I recently bought two new Browning over unders. They have a nice high gloss polyurethane on the stock and forearm. I also have a Fabarm that has a oiled finish which I prefer. Is it more costly for a manufacture to put a oil finish on their wood ? I find that a oiled finish is easier to maintain as small nicks and scrapes are are easier to cover up. What do you prefer?

Oil cost much more.

My two Caesar Guerini shotguns do not have a drop of polyurethane on them.

No doubt the oil CG uses has driers in it, though.

Oil finishes cost more because it takes at least a dozen applications of oil to make one nice, and twenty or fifty is even better.

All the guns I own I really love, have had the varnish or polyurethane finish removed and at least twenty applications of pure boiled linseed oil applied.

It’s pretty, it’s as weatherproof as I am, and it touches up easily.

But it’s NOT really weatherproof for a young man.

Satin oil for sure! I hate the high gloss poly finish Browning uses on many of their guns (including my Gold Hunter).

I prefer urethane, especially matte that doesn't show scratches as much as gloss. Oil doesn't hold up well to hard use and the elements. I've seen oil finish on both factory guns and nice customs show noticeable wear around the pistol grip after carrying for one 10-15-mile day in blowing sand. I have a couple of stocks my father has built. He builds several a year and has been playing with finish for 40 years, starting with Tru-oil long ago. The last few years I think he has wet-sanded with oil and the ended with matte sparureathane. You have to look close to tell that his finish is not oil and it holds up really well to wear, including wear involving moisture and sand.

I am not going to do anything right away but if one wanted to go to an oil finish on these Browning how do you deal with the checkering on the forearm and stock?

Painters tape over it, until the last coat.

I just refinished two Citoris to a satin finish using Minwax Antique Oil Finish. Here is a link to my post.
https://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewto ... 2&t=528510

Excuse me, but I doubt that Guerini uses a traditional oil application on its stocks. It’d be way too costly and time consuming. They probably use an application of a synthetic material that’s sprayed leaving a nice satin finish. I’ve finished a few stocks with different oil formulas and even True Oil takes a few days to do it not fine but ok. Of course, I could be wrong as with most things.

By the way, the glossy finish can be toned down with a little Sheen from Birchwood Casey.

A true traditional oil finish is a labor of love and takes a month or more to complete.
When done correctly it is water proof an can be maintained with ease compared to hard fast drying finishes.
An oil finish is in the wood, not on top of it.

CT

The Guerini website says Stock Finish "Hand rubbed oil"

Correct.

I have several oil finished shotguns: 25, 21, 18 and 8 years old (as well as two others that are 1 and 2 years old). None of them have worn as yours have. And that's hunting in weather from 70 down to single digits. No blowing sand or driving rain though... I'd use a synthetic semi for that

My CG Summit Limited might have had a dozen applications of plain old hardware store boiled linseed oil but my Tempio looked like it might have only had a half dozen. Both have have many dozens more applications by now.

CAESAR GUERNI BOILED LINSEED OIL FINISH



Hardware store boiled linseed oil probably isn’t actually boiled these days. The manufacturers put driers in it.

I do have a pint of real, not boiled, no driers added, genuine pure linseed oil from a five gallon oil bucket that gunsmith David Geir of Boonville bought dated 1954.

I’ve tried using it, and it takes up to a week sometimes to dry between applications.

That’s why I prefer the hardware store grade.

The finest guns only have a hand rubbed oil finish, not one drop of polyethylene or varnish, except even Purdey’s uses driers in their oil mix.

PURDEY’S OIL FINISH

In the old days when Winchester was still around, you could get a multi coat oil finish from the custom shop on high end guns. It took quite a long time, but the customer got what he wanted as long as he was willing to pay for it.

I googled Ithaca Custom shop, and it’s still there, today.

https://ithacagun.com/custom-shop/

Or I could send my 1953 37RD directly to Les Hovencamp of Diamond Gunsmithing.

https://diamondgunsmithing.com/

Of all my shotguns, I think only my Guerinis came with a real oil finish, entirely by hand.

My 1939, 1963, and 1964 Browning Superposed had a modified oil finish.

A varnish or lacquer that goes on the wood has always been and will always be cheaper than rubbing oil into the wood.

Or you can just do your own finish. I would suggest Watco oil. It contains driers

Another modified oil finish besides Watco’s Danish Oil is Tru Oil.

I’ve been told the Winchester custom shop used Danish Oil, as did Browning's.


Rod Gates of Jordan will give you a hand rubbed Tru Oil finish on your new gun stock.

Almost all the small gunsmiths I’ve known used Tru Oil or maybe some similar modified oil finish.

A modified oil finish takes a few applications. But they can all be done in a day or two.

The result can easily be touched up, it’s way way more waterproof than boiled linseed oil, and I’ve also used Tru Oil and Danish Oil and another similar concoction such as Miniwax.

Of the modified oils, Danish Oil is closest to a boiled linseed oil finish. My Superposeds likely all three have one.

Many old time gunsmiths used a couple of applications of Tru Oil as a filler then finished the stock with boiled linseed oil and their customers were likely happier because of it.

But real linseed oil never completely dries, nor does boiled linseed oil.

It also has a sheen and shine that must be seen and felt to be properly described.

If you have time, use nothing but a tiny amount of hardware store linseed oil, and you’ll see.

Easy does it. The object is to see just how little you can rub in each time,,,,seriously.

The chief benefit to using pure or boiled linseed oil is nobody has ever really spoiled a finish job.

If you accidentally put too much on, 4/0 steel wool removes that application and you keep on going.

I rub three coats of Tru-oil in then spray two on. I like that real deep, smooth high gloss that a spray gives.

Not for everyone I know.

Too much coffee.

I once had an Al Biesen rifle that I bought from an acquaintance I've traded guns with over the years. He got it from his hunting mentor, who had it commissioned and then was diagnosed with terminal cancer and never fired it. My friend fired it less than 40 times and took it to the deer stand once. The finish was beautiful and the gun looked as if it had just been completed by Biesen but if you got the light right, you could see where it was wearing off the pistol grip. In my experience that's pretty typical of an oil finish. I've seen it many times.

Not sure if it was oil but also wore the finish off the pistol grip of a new Blaser in a day of quail hunting in the sand.