Refinishing A Gun Stock Using Boiled Linseed Oil / Winchester Model 50 Shotgun 

with everybody doing the Tacticool, synthetic stocks. it's nice to see a good finished wooden stock. just seems to have a soul to it

Thank you for the video. I really like when people refinish old firearms. New is ok but there is just something about older anything really.

I also have a Model 50 and ran across your video and did the same thing you did and mine came out spectacular. Thank you!

Thank you for posting this. I'm in the middle of a resto project, and wanted to see what the linseed oil looked like. Definitely beautiful. Customer is going to have to chose between this and a high gloss urethane. Great video. 👍

Thanks for the video. After watching it and reading through the comments I decided to re-sand my stock with 600, leave the dust, and hand rub in some BLO (no rag). I've read elsewhere hat rubbing it in by hand, and the smallest amount possible, helps it dry fast. I think that worked, and the stock is looking beautiful already. I won't re-sand but I will repeat the BLO every night for a few weeks. I hope to post a video soon of the final product, which is part of a full Ithaca 37 restoration I've been doing. Thanks again!

Just finished my old single shot 12 this way after watching your video. Left a great finish. Thanks

Great video on use of boiled linseed oil. I use this on all my vintage rifles, even on the receivers of old double shotguns to protect the metal.

No extraneous verbiage just what we need to know. Nicely done.

I use the same boiled linseed oil on all my guns for many years, and I will sometimes darken or lighten the linseed oil with stain. I also use 0000 steel wool to rub in the oil instead of a rag. It rubs the stain into the wood more deeply and always works great. Thanks for sharing. Canada.

What an absolutely beautiful piece of wood! Excellent job!

Good video! I like Teak oil for walnut just a bit more than linseed oil, but they are very close. A thin, buffed coat of Renaissance wax really helps to finish off a natural oil finish, too. It gives it just a touch of shine, and closes off the grain.

I always cut the linseed oil with mineral spirits or turpentine for the first coat. Really allows the wood to drink it up better. I have shifted myself to an oil and varnish homebrew of 1/3 BLO, 1/3 non polyurethane alkyd varnish, and 1/3 turpentine. Use it the same as plain old BLO, but it gives a bit more waterproof protection to the wood and you can with enough coats get more shine.

Nice, love working with wood just to see the grain come through, makes me want to do mine again !

Nice video, I did that to my grandfather's 30 30, 94 manufactured in1937. Only I did not sand it, I smooth it out with 0000 steel wool, and six coats of Boiled Linseed Oil. Looks original.

Thanks for the detailed info. Getting ready to use it on an SKS stock I am refinishing. Looks great on your gun.

Absolutely love that buttstock! That tiger stripe/flame is amazing. The woods they used on plain old factory rifles is stunning.

Great video on how to restore good wood stocks. Really liked how you used linseed oil to get the grain to pop on the classic 50.

Getting ready to refinish my old sks I ordered ...love the smell..

Excellent review! Just what I was looking for. 🍂

Thanks for sharing. Wood looks really good!

7:17 "Can't beat walnut". I concur! Here's why. A couple weeks ago I ordered a Boyds at-one laminate stock for my 10/22. A few days later I ordered another Boyds at-one stock for my Ruger American Rimfire(22LR), but in walnut instead of the laminate. Well that was a mistake. This resulted in me also wanting a walnut version for my 10/22 as well. So I just ordered one yesterday. With Boyds finishing their stocks with what appears to be a spray on finish of some sort. While this isn't the end of the world, as it's a walnut stock that's only a little over $200. Hell, the Norwegians(GSR stocks) want 3 to 4 times that amount, for a similar stock that's laminate. I'm sure this Boyds would cost a lot more, maybe even closer to the price of a GSR stock, if they had to hand oil finish every one like this. No worries, if I want that hand oil finish look that properly completes the walnut look and feel, there's only one solution to this problem. I roll up my sleeves, apply some elbow grease, and make it happen. Thanks for the helpful video to undertake this project.

I use a simular method when i make knife handles. But after a couple of coats of boiled linseed oil i use a polishing wheel with karnuabe wax to seal it to ensure it wont ever soak water when used for fishing or hunting.

don't like music on videos but this time is an exception. blended well with what you were doing and the pictures of the old Winchester advertisments, etc. good stuff. the stock turned out really well. In 1983 I gave my son, who was 14 at the time, my Remington 1100 12ga. He had killed his first deer with it here in east texas and it seemed fitting. well long story short, I'm getting that old shotgun back and this video has inspired me to do the same to it as you've done to yours. thanks for sharing.

Groovy! I'm looking for some techniques on how to finish this really awesome staff I found in the woods a few months ago. Thanks for the video :)

Looks great. Thanks for sharing this with us.

