Just like that.... Most of my rifles have been finished with varnish, like tru oil, I use Formby tung oil finish, but doesn't matter... if I have a dent or scratch, I just support the stock in such a way to make the area where the problem is level, to help prevent running an put a drop into the dent and let it set up. It usually takes several applications to bring the level up, but then you can block sand with a very fine grit to level it out. then wipe on a few finishing coats on the area to take out the sanding marks. Have always had good luck making the dents disappear completely. It's one of the reasons I use this kind of finish, because it repairs nicely.

DPSTX

 

Read

loaded4life....

Lacquer come in various sheens.

Read the post(s) on this thread relative to reactive vs evaporative finishes and witness lines. Should answer your questions or at least most of them.

Fixing blemishes are solely controlled by the chemicals in the finishes not how much experience or artistic talent you might have. Those two attributes help but they won't change the chemicals....they are going to do what they do, not what you want them to do.

noremf(George)

 

Dents can be raised by steaming with a steam Iron as long as it is a simple dent.

 

Raising dents



Raising a dent with the finish still on it or around it is a sure recipe for problems. Topcoats/finishes do not like either heat or steam and if you bubble one up it will not return to it's original structure when it cools down. Odds are high that the blemish you are trying to fix will end up with a bigger and visible blemish.

noremf(George)

 

I have always been able to see a dent that has been covered with finish. It might hide it to an untrained eye, but it's still there and no mater what you do, it can be blended in but the finish needs to be removed and the edges feathered to blend back in. Done it many times. You can never make it original, again.

 

I have a question regarding the sheen of truoil, from youtube vids it may be more shiny than I want. Does the sheen fade quickly over time ? I want to leave my stock as is, but say I end up treating the whole of it because putting truoil just on the dent creates a shiny spot, howlong will it take to get the stock to a sheen close to what I currently have. And is putting truoil irreversible or does it completely alter the look of the gunstock ?

 

George I was under the impression laquer would lift other finishes if applied over say true oil. Most of my experience has been with automotive paints but I know even laquer primer surfacer would lift broken paint lines if applied to heavy. In fact it was near impossible to get those lifted areas dry enough to paint over. So can you drop fill laquer over true oil with no softening issues?

 

Nope



Nope:

Lacquer over lacquer will reconstitute all the previous coats and create a new single coat regardless of age. A HUGE benny. Because it does that along with Shellac they are classified as evaporative finishes.

Lacquer over a reactive finish, which are all others other then lacquer or shellac, cannot reconstitute the previous finishes and will simply lay on top.

As long as the reactive finish is fully cured, which takes a minimum of 3 weeks after the last coat, and it was applied correctly, and has not been chemically altered, either the same or a different topcoat can be applied over it.

Generally though, not because of the chemicals so much, it is wise to drop fill with the same chemical finish that is on the rest of the piece. If TO then TO. If a poly then any of the poly's. This is because of the color cast in reactive topcoats.

You not only have witness lines because of the outside diameter of the patch but also because of the color cast which many people never think about.

noremf(George)

 

Idk about fixing a dent with the finish still on the stock, but steaming a dent out on bare wood works quite well.... I used a damp rag with a simple clothes iron on high to steam out mg dents.

 

Steaming out a dent works great on bare wood stocks, but it will raise the grain and damage any existing finish. Not a problem if you're going to refinish the entire stock, but not a good idea on a touch up.

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Tru oil should be applied in thin coats with drying time between them. If you try to fill a dent with one thick coat it may take a long time to dry. As in weeks-to-never drying time.

 

I sometimes use Super Glue as a fill in for smaller depressions, then buff to match the sheen and feather with tru oil or a poly

 

Depending on the depth of the dent, after it is stained to match the original color, a drop fill of clear lacquer if shallow depth, or clear super glue if deeper, will give good results. Both these will reconstitute (melt into) the original finish and leave less of a hard witness line. As others have said, the repair will never be absolutely invisible, but depending on where it is located on the stock, will do a good job of blending/hiding the dent. This is the same technique used to repair thin lacquer finish damage on high quality guitars and other stringed instruments and I have been able to make some "nearly" invisible touch ups. TIPS: lacquer is relatively slow drying and works much better by building up a series of very light layers, letting each layer thoroughly dry/harden. With either super glue or lacquer build up the repaired spot slightly higher than the original finish, so that you can sand and blend and feather into the surrounding area. I use low tack tape to surround the mark and use as a guide to disturb as little of the original finish as possible, then gently sand with Micromesh cloth backed finishing strips (variety of grits all the way up to 12000 if you want gloss like a mirror!). The various grits will help you match the sheen of the original finish almost perfectly. Good luck, hope this helps.

 

Super glue

Depending on the depth of the dent, after it is stained to match the original color, a drop fill of clear lacquer if shallow depth, or clear super glue if deeper, will give good results. Both these will reconstitute (melt into) the original finish and leave less of a hard witness line.

Super Glue (CA-Cyanoacrylate glues) are fundamentally resins and as such have no "burn in characteristics". They are reactive chemicals that set up via a chemical process. They will not reconstitute either themselves or any other wood finish. Once the hardener is gone, the finish, or adhesive, will not absorb additional hardener. The solvents in them can also mess up a number of wood finishes.

While not noticable on small repairs they look like plastic and age like plastic. Over the long haul they will become more noticable because of that unless you put a non CA finish over the repair.

Lacquer has 100% "burn in characteristics" but will only reconstitute lacquer.

Shellac also has 100% "burn in characteristics" but will only reconstitute Shellac.

They are the only chemical coatings with burn in qualities and both will provide truly invisible repairs unless they are "toned" with a dye in which case each layer will add color and a truly invisible repair in that instance is an art form not a science excercise.

noremf(George)

 

Thanks for the educational info about the CA glues, George. The repair fills that I've done on instruments typically have an extremely thin coat of musical instrument grade/formulation (not as durable as required for wooden gunstock finishes} of nitro cellulose lacquer (Behlens, McFaddens, Reranch brands or similar) with no coloring....pure clear as even colored instruments are finished with a clear top coat for high gloss and buffing/polishing considerations. The super glue I use (if needed for a deeper dent or ding) is the thinnest viscosity available (they come in various thicker formulas) and blends well when polished to the typical very high factory gloss instruments come with. You are completely correct that CA will not yellow or age in color with the original lacquer finish, so coloring underneath the top coat has to be given consideration. For a great example of this type repair, check out Dan Erlewine, a noted expert on all types of vintage instrument repairs, particularly finishes. An expert like yourself will probably always note finish fills, but short of a complete refinish, good results can be obtained with drop fills and matching the factory sheen with the MiroMesh papers.