getting excess linseed oil off a gunstock?

[TMM]

Well, the other day i decided that the finish on my shotgun's stock was passable, but i had some linseed oil, so i thought, why not? my grampa said he always used linseed oil on his stocks, and previous to my coating the shotgun stock i did a rifle stock which came out great.
anyway, i took off the stock and fore end, applied a moderate coat of oil, and let it dry... a day or so later, the oil had not completely soaked in, it just became gummy. thinking that it was too cold in the room it was in, i brought it to a warmer room for about 2 days. still gummy. i then hit a little spot with a hairdryer, hoping to melt it in or open the wood grain or something... barely any change. the heated spot, rubbed with a rag, cleaned up a bit, but was still sticky.

did i just screw up my stock? how can i get this off? some parts of the stock are fine, and they had the same amount of oil - the only difference is that one part was rough finished (top part of fore end against the barrel) and the others were the checkered grips... my guess is that the grain was more open there than in other places.

any ideas?
thanks!
tmm

[Manedwolf]

You can always put it in a flower box of mineral spirits outside and do it again, but that's all I can think of. That's pretty drastic.

[Balog]

I thought the idea with linseed oil was to rub it in, not just paint it on? Might wanna google it a bit.

[TMM]

rubbing it on seems more logical now... except it worked on the rifle stock, and that's what reportedly worked for my grampa for years...

tmm

[HankB]

Boiled linseed oil (BLO) has to be built up SLOWLY, with many THIN layers of oil. And you have to leave plenty of time for it to dry between coats. On raw wood, you can thin it and slather it on heavily (in order to get it to penetrate) initially, but you'd best wipe off the excess and let it dry thoroughly before applying subsequent coats.

As for cleaning up the sticky mess . . . try putting more linseed oil on some 0000 steel wool and scrubbing; depending on how sticky that is, you may be able to clean it up that way; be sure to wipe off the excess afterwards.

Oh, and one more thing . . . use caution in disposing of the oily rags; linseed-oil soaked rags have a reputation for starting fires via spontaneous combustion.

[Werewolf]

Getting rid of the excess sticky mess - you're on your on there. It will eventually dry if you don't want to bother with removing it. How long will it take? Depends on humidity and how much excess is on the stock.

Happened to me when I just wiped the stuff on the 1st stock I tried to refinish about 8 years ago and over did it. Took about a week to completely dry.

After dry I used 0000 steel wool to knock it back to a nice satin finish. Then used a cotton rag with a moderate amount of oil on it and rubbed and rubbed and rubbed until it was all absorbed by the wood. Finished off with a hand rub - skin to wood - with just a bit of linseed oil on my fingers until no more feel of sticky at all. Let dry over night.

Rinse and repeat until you get the glossiness level you want. Takes about 15 minutes of work a night for a week to gloss up really nicely. I usually stop after 3 or 4 applications because mirror finishes aren't my thing though I did once see a really nice cherry wood, custom stocked, 1903 Springfield with a linseed oil finish that was mirror like, owned by a friend of my father about 40 or so years ago that I still drool over just thinking about.

[TMM]

well, i consulted google, and the first site i found suggested a solvent of some sort... i don't know why i didn't think of it, maybe i did, but was worried about ruining the wood. well, i found some denatured alcohol in the garage, soaked a rag, and rubbed the wood for a while until it was pretty much smooth. there's still a little bit of tackiness, but far too little to be bothersome. the rest, i figured, will soak in over time.
it's a $350 shotgun and has much larger cosmetic issues than a less-than-perfect stock, so i guess i'll let the gun be what it was supposed to be, a field/beater gun. next time i do oil the stock, i'll be sure be doing layers of oil, though...

thanks for your help,
tmm

[stevelyn]

The best way to do linseed oil on a gunstock is to paint it on. Wait a few minutes, then wipe off the excess. Then start rubbing it in adding a few drops as needed.

[Gewehr98]

Wipe it off with a paper towel until dry to the touch.  Let it air-dry for a while.  Come back to it later, and wipe it down again.  If the finish isn't deep enough, you can keep going, a very thin layer at a time.  Near the end, one or two drops will actually cover the entire stock, and can be spread with just the palm of the hand...

[Standing Wolf]

Heck. You need a power saw for that and a long cord, maybe even an extension cord. If that doesn't do it, you've got a Dremel tool, right?

[Larry Ashcraft]

Pure linseed oil won't soak in, it needs thinned with mineral spirits, maybe 30% mineral spirits (or more).  If linseed oil doesn't soak in, it doesn't do any good.

I use it around the farm, on posts and trailer beds and implement handles and such.  If you put in on straight, it will take a couple of weeks or more, in full sun, to dry.  And then the finish leaves much to desire.

Thin it down.

[Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas]

Set it on fire? 

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Wipe on some fresh linseed oil and see if it can thin out the tacky areas.  Just be sure to wipe off the excess afterwards.

[Gewehr98]

Pure linseed oil is a pain in the posterior for gunstock finishes.

Use Boiled Linseed Oil.  Much easier.

[TMM]

Heck. You need a power saw for that and a long cord, maybe even an extension cord. If that doesn't do it, you've got a Dremel tool, right?

...uh...what?

Gewehr: i'm not sure if it's regular or boiled, but i do know that i left the jar out in my truck several (freezing cold) nights, and the water in it seems to have sunken to the bottom and frozen, so what i'm using is kinda BLO-like... and, what is that gun in your picture there?

tmm

[Gewehr98]

It's Mike's inheritance from me, depending on which one of us outlives the other.

We're both pretty ornery, so it could get interesting.   

A 1906-vintage Remington Model 8 autoloading rifle in .32 Remington that I spent a couple years restoring.

It sports new wood, deep Belgian-style blueing, and a hand-rubbed boiled linseed oil finish. 

That's pretty much the same thing that I do for all of the old guns I restore as a hobby.

I love BLO finishes - can you tell?

[Manedwolf]

Heck. You need a power saw for that and a long cord, maybe even an extension cord. If that doesn't do it, you've got a Dremel tool, right?

Do you work for Century?

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Can you even buy non-boiled linseed oil anymore?

[Gewehr98]

Yes.  I saw three one-gallon cans of the runny stuff at the local Ace Hardware today, right next to the boiled linseed oil.

It was $17.00/gallon, same as the boiled.  I bought a gallon of BLO for my 1896 Krag restoration and some small furniture projects.