Great tutorial! Simple and easy! Thanks

Nice job, I really like the oiled finish

The rule with linseed oil is. Once a week for a month. Once a month for a year and once a year for the life of the wood.

Very cool video. I enjoyed it a lot. Thank you for making it.

Great job, that came out very nice. Seems like no one makes stocks with that much figuring in them anymore. I read that a safe way to dispose of rags once they are used for BLO, was to soak them in water, then put them in a ziploc bag for disposal.

Lovely Work. She Looks Perfect. Keep up the great work. Nick.

best gun stock finish out there, 8 coats minimum for me though. i live on wet vancouver island and the extra waterproof layers really helps water bead.

Man that came out beautiful, congrats.

Absolutely beautiful. Thank you for sharing.

I have opened a bunch of Mode 50’s through the years and still have one, made in 1950. I generally use TruOil on Winchester firearms, but it is just linseed oil with driers and some polymers.

Just a little tip for when you rub the oil off, use a clean cotton cloth in each hand and work it with both hands.

Excellent video. I have not used linseed oil before - have had a gallon sitting on the shelf for 10 years as I used other products.... am currently refinishing a rifle stock.... using mineral oil, tung oil, and Minwax in equal proportions.... just wanted to see how others do it.

Great video, definitely takes away my anxiety after people have said BLO can get tacky and gross if it's too thick. Doesn't look like it'd be hard to wipe off the excess :) Time to make my SKS stock pretty!

looks nice / when I refinish a gun stock I rub the oil in with my bare hands untill I fell the wood start to get warm . Put a nice shine to the finish

Great Video ,I'm just about to start a new Project and this look's like a great Idea ,thank you ,P/S your gun look's beautiful .

You can also sand it with fine grain paper (maybe #600) between each coat. This creates a very fine surface slurry which you then vigorously rub into the wood with your bare hands. This fills in the very small pores in the wood and gives greater protection. Don't use too much oil or it may take months to completely dry.

So it seems like you can skip applying linseed to the inside of the stock (any areas that will be covered up once the gun is re-assembled), can anyone confirm this?

I'm going to do this to one of my stocks. Thanks

Did my brother's .22 when he was in the service with linseed oil. If I remember t seemed to take forever to dry.. nice results though.

Enjoyed very much, thanks!

You can also use linseed oil and 400 wet or dry to restore the finish without removing the old finish. I like Ken Burns music as a back ground.

Ashokan's farewell.. great intro

Good video and really nice grain on that stock.....Also.... Don't sell yourself short great grandpa Harris on my mom's side was 102 when he died and he was still making traditional long-bows up until he was in his mid 90s when arthritis took his hands.

You shouldn’t fill the chequering with the oil, it gums up and stops the chequering from being effective. You’ll have to chase out the chequering after finishing now. You should also use your hand instead of the rag to apply the oil, that way you generate some heat and it penetrates better. Rub in a fresh coat vigorously using you hand (it should get really hot) and then leave to dry until it’s slightly tacky, then add a little more oil to a rag and buff off the first lot of oil. Then leave to dry overnight. Repeat until the piece has a nice sheen to it and then leave for a few days to dry completely, occasionally buffing with a clean cloth as some oil is likely to seep from the wood during this time.

Nice gun. I have a 1970 Mossberg 600 I'm thinking of giving a boiled linseed oil treatment to.

Nice job on that. I would've set the stocks near a heater before applying the oil and maybe even heated the linseed oil up just a little bit.

How did you clean out the checkering before applying the oil? Thanks.

Any gun that I have with boiled linseed oil needs to be reapplied every so often or it gets crappy. But I love the feel and look of the boiled linseed oil. I have yet to get a build up but sometimes only a few drops can cover an entire stock

Do you sand in between coats to fill pores of wood in or do you bother?

Excellent video, thanks. I've heard of soaking in Kerosene and linseed oil. Is this a good or bad idea. I've a Uberti Cattleman/'Colt peacemaker replica and I didn't like the varnish and want to give it a nice elbow oil\polish.

I wish you had a clip of how you cleaned the checkering, I want to do that to my used Browning 725 that I purchased and needs to be refinished.

Ty for the video I just put some on my M1 garand

To clean checkering you can use plastic brush. Same brush you can use while you using lacquer remover but test out the brush first make sure it's not going melt !!!

Great job!

Is boiled linseed oil only for sanded, stripped bare wood? Plannimg to refinish a stock and if I first lay down a light coat or two of stain can thr linseed oil go over that?

I put linseed oil on wood and then wet sand it with 400 wet or dry sandpaper and then let it sit on for a few minutes before wiping it off. I use danish oil as the first two coats and then linseed oil. The danish oil stains and seals the wood. You can thin linseed oil with paint thinner for the first few coats. I use epoxy to fix any cracks or dents in the wood,, filing smooth and then sanding. Take the bolt on the stock and cut a slot in it, which makes removal the next time a lot easier.

