I've been told to share this technique with the community, and hope some of you will give this a go.
I've currently got Randy Haas trying this method out, so hopefully someone else can back me up on this method--I have not had a chance to try it with burled wood, but it has always worked well for rife stocks and on the knife handle materials I have had access to (micarta, G10, antler and Cocobolo).
Carl_First_Timer is also trying the method out, and found a great tutorial on the same technique on Shotgun News:
http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=246076
I recommend the SGN tutorial as it is much more detailed and thorough in explanation than what I've posted.
Like many, in the beginning I treated handles, particularly synthetics, with cyanoacrylic glues despite having used this technique on Rifle stocks for the past 3 years. To my knowledge, the only other person to have come across this was a gentleman on Rimfire Central by the name of Woodstock. Since he managed to publish about it first (2010), I simply refer to it as his--besides, Woodstock's Elixir sounds better.
Unlike him, I found the combo by accident, carelessness--I kept Armorall on the bench for cleaning kydex and other tactical gear and got some on a Marlin 66 stock I was refinishing with TruOil after I ran out of Tung Oil. I noticed, as I tried to wipe it off, that the areas I tried to clean were actually drying faster and looked better than the rest of the stock.
Rather than stripping and starting over, I just sprayed on more armorall and worked out the balance over time (approximately 60% armorall to 40% Truoil, but I've never had success remixing the two for storage). Whereas a good linseed or tung oil hand rubbed finish (36 to 60 coats) could take months of work, the reaction between armorall and Truoil is something of a hybrid finish--it takes about 15 minutes a coat and one can easily accomplish 36-60 coats in an evening.
It really brings out a lustrous natural finish that offers excellent weather protection and can still be given a solid urethane "hard candy" top coat to prevent chipping (for rifle stocks). For knife handle material, I've not had to do more than a few coats and a quick buff to get a lasting finish; knives that have been in the hands of owners for the past year and a half still shine like nobody's business. On rifles, I've yet to have see a finish dull even after all this time, and without any of the milkiness that appears in urethane finishes whenever humidity spikes above 90%.
You will need:
1 spritz bottle of classic Armorall "Original protectant"
1 bottle of Birchwood Casey TruOil
2 "dixie" mouth rinse cups
A 3m Scotchbrite pad
0000 Steel Wool IF you choose to do a satin Finish.
Nitrile Gloves--these chemicals are safe to work barehanded and known others in the past to prefer using bare hands to track the finishing process, but there's a reason I'll explain later.
Prep:
Hand sand to your your handle material to the final desired grit--I've finished handles from 600 up to 2K and not seen a difference in absorption--before wiping clean with a damp cloth and letting air dry.
This will provide a very slick finish to even G10, for "tactical" texturing on G10 prior to applying Woodstock's elixir, I'll either lightly rasp or bead blast and necessitate this wipe down step even more. While this mix won't stain materials, trapped filth will muddle the color on liners or make glue lines stand out in stark contrast.
Note:
If working with wood, a quick swipe with 4-0 steel wool will help to raise hairs after clean off. Typically I'd use a bit of steam to wick fibers, but moisture will prolong the time needed for coats.
Put on your gloves and Let's begin:
The essential here in this process is to go lightly with your mixture ratios--too much Armorall or TruOil only slows the drying time.
Until you get used to eyeballing equal parts, a couple mouth rinse cups will help to keep the two separated and allow for recovering excess, which is why I have included them here.
Dab two finger tips worth of armorall onto your handle, you'll only want just enough to wet the surface.
A dab's worth of Truoil on another finger tip can now be rubbed onto the surface, it'll only take a minute or two before the reaction starts.
Neither endo or exothermic, there is no temperature shift during the reaction, but the slick mix will suddenly get a bit thicker.
This process seems to be encouraged purely by the rubbing action, trying to speed it along by using warm air from a hair dryer or similar doesn't work.
You will rub this compound in for the entire 15 minutes.
As you rub, the now slightly thicker, pasty elixir will thin to a tacky residue--And this is why the gloves become important.
Excess will begin to gum up a bit, a slight "booger" film that will form on those wrinkles and edges of your hand, as well along the areas that don't absorb the solution such as exposed metal surfaces or liners.
