DIY Hand Rubbed Oil on factory CZ stock

[bruce moulds]

only one issue with hand rubbed oil.
humidity can penetrate it.
on the other hand it looks the best.
one way to have the best of both worlds is to thin some epoxy so it penetrates into the wood, and get it into the stock everywhere, so it is totally water and humidity proof.
then take to it with a more appealing finish.
bruce.

 

[Standard Velocity]

only one issue with hand rubbed oil.
humidity can penetrate it.
on the other hand it looks the best.
one way to have the best of both worlds is to thin some epoxy so it penetrates into the wood, and get it into the stock everywhere, so it is totally water and humidity proof.
then take to it with a more appealing finish.
bruce.

TruOil is a pretty good compromise if you haven’t tried it.

 

[bruce moulds]

tru oil will go over soaked in epoxy very well.
bruce.

 

[nztimb]

Thanks for posting this. I want to do the same thing to my CZ. Pardon my ignorance though, but what is 'BLO'?

BLO is boiled linseed oil.

 

[deewayne2003]

Ever thought of wet sanding with the finish?

I got the idea from an old gun maker when I was finishing the stock of a Beretta Silver pigeon.

I wet sanded the stock by applying a liberal amount of teak oil that was stained with alkanet root.
https://www.sportingshooter.co.uk/features/how-to-refinish-a-wooden-stock-1-5319016

The idea is to use the sanding dust mixed in with the finishing oil to create a slurry that will fill the wood with its own saw dust and fishing and then you simply and sand finish as you like.

I started with 400grit for the wet sanding and then went all the way to 800 and was very pleased.

 

[Nhoro]

only one issue with hand rubbed oil.
humidity can penetrate it.
on the other hand it looks the best.
one way to have the best of both worlds is to thin some epoxy so it penetrates into the wood, and get it into the stock everywhere, so it is totally water and humidity proof.
then take to it with a more appealing finish.
bruce.

Well this stock had the CZ finish which I assume is a polyurethane/epoxy plastic finish and I doubt I got all the finish off. I stopped sanding as soon as I was through the obvious plastic and started getting some wood dust.

 

[Nhoro]

So while I was working on the stock, I decided to add a little weight to the back end of the stock. Other threads suggested a copper pipe with lead in it but I didnt have pipe so I melted lead into 3 empty cases and drilled holes for them. I havent epoxied them in as they were a tight fit in the holes. Added about 1/3 of a pound and moved the balance point a bit towards the rear.

 

[nztimb]

So while I was working on the stock, I decided to add a little weight to the back end of the stock. Other threads suggested a copper pipe with lead in it but I didnt have pipe so I melted lead into 3 empty cases and drilled holes for them. I havent epoxied them in as they were a tight fit in the holes. Added about 1/3 of a pound and moved the balance point a bit towards the rear.

View attachment 348604

That is a good solutuon but I would epoxy them in as recoil may bring them back against the recoil pad and start to work on the screw threads in the wood.

 

[CBH Australia]

I will be back for another look, this is good,
Anyone with any experience using paint stripper can the checkering etc be cleanly removed and oil the lot?
I did an old .410 TruOil once. It came up smooth well nice, I have a cz550, maybe that will look better with Oil

 

[Ryan]

I will be back for another look, this is good,
Anyone with any experience using paint stripper can the checkering etc be cleanly removed and oil the lot?
I did an old .410 TruOil once. It came up smooth well nice, I have a cz550, maybe that will look better with Oil

I used a product called CitriStrip to strip my Ruger #1 a few years back. All the wood, including checkering. It took a couple applications and I used a soft tooth brush in the checkering to get out leftover residue. Otherwise it worked well and isn't too bad to work with. I finished the whole stock with Tru Oil, then at the end I did two or three coats of Tru Oil on the checkering and was good. CitriStrip has some videos out there on YouTube as does a some others using it on gun stocks.

 

[RayAtkinson]

You do nice work, but Linseed oil is not the best gunstock finish unless you add hardners. Today we have oil modified finishes that are more weather proof and look the same...I personally like Brownells Gun-sav-R. Its easy fast and beautiful and comes in satin or gloss. I use my guns hard and the new stuff just does a much better job and still has that oiled look...Also hand rubbing linseed oil pushes skin particals into the pores of the wood and in time these little monster pop out of the pores, they contaminate, much the same as steel wool, use only wet or dry paper used wet to fill. Just my two bits..