Nice work.

Hi You need a toothbrush to get the oil evenly in to the chequering then rub it hard with your palm until it starts to feel hot, It will cure absolutely dry by the next day :)

thanks to the music im gonna binge watch Ken Burs Civil War.

2 questions. what kind of rag are you using? and can you use the boiled linseed oil over water-based stain?

NICE JOB!!

How do you clean out the checkering? How do you remove the existing varnish from the checkering.

How did you clean up the checkering to begin with? Only half a video here

Planning to treat walnut stock on m1a with oiled linseed oil. Having not done this before will practice on two pieces of walnut of pretty much same size to see how it comes out to be safe. There’s a saying about treating the stock on m1 and m1a. Once a day for a wk., Once a wk. for a month., Once a month for a year., and then once a yr. after that. We’ll see how the stock comes out after each coat to see if it needs all those coats.

How long do you have to wait in between Coats and how long for the finish product

Used cooking oil on my knife handles works well supose it will work on firearms easy to tough up as with all oil finishes

Should you rub oil on the inside parts of the grip? I noticed you didnt do that

How do you protect the wood of guns and what oils are used to dye wood?

Great video. Do you do any sanding in between coats like one would do with True Oil finish. You just wipe it on let it dry and wipe on a second coat... let it dry... and the same for every coat? The stock looks great. Thanks for make this video. :)

Two things: Move the jar farther away so you don't knock it over during the application Use a toothbrush to clean the excess out of the checking between coats or it will fill in and become smooth and useless

how long to wait between each coat?

Nicely done video Musketman! Do you need anything other than soap and water to clean your hands after the process? Thanks

How did you get the medallion off at the base of the pistol grip?

Did you ever use a wood conditioner, or a wood hardener first? I am going to order new wood for my 94 and start from scratch

What type of cloth are you using?

What type of cloth are you using to apply the Linseed Oil ?

Who are the instaramentalists in your intro ?

How would you handle mildew on an old BLO gun stock?

Beautiful...

Once a day for a week, once a week for a month, once a month for a year, once a year for the life of the gun. That's how hand rubbed stocks are finished.

Blo is like hotsauce, I put that stuff on everything.

Always heard: One Coat a Day for a Month, One Coat a Month for a Year, One Coat a Year for Life!

8:49 - *Absolutely not!* Do NOT put your discarded rags into a sealed container! That's asking for big trouble, especially if you place that sealed contained in your garage (temporarily) or a trash receptacle near your house (outside). As a Hazardous Materials Technician, I have personally seen these discarded rags ignite by spontaneous combustion, as it occurred; I've watched it happen. Contact your local fire department for disposal advice. You should probably do a voice over and cut that advice out of this video. That gun stock turned out really nice.

Hi! So glad I found this video. I was just looking for generic refinishing videos and stumbled across the exact gun I'm trying to refinish. The gun was bought by my great great grandfather in the 40's to shoot ducks for market (back then you could sell them). Then it was passed to my grandfather, my father, and he recently passed it to me. I'm curious about a few of your steps. When you say you got a razorblade into the knurling, do you mean you went inbetween every single knurl? Also I'm curious to see what cleaning with a razorblade even really entails. Did you use an electric sander, hand, or a mixture of both? There is also a little pock mark on the hand guard I'd love to send you a picture of and see if you know of a way to fix it. Thanks!

I have an M39 Mosin Nagant that has a flat non-shiny finish. I’m hoping some linseed oil will bring out the grain and give it a nice satin sheen. 🤓

marka de los materiales y donde los consigo

thanks for sharing the info you have .. i'm doing a BLO finish for the first time. the stock is in my shop 70-80 deg F with 40-50% relative humidity. the first 5 coats i rubbed in until my hand and the stock were warm(each with 1-2 days between coats)...the last 3 coats i did not rub in as aggressively. finally on the 8th coat i'm starting to see a nice sheen develop on the stock however after 2 days dry time the stock has a bit of a grippy (not slippery) feel....not to be mistaken for tacky/sticky or gummy. do i need to wait longer between coats/until the stock feels smooth/slick again as it did after the earler coats when there was no sheen? maybe longer duratiuon or a different environment for 'drying'?? any of your experience you could share would be great!! thX

Can put the oil inside too ?

Did you recut the checkering

Musketman: I have a question how do you tighten up the butt on the 50 I have my grandfather's I watched your video and I did the stock the same way. Thank you for your information and if you can give information on getting the butt tightened also that would be a big thanks.

Ten thousand thumbs up!

hey im a reenactor myself 20th Maine company f. and great video

Como que eu faço para adquirir este produto?

If you do mess up and don't wipe off to much oil off, how do you remove the excess later? How do you save the stock from gunky, sticky finish?

I use a mixture of Linseed oil and turpentine