The boogers can be wiped off using the 3M pad by lightly brushing--the point is to just snag and lift.
If working with bone, antler, or extremely porous wood, this stuff can be worked around the surface and pressed in to pores. When working stag handles, I generally fill the marrow pores with this resin.
Each coat, as mentioned in the introduction, should take about 15 minutes--you can check progress on the finish by tapping it against your skin, it will still have a slightly tacky surface at about 95%. When it begins to have the same feel as worn out tape, you can apply the next coat.
An excess of humidity or poor mix ratio will require longer working periods--so if you're in a damp, rainy environment, you may expect to have to rub a little longer. However, if you find yourself still rubbing after 30 minutes, you should just lightly wipe down with a paper towel before trying to apply a fresh coat.
For a satin finish, brush the surface between coats with your 0000 Steel wool.
When working natural woods, I would use up to 30 coats--I've yet to have a situation call for even that many when using synthetics. However, there is no set figure on coats yet. As a novice, I do not feel like a fair judge in making a call there--when I and others who try this can collaborate on findings, maybe I'll eventually suggest fixed numbers.
To finish:
The final finish can be buffed with typical rouges or hard waxes--when refinishing rifle stocks, I'd often use my own mix of Feed-n-Wax with Caruba and paraffin. With knives, I've had fantastic results with Ren wax. If using a rouge, a nice thing to note is there's no color transfer--whether white or green rouge is used on the buff, I have yet to have the color wick over to the final finish.
Before presenting to customers, I generally give it a last, quick, light wipe-down with Scott's Liquid Gold (non aerosol). Looks great, and the almond smell is nice.
For the curious:
The reaction between TruOil and ArmorAll is similar to what we see in Gorilla Glue when it comes into contact with water, minus the foaming action.
Armorall's protectant is a plasticizer, a lesser form of urethane in suspension--TruOil also contains a Plasticine, but mixed with a shellac. As they homogenize, the anhydrous phthalate forms a quick-drying pvc like compound. Something in the mix, however, acts as a Base, neutralizing alkalines and inhibiting oxidation. This probably contributes to the hardened preserved shine to the finish, and why customers who have even high carbon blades have noticed a reduction in oxidation on the exposed metal surfaces such as full tangs, pins, and bolsters.
One major advantage to it I've noticed is the lack of chipping and milkiness from moisture--if a stock gets dinged or dimpled by accident, I place a damp cloth over the spot and use a normal clothes-iron to pull the indention, no need for touch-ups, and without clouding, nobody knows it was even there.
I've currently got Randy Haas trying this method out, so hopefully someone else can back me up on this method--I have not had a chance to try it with burled wood, but it has always worked well for rife stocks and on the knife handle materials I have had access to (micarta, G10, antler and Cocobolo).
Carl_First_Timer is also trying the method out, and found a great tutorial on the same technique on Shotgun News:
http://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=246076
I recommend the SGN tutorial as it is much more detailed and thorough in explanation than what I've posted.
Like many, in the beginning I treated handles, particularly synthetics, with cyanoacrylic glues despite having used this technique on Rifle stocks for the past 3 years. To my knowledge, the only other person to have come across this was a gentleman on Rimfire Central by the name of Woodstock. Since he managed to publish about it first (2010), I simply refer to it as his--besides, Woodstock's Elixir sounds better.
Unlike him, I found the combo by accident, carelessness--I kept Armorall on the bench for cleaning kydex and other tactical gear and got some on a Marlin 66 stock I was refinishing with TruOil after I ran out of Tung Oil. I noticed, as I tried to wipe it off, that the areas I tried to clean were actually drying faster and looked better than the rest of the stock.
Rather than stripping and starting over, I just sprayed on more armorall and worked out the balance over time (approximately 60% armorall to 40% Truoil, but I've never had success remixing the two for storage). Whereas a good linseed or tung oil hand rubbed finish (36 to 60 coats) could take months of work, the reaction between armorall and Truoil is something of a hybrid finish--it takes about 15 minutes a coat and one can easily accomplish 36-60 coats in an evening.
It really brings out a lustrous natural finish that offers excellent weather protection and can still be given a solid urethane "hard candy" top coat to prevent chipping (for rifle stocