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Using Minwax to stain a birch stock?

17K views 39 replies 22 participants last post by  86c 
#1 ·
I'm currently stripping my birch 10/22 stock in preparation for staining and refinishing it. I haven't done this before, so I want to make sure I'm ordering the right stuff.

My plan is to stain the wood with Minwax water-based stains, probably layering American Walnut and Honeycomb or some combination like that. When I'm happy with the color I'll finish it with layers of Tru Oil.

First of all, are these an appropriate type of stain for birch? If so, are there any well-known color combinations that are popular? How much should I water back the stains to start? And do I need to do anything to prep the wood before starting the staining?

Thanks for any advice.
 
#35 · (Edited)
finish coat

The best looking, best feeling, most durable, longest lasting finish I have found is urethane "varnish" clear gloss. Put on the first coat, lightly sand with 400 or so. Apply the second coat, then rub the second coat with 0000 steel wool and paste wax. Wipe the steel wool in the paste wax. Rub within 24 hrs or the urethane will get too hard to rub. Finish by buffing with a soft cloth. I have had very bad results with water based finishes. They make the wood look like Formica.
 
#36 ·
Steel Wool=very bad idea

The best looking, best feeling, most durable, longest lasting finish I have found is urethane "varnish" clear gloss. Put on the first coat, lightly sand with 400 or so. Apply the second coat, then rub the second coat with 0000 steel wool and paste wax. Wipe the steel wool in the paste wax. Rub within 24 hrs or the urethane will get too hard to rub. Finish by buffing with a soft cloth. I have had very bad results with water based finishes. They make the wood look like Formica.
Using Steel Wool is a very bad idea.

Why?

http://rimfirecentral.com/rfcftp/stocks/Steel wool and a better alternative.pdf

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5238115&postcount=1

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5133905&postcount=20

Adding wax to a topcoat/finish is almost as bad.

noremf(George)
 
#38 ·
If you are looking for a product to really polish your wood with try these Micro-Mesh Soft Touch abrasive pads that we use to polish wooden ink pens that are turned on a wood lathe. I have used them to polish all kinds of stuff from a glass lens to a plastic headlight to many wood working projects including probably 100 or more custom ink pens I have made.

My neighbor is asinine about keeping his vehicles clean and shiny especially both of his Harley's. He had a stone bruise on a piece of chrome on his new Harley and couldn't get it out. I got him to take the part off and brought it over here and with a little metal polish and lots of rubbing with the Micro-Mesh pads got it out in about 30 minutes and he couldn't find the spot when I took it back home. I was amazed! If they do that good on chrome and polish a wood ink pen till it shines I bet they would work great on a gun stock, I just haven't had a chance to try since I discovered them.
 
#40 · (Edited)
Answering the title of the thread here:



This picture is of a walnut dsp with factory finish sitting on a birch table stained with min-wax and top coated with semi-gloss wipe-on poly.

The left end (vertical grain) is solid lumber. Canadian red-birch. The 'color' of the wood was a white and red blend, mostly red. Very pretty imo w/o stain. The horizontal grain is baltic-birch (solid white) plywood.

To the right color and 'look' for the application/setting etc. I needed to blend it all together and get the right shade of reddish orange.

Lighting/angle change color a lot. The color shown is the brightest and most orange look. Normal lighting in the room's natural light is more reddish than orange.

Just to give an idea...those shooting bags are dark brown suede. The camera flash changes the color a lot and I was trying to get a decent picture of the rifle not the table.

Same exact table... different lighting... taking pics of different gun stock. This time it is a walnut 10/22 carbine stock refinished in shellac.



I used two stains to do it. NOT BLENDED. Blending them is fugly.

Stain first with Ipswitch. Mulitple coats. Allowing 24hrs between coats in HOT/dry climate.

Then I let the Ipswitch dry for a week.

Then multiple coats of Gunstock. Same thing.

Let dry for a week.

Applied ??? coats of wipe-on poly 24hrs between coats.

A year or so later I waxed the blanking space out of it with SCJ paste wax.

Pictures do not do it justice.

The ONLY stain I like on Birch made by min-wax is Ipswitch. Looks okay by itself. I use it a lot on baltic birch shop jigs and such to take the edge off the 'not finished' look and hide dirt and the like. Bare wood doesn't clean up and brite white looks really bad with my grimy paw prints all over it.

Gunstock alone on birch is fugly x10 imo. Especially splotchy white birch.

Back when I did cabinets we used an industrial 'honey maple' that was beautiful as can be on birch. Never found anything off the shelf to compare. VOCs of that stuff was off the chart. Not available to the general public. That was over 20yrs ago.
 
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