What kind of oil do you use for your blades?

A. G. Maisey · 9th December 2019, 06:04 AM

Hoppes solvent & gun oil has been my preferred firearms treatment for more than 50 years. I've tried a few others, but always come back to Hoppes.

Hand rubbed linseed will give a pretty nice finish to a rifle stock. I've used both boiled oil and raw oil for this, and in my opinion there doesn't seem to be a lot of difference between them. Preparation of the surface, plus repeated rubbings over a long period is the key. However, nothing I've ever done has matched a proper London hand rubbed oil finish. I believe that they probably incorporated genuine tung oil (NOT the stuff they call "tung oil" these days) into whatever they used --- plus probably a few "secret" ingedients.

One problem with an oil finish is that if maintenance is not kept up to it, it will deteriorate and can grow mildew. Not pretty to see.

Personally, these days I much prefer some of the commercial stock finishes rather than linseed.

9th December 2019, 06:04 AM	#36
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,992	Hoppes solvent & gun oil has been my preferred firearms treatment for more than 50 years. I've tried a few others, but always come back to Hoppes. Hand rubbed linseed will give a pretty nice finish to a rifle stock. I've used both boiled oil and raw oil for this, and in my opinion there doesn't seem to be a lot of difference between them. Preparation of the surface, plus repeated rubbings over a long period is the key. However, nothing I've ever done has matched a proper London hand rubbed oil finish. I believe that they probably incorporated genuine tung oil (NOT the stuff they call "tung oil" these days) into whatever they used --- plus probably a few "secret" ingedients. One problem with an oil finish is that if maintenance is not kept up to it, it will deteriorate and can grow mildew. Not pretty to see. Personally, these days I much prefer some of the commercial stock finishes rather than linseed.