I believe it was comments made by someone here that I first noticed a recommendation for using Linseed Oil to help protect a wood stock from the elements. Now I've always preferred a good wax myself, with the highly acclaimed Renaissance Wax being at the top of my list. Recently, I found myself looking for something that was a better match for one of my rifle stocks that I had professionally refinished with an open-pore surface, which I find more cosmetically pleasing and easier to handle. The rifle had one of those high-gloss, baked on polymer finishes, that in my opinion, looks better on a safe queen than it does a rifle that gets plenty of trips to the woods. Anyway, I soon found that a very small amount of wax was sometimes being caught in the deeper pores of the wood where it turned white after becoming dry. After doing a little more poking around on the Web, I decided to try Boiled Linseed Oil (very cheap) and quickly found it too collects in the wood pores but turns the same dark color as the finished grains in the wood. Not sure if it's because of the boiling process but it doesn't leave the wood feeling slick as other oils might do. Little wonder that so many prefer linseed oil as the sole ingredient when refinishing a rifle or shotgun stock.

Now whether or not using linseed oil that has been boiled makes a big difference is something perhaps someone else can answer.

I thought you were supposed to use both. BLO first, hand rubbed, then ren wax. Larry Potterfield made a good video about it.

Doing a hand rubbed finish with BLO is a long slow laborious job. Looks good when you are through. It isn’t a waterproof finish. And from time to time, it will need a little refresh with the BLO.

I took the time, many years ago, to use this finish on my Marlin 336. It looked great and held up well over time. I did refresh the BLO occasionally. Put a few drops on my hands and rubbed it into the stock.

I used a process that was outlined in detail in an old shotgunners book. If anyone is really serious about doing a BLO finish, I suppose I could get you the name of the book and the page numbers.

The last stock I did was with Waterloo Original. Being a woodworker, I had some on hand and had used it on various small tables and boxes with great results. And it is waterproof. So I tried it on a gunstock. That was a few years ago and it has held up really well. Enough coats will fill the grain. Much easier and faster than BLO.

Yes, it seems linseed oil is something once used to put a finish on fresh wood when other products were not available. I’ve read accounts where as many as 20 to 30 coats were hand rubbed into a stock to provide a durable finish. And with an $9 quart of the stuff being plenty to finish perhaps several gun stocks, I can see some folks still seeing it as a viable option today.

Works great to stain antlers bleached out by the sun also. Gives them a natural look like when velvet is first shed.

Tung oil, 8-12 coats for a deep finish. Fine steel wool every 3rd or 4th coat.

The Waterloo Original I mentioned is a Tung oil type finish. I applied it with a small foam applicator in thin coats, so that it wouldn’t run or drip. One coat per day. No rubbing required.

For those who might be interested…

“The difference between Raw and the Boiled Linseed Oils is that Raw Linseed Oil has a longer drying time, where as Boiled Linseed Oil has been treated by blowing hot air through the liquid - this shortens its drying time considerably. It is recommended that Boiled Linseed Oil is used for woods other than oak.”

Have no idea why Linseed Oil is not recommended for oak.

I was curious so I looked it up…

“Tung oil creates a harder, more durable finish than linseed oil. Tung oil is more water-resistant than linseed oil. Raw linseed oil takes significantly longer to cure than pure tung oil. Tung oil is generally more expensive than linseed oil.”

BLO and Tung Oil is what most US and European military surplus rifles were finished with.

I use equal parts of BLO, thinner and Spar varnish.

The thinner helps the wood fibers absorb the oil and varnish, the oil gives the wood a darker, richer look and the varnish gives it a harder, more waterproof finish. Keep flooding the wood with the mixture until it doesn’t absorb anymore, let it dry for a while and then wipe off the excess. Can be touched up easily later on.

Also works good on workbench legs, wood cabinets, MDF shelves, etc. Kind of like Frank’s hot sauce, “I put that sh*t on everything!”

"Boiled" linseed oil is not boiled. It is chemically modified for faster drying time. metallic solvents are added to speed up drying time.