Grip Refinishing

[DMF38]

I've thought about making my own revolver grips eventually, and I wonder if Tung Oil would be a good finish for the wood. I don't like shiny wood finishes. Does anyone have any experience with this?

 

[Dienekes]

Personally I prefer Tru-Oil. Easy to work with and wears well. It is shiny--but if that bothers you make a quick pass over it with some 0000 steel wool and knock off the shine. The protection remains.

 

[pete f]

some used to use Johnson's paste wax for the final finish on wood grips, it made the grip almost tacky in the hand, when buffed in. it came in satin and gloss.

 

[spwenger]

Tung Oil...

...gives a nice low-gloss finish to rifle stocks. Depending on how tight or open the grain of the wood is, you may get a better finish on handgun stocks with carnauba wax, which is generally available from vendors who specialize in specialty automotive prooducts. (I'm not sure what Johnson uses to make their paste wax products.)

 

[gcrookston]

Tru-oil will be pretty shiny. I like Tongue oil, myself. I will usually apply 5 to 10 coats and burnish with an old t-shirt between applications. It's good for medium density wood like walnut or oak, but I've not had good results with it on high density woods like Ash or birch.

 

[rcmodel]

Tru-Oil.
It only gets shiny if you keep putting on coats & sanding them to fill the grain completely.

Tung oil will do the same thing if you keep applying coats and sanding it out until the grain is filled.

Regardless, you can knock off the shine with 0000 steel-wool if you don't like it.

Homemade grips:
The two S&W's with walnut have a Tru-Oil finish.
The Astra has Rosewood with no finish.
The 1911 is Elephant Ivory.


I would not recommend a Carnuba wax finish on soft open grain woods like fancy walnut. The open grain will eventually pick up too much oil & dirt from your hands and spoil the true wood colors.

It works fairly very well on most of the exotic hardwoods however.


rcmodel

 

[DMF38]

Thanks for the great info guys!