 

[Nhoro]

You do nice work, but Linseed oil is not the best gunstock finish unless you add hardners. Today we have oil modified finishes that are more weather proof and look the same...I personally like Brownells Gun-sav-R. Its easy fast and beautiful and comes in satin or gloss. I use my guns hard and the new stuff just does a much better job and still has that oiled look...Also hand rubbing linseed oil pushes skin particals into the pores of the wood and in time these little monster pop out of the pores, they contaminate, much the same as steel wool, use only wet or dry paper used wet to fill. Just my two bits..

Each to his own. I like the history. If I wanted performance would stick with the gorilla snot CZ put on it otherwise there are many polyurethane and amide finishes that perform better than any oil you can name. In fact a stainless action and plastic stock would be way more efficient.

It is boiled linseed oil so it has dryers added. And BLO is very easy to fix if you use your guns lots. Just today I steamed out some dings in the stock,light sand and thin coat of BLO and good as new. So that is a big plus with blo not being waterproof. If it is good enough for H&H and Rigby then it's good enough for me! And it also just smells right.

 

[Ridgewalker]

Ugly duckling into a swan! Very handsome and quite the improvement in a CZ!

 

[Rob404]

I started my CZ stock refinish about a week ago but my old supply of Tru oil has gone dry so I'm waiting for another supply. The only change I made was re-staining the stock to a Gunstock Finish

 

[roverandbrew]

I used Danish oil on this CZ (30-06) stock. I was pretty happy with the outcome.

 

[Nhoro]

I started my CZ stock refinish about a week ago but my old supply of Tru oil has gone dry so I'm waiting for another supply. The only change I made was re-staining the stock to a Gunstock Finish

Cool-I enjoyed the project and have been pleased with both the results and the response form people. It just takes time-not particularly hard to do.

 

[Rob404]

Cool-I enjoyed the project and have been pleased with both the results and the response form people. It just takes time-not particularly hard to do.

Mine is a Euro Full stock, what surprised me was how light the stock was after the finish was removed, even after I wetted the stock down to raise the grain it still looked light hence the stain.Iv'e used Tru Oil before and know that it doesn't darken the grain all that much, I'm on my third coat of Tru oil and will most likely do 8-10 coats.

 

[Nhoro]

Mine is a Euro Full stock, what surprised me was how light the stock was after the finish was removed, even after I wetted the stock down to raise the grain it still looked light hence the stain.Iv'e used Tru Oil before and know that it doesn't darken the grain all that much, I'm on my third coat of Tru oil and will most likely do 8-10 coats.

Yes my stock was light when sanded but I had experimented with an offcut from the same stock. BLO darkens up and has a slight red tint.I also found that if you leave the first coat to dry for several days,the result is lighter. If you keep putting oil on daily-first few days it soaks in and dries in a couple of hours-then you get a darker result. I think Tru oil is a modified linseed oil and dries quicker ? Why dont you post a pic of your handiwork-I am interested to see the different look

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

It is looking good but take some shots almost parallel to the surface so we can see how the unfilled grain is going away. That and the fit of the recoil pad to to the stock are the two things I first notice on a wood stock. I think I'd probably go to a 600 grit surface. Since the manufacturers use machine sanding these days I don't understand why they don't take the time to smooth down to 600 grit themselves.

IIRC, Winchester used to fill the grain on the pre-64 Model 70s with something before sanding, and also (again IIRC) mixed a wax in with last few coats of linseed oil.

@postoak
When I'm finishing sanding my stocks with 400 grit I then use 0000 steel wool and use a clean cloth or compressed air to remove the residue.
I use Linspeed oil for my stocks. A bit more work but worth it.
Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

And now today, I think 4th coat of boiled linseed, sanding it in every time for about 10 mins and then hand rubbing the oil in. Starting to get a nice shine to it.I am happy that there was a bit of grain hiding under the gunk that CZ sprayed on it. the wood has a much nicer look and feels smooth. A few more coats and I think I will be really happy with it.View attachment 342271 View attachment 342272 View attachment 342273 View attachment 342274

@Nhoro
Looks beautiful mate. I use Linspeed oil but the same method as you but my final finish after sanding is with 0000 steel wool.
Are you going to wax it when you are finished.
Bob