Thread: Wood scale oil?

Hi MisterClean,

As SutiCat mentioned, there's a myriad options in front of you. I haven't yet worked on custom scales myself (though a personal project is just waiting on some spare time) but I have lots of experience with woodworking, including work on WWII rifles plus a childhood of a grandpa that was a professional carpenter, two uncles that are high end carpenters in Paris, and a father that sells high end office furniture (made out of all kinds of exotic woods) plus carpentry work at home any given weekend I'd help him with. If you want to maintain a "natural" look and feel, then oil finishes are your best bet. The most common are boiled linseed oil and tung oil. The boiled linseed oil will leave the wood very light, the tung oil will darken it quite a bit and make the natural rings in the wood really "pop". Both finishes should be wiped on with a lint-free rag, wipe the excess off, and then let it soak/cure for 24hrs. The more "coats" you apply the more waterproof your result- with added coats of the linseed oil your wood will get more and more of a golden glow; with added costs of the tung oil your wood will get darker. Both oils will leave your wood feeling very natural and soft to the touch, making it seem more natural/artisanal in nature. They both harden your wood slightly, but don't form a hard outer layer like laquers, polyurethanes/epoxies will. If you hit them hard enough, it will leave a ding. The finish needs to be reapplied (just one or two coats) about once a year to keep the scales waterproof (as the older oil sinks deeper into the wood and repetitive use wears some off the surface). The great news of this kind of finish is that after several coats or years, if you decide to go for a laquer/epoxy you can just add it on, right on top. Laquers/epoxies leave a hard surface coat on the outside of your wood, so it ends up feeling very slick and "unnatural". You apply a coat, let it dry, the use 00/000 steel wool on the surface, and apply another coat: the more times you repeat the harder and more "glassy" the surface will be. This leaves a much harder and waterproof, permanent surface on your wood, but if it's hit hard enough it will "crack" leaving a spiderweb pattern. Once you laquer/epoxy you can't change your mind with scales, as sanding down past your penetration into the scales will leave you with too thin/little material (unless you're just sanding deep enough to apply another coat of the same, which is fine).

If you decide on the tung oil be careful, as a lot of the OTC tung oil "finishes" are a mixture of enough tung oil to penetrate the wood and darken it a bit, with a polyurethane mixed in to form that hard outer shell. You want pure Tung oil, not a mixture.

Cudarunner,
The scales are .100 thousands thick. After sanding and shaping maybe .090 thousands. Freddie

Originally Posted by MisterClean

Cudarunner,
The scales are .100 thousands thick. After sanding and shaping maybe .090 thousands. Freddie

Your in the right ball park...!!

Originally Posted by outback

You'll love what it does for wood.
Really brings out the grain and natural colors of wood. And a extremely durable finsh and impervious to water. Hey... It was made for gun stocks.

Mike

Yup, Tru Oil is one of those mixtures I was talking about. Its got the oils that sink into your wood and make it "glow/pop" plus a laquer mixed in that leaves a waterproof/hard glassy finish on the outside. It's a great finish if that's what you're going for, but it does end up looking a little bit "artificial". I've used it on a couple guitars, a bass, and a few gunstocks. It's easy-peasy and leaves a great looking finish, but lately I've been finishing stuff with pure linseed or tung oil to leave that soft, "natural" look.

Oh I do like using those as well, and they do leave a nice velvety touch to the wood as well as teak oil. But as you said, their a oil that has to be maintained on occasion . and it is hard to beat the look of a well hand rubbed finish, and why I prefer the look of wood scales. Its like horn.... Each one has a different look and beauty. Plastic can easily be replicated, horn and wood is by mother nature and God.

Originally Posted by outback

Oh I do like using those as well, and they do leave a nice velvety touch to the wood as well as teak oil. But as you said, their a oil that has to be maintained on occasion . and it is hard to beat the look of a well hand rubbed finish, and why I prefer the look of wood scales. Its like horn.... Each one has a different look and beauty. Plastic can easily be replicated, horn and wood is by mother nature and God.

The most beautiful pieces left by my grandpa were finished with his own mixture of linseed oil and extra virgin olive oil, from his own olive groves in northern Portugal. Each layer hand rubbed in with his own fingers, carefully following the woods' own grain and then allowed to cure for weeks (the linseed oil cures over 24-36 hours, but the olive oil takes 2wks to a month between applications. These were lovingly made for his own family, as customers weren't willing to wait months for a piece. Today, even decades later and never having been refinished, they still look beautiful and have a deep glow that can't be replicated with an "easy" finish. My dad still tears up, talking about his dad when he holds the wooden briefcase grandpa made for him when he was leaving for college in Paris (today, just a day or two days drive away, but back then, a whole world apart).

Thats impressive!!

Thanks Outback!

Actually, this thread has got my creative juices flowing... Maybe next time I'm back in Portugal I'll have to take a trip to the old olive grove and get a piece from an old olive tree that was there back when my grandpa (and maybe his grandpa... Olive trees can live for hundreds of years) was alive... I'm currently designing a custom razor with our family name engraved on it... Maybe I can make the scales match his little old wooden briefcase, with a hand-rubbed olive and linseed oil finish. (as a gift for him... Forgot to put that in with the original post)

Talk about bringing a tear to your fathers eye....

Ive said it before and Ill say it again.
The bygone age of craftsmanship is a lost on our generation. They don't make things like they used to.