red in it on Hardwood the the red color will show more then it wood on Walnut.

I hope that this will help some of you and as always if you have any questions, just ask.