How to finish new HW100 sporter walnut stock

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I bought a new HW100k sporter about a year ago. I was surprised that the walnut stock appears to be unfinished. It does have a light stain with some rubthrough on the high spots. 

Is this normal for Weihrauch walnut stocks? My other Weihrauch rifles have a durable factory finish. 

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The stock was intentionally left with only a light oil finish, much like the BSA R10.

Yes, the stock's finish can be easily damaged. Most Weihrauch stocks are are made from beech wood and have a thicker, factory varnished coating.

If you are worried about damaging it, use Tru-Oil, Tongue oil or something similar. You also might want to hit the wood with stain to bring the grain out.

Good Luck ... Kirk
 
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I've used Royal London Oil on walnut stocks and if you put it on like they say to it turns out real nice. It usually takes 4-5 apps.
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MY HW100 FSB was dry as dirt. There was no finish on it at all "top pick". I kind of liked the blonde look and just put four light coats of Permalyn which is basically a very light wipe on poly. It is much lighter than TruOil, tongue etc. I kept it like this "second pic" for about eight years. I acquired some new guns in the stable and decided to give ole faithful a facelift. I lightly stained it with a unique alcohol based red walnut stain which is more or a liquid dye than stain. I can put this one back to original in less than 2 hours of very light work and a couple days of drying time. I did not sand one bit on this gun and don't like grain filling or any gloss to the finishes. Just a couple of interesting ideas for the poster. There are lots and lots of finish ideas.

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@austin870

Dry as dirt describes it perfectly. My dad used to smoke a pipe. He would rub the new pipes alongside his nose to impart natural human oil to the wood. It worked pretty well for a pipe, but isn't so practical for a gun stock!

I like the red color. Did you just stain over the top of the older finish?
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Yes that is done right over the Permalyn. It is really an alcohol liquid dye and not a stain. I have to store it in a bag sealed with a vacuum sealer or it will evaport in the bottle in a a week max. You have to put it on extremely lightly with a little on a white T-shirt and rub like heck to blend it properly. It takes real technique to do properly as it is sooooo easy to overdo it even through the Permalyn. Only stuff I have ever seen that works so good over a finish.

I haven't use a stain in 20 years. I use all Aniline dyes. Yep running an HW100 up and down your nose would get old real fast.. lol
 
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Thanks for the tip about aniline dyes. I always thought they were mainly used on fresh wood surfaces. 

Staining and blending over an existing finish is frustrating. However, furniture touch up markers are very good for hiding edge rubthrough on an existing finish. 

Speaking of alcohol, at one time I looked into french polish. My daughter was given an old violin with a cracked face and other damage. We had it evaluated, it was deemed to be an inexpensive student violin from eastern europe. Popping the back off and fixing the crack with wood staples was the easy part. The hard part was blending the freshly repaired areas with the original french polish finish. The old finish dissolved readily and blended, but it tended to turn muddy in color. The final result was ok but not great. Then I discovered that the violin neck was significantly longer than standard. Her violin teacher said it wasn't worth the effort so we never strung it. 
 
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Yes Austin's right, better to strip it down. May sound odd, but I've used Johnsons paste wax ($8 and will last a lifetime) on a few stocks and they came out nice. Think about how good newly waxed wood floors look. Have to triple check there is absolutely nothing on surface and your rags are clean and lint free or dirt, lint etc. will show through finish.

Apply in small circles over entire surface, 
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 let dry, buff, repeat. 6-8 coats and your good. After a few years it may start to look dull, just buff or reapply a new coat. By far the easiest, less messy and forgiving finish I've used. Only takes about an hour to do. 

Not the best picture or the nicest wood but up close in person everyone likes it and asks about what kind of finish is on it. It had no finish and had been spray painted black! Lot of sanding to get paint out of grains! 
 
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Here's how the HW100 turned out after 6 coats of Minwax satin wipe on polyurethane. This was a new Weihrauch stock and came very well sanded. I chose the wipe on poly because you don't need any additional sanding. Just wipe it on, let sit for a couple of minutes, then wipe everything off with a clean towel. I let it dry a day between coats. If you zoom in, you can see that the checkering is slightly shiny. That's because it was not possible to wipe the excess out of the furrows, the finish built to a heavier layer. 

I like the open grain look. It's reminiscent of the 1960's Danish Modern look. If it was going to spend a lot of time outdoors, I might put a coat of spar varnish over the top to protect against UV. i would probably wipe that on too. 

So far I'm very happy with this rifle. I added a titanium air bottle which drops about 12 ounces off the weight. The Pard NV008 scope is a lot of fun too. 

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Very nice job. I like the open grain too. It goes well with the white spacers also from the same era. 

I would personally not recommend putting anything on top of it particularly not a spar varnish unless you are going to leave the gun on a rack in a truck window all the time. That stuff is for boats or hardwood floors that sit in the sun all day. They have a lot of yellow solids in them (the UV protection) that also darkens over time. Anything with UV protection has solids and will cloud your finish. 

A quickie put it on and wipe it all off is not going to give you any UV protection and will only put a poor topcoat over a good looking natural finish IMO.
 
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Thanks for the feedback about spar varnish. I heard it's supposed to be good for UV, but have never actually worked with it. Like you say, it might make sense for people who leave the gun in the truck window during the day. This is more of a night hunter. I put it together partly to get familiar with PCPs, and partly in response to my wife's regular night time rat sightings by our chicken coop. I haven't spotted one yet but one can hope!
 
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@Biklasy911

I really love the Danish oil look. I used it on lots of furniture. I stayed away from brushed-on polyurethane because you always get bubbles, it takes forever to dry, and it can look blobby. However, I recently discovered wipe-on poly. Because it's so thin, it wipes on just like Danish oil. It gives you the same open pore look. It gives you better protection against water. So that's my go-to finish now. LOL.

Funny, I just noticed that this is the springer thread, and the gun is a PCP. Oh well, they both have wood stocks.
 
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@corbin

Interesting. So that finish is just paste wax on bare wood? I may have to give it a try on some other projects.
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I believe that is paste wax over the factory Ruger 10/22 finish. That would be spray lacquer probably with the stain mixed into it. You are not going to get that shine with paste wax on bare wood.
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Yes bare wood. The stock had been spray painted black. Many hours of scraping then more hours of sanding to get that off and a hearty attempt to get through the finish coat underneath that originally came on rifle, without rounding off and changing the contours too much. There might have been a few small spots where original finish was still there but not much(and in places where it wouldn't be seen anyways). Just used minwax(can't remember what color), no pre-stain, then applied about 8 coats of the Johnsons paste wax. Buff the heck out of it between coats. 1980's Marlin model 60 

BTW your HW100 came out really nice! Looks fantastic! I'll have to try that wipe on poly on a project. 
 
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