It finally came...Stock finishing questions

I like to sand first with 220 grit then 400 grit. 600 grit if you want to get it really smooth. Next take 1/2 or a little more boiled linseed oil mixed with 1/2 or a little less mineral spirits. Apply with a high quality fine brush to all surfaces liberally then wipe even with a lint free cloth. Let that dry for 24 hours or so. This step can be repeated if you want. Next take Boiled linseed oil and rub in a hot coat of this with a lint free cloth and remove all excess. Let dry for at least 24 hours. Burnish with 0000 steel wool and remove all steel wool dust from the wood. Repeat with 5 or 6 more coats and one or two more steel wool burnishings. The more coats the more the grain will fill. An alternate way to fill the grain is wet sand with oil and let all the wet dust stay on the stock while it dried filling the grain. Do that twice with each grit of paper used. My stocks look great but I am not a grain filler where mine are military and I don't want them to look too refined.

I've been experimenting with wood finishes (for stocks) recently and reading everything I can find. Not sure how much research and background work you want to do but Bob Flexner wrote an entire book on wood finishing that may be of interest.

Be sure to read all the threads you can find on here, especially the sticky "best oil finish" thread in the gunsmithing forum.

Anyway-

I want a durable matte finish, does anyone have any suggestions?

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What is durable to you and what environment will the gun be used in? Oil finishes (real oil, not the many forms of varnish that are labeled oil for marketing purposes) are easy to apply and easy to repair, but provide little protection of any kind. BLO (linseed oil) is at the top of this category for how common and weak it is. But it served the military fine through WWII or so.

The Minwax "Antique Oil" referenced in the gunsmithing forum is really a wiping varnish with a tiny portion of oil added for appearance. I've been using it lately and like it quite well.

For durability, there's varnish, varnish, epoxy finishes, and also varnish. Among varnish, phenolic types are by far the best, and least common; Waterlox is the only one I know of (Behlen Rockhard may also be this type). Alkyd resin types used to be common, less so now but can be found. The Minwax Antique Oil is mostly an alkyd varnish diluted to wiping consistency. Again, it works well and looks nice. Finally there is polyurethane, which is pushed by finish makers because it's cheap and they've marketed it so much the public has been mislead to thinking it's good. I would mostly avoid it.

On another forum (24h campfire) some people use slow curing epoxy or super glue (cyanoacrylate) to seal the wood first, then finish with whatever. This is supposedly incredibly durable and all around great. I have no experience with it.

Tru Oil is a special type of oil; it is truly an oil, but it's highly processed (polymerized oil) and has durability somewhat approaching that of varnish. It might be worth a try.

Finally you can use tung oil (again, real tung oil, not some varnish marketed as "tung oil finish") or BLO for a nice, truly matte/satin oil finish, but it won't be very tough.

Go right past WATCO oil, I used to like it and after trying others I think it mostly has the worst attributes of other finishes. It's an oil/varnish mix, I believe BLO and alkyd varnish, but it's mostly BLO and is nearly as weak as pure BLO, but with some complications from the small varnish component.

For a matte look, you can either get matte to start with a genuine oil finish, or you can use a hard finish like a varnish and then rub it to satin or matte after it has fully dried. The latter approach will be considerably tougher and more durable. Again, see the post at the top of gunsmithing:
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=240961

I have refinished about 20 stocks in my time. I have found that most of the time I can start with a boiled linseed oil coat. For me, boiled linseed oil gives a wonderful color and pulls out the grain really well. However, it will not give you a very smooth and soft feel.

Once I have put on a BLO coat or two I then go and put on a nice thin coat of Tru-oil. The tru-oil only takes 2-3 hours to dry. Then I buff it very lightly with 0000 steel wool. This gives it a matte finish that is still very beautiful. I have been known to do 5 coats of Tru-oil in order to fill all the grain but usually 2 good careful coats will do it just fine. If you want to really really waterproof them and give them a good shine and smell you can add some turtle wax and buff a nice shine into it. That will make it slick though. Anyway, here are some pictures of a few that I have done recently.

Most wood finishes could work, but I would be inclined to avoid water-based poly, shellac, and any lacquer with a low melting point or poor resistance to chemicals (which is most lacquer). Varnish and epoxy far exceed all others for durability, while oil is reasonably durable if you're willing to do some maintenance, very easy to maintain or repair, and gives a certain look.

Some test pieces

These are all FAL handguards bought from Ironwood's "woodpile" of 2nds. I have crudely numbered them. Here's what they are:

1) Walnut, mostly sapwood, stained with Minwax dark walnut (oil based) stain, finished with 3 coats of Minwax "Antique Oil"

2) Walnut, partially sapwood and partially heartwood with purple color before staining, stained with Minwax dark walnut (oil based) stain, finished with 3 coats of Minwax "Antique Oil"

3) Walnut, all nice looking heartwood, finished with 3 thin coats of Watco "natural" (yellow/clear) followed by 1 super-thin and 1 normal coat of Minwax antique oil.

4) Walnut, nearly 100% sapwood, finished first with 1 coat of Watco black walnut (color) danish oil, then 1 coat clear Watco, then 2 coats of Watco black walnut again, then followed by 1 super-thin and 1 normal coat of Minwax antique oil. (Obviously an experimental piece!)

Watco oil is not a good base layer and I had to fiddle some with drying and wiping to get the top layers on. I also wasn't too pleased with how the color turned out.

More test pieces

These are two AKM grips from Ironwood's woodpile:

Left grip in all photos - Walnut all sapwood, stained with Watco "black walnut" color danish oil, then finished with 3 coats of Watco butcher block finish, which I believe is a wiping varnish but I'm not sure (I had it lying around, it's not something I recommend for stocks).

Right grip - birch, was pale white/yellow, stained with Minwax "provincial" color oil-based stain, finished with 3 coats of Minwax Antique Oil, with light 320 grit sanding between coats. It looks a lot better in person. It may or may not be visible but there's some wood filler from where I removed knots with a dremel bit.

Both grips were sanded with 220 grit before the first finish layer.

I'm 100% happy with how the birch one turned out. I'm not totally happy with the color of the walnut (sapwood) one, and I have no good idea of the durability of the finish chosen. It's basically just an experiment.