valk
posted this
05 February 2011
I've been using Birchwood Casey Tru-oil for sealing and finishing for around 30 years. I prefer the spray finish but have used the hand-rub type with good results too. I generally spray liberally for the first few coats and then hand rub it into the areas that soak it up first from the areas that don't soak it up so fast. Then lightly sand between coats until it stops soaking in and starts to build up on the outside of the wood. Then I will wet sand using tru-oil as the wet part to completely fill the grain.
Then for the final coats I will wet sand with water and fine paper between coats. I've got a couple of stocks I finished around 30 years ago using this method and they still look good. Another advantage to tru-oil is that if you scratch the gun you can easily touch it up with more tru-oil. The same can't be said for a finish which may not be around in 10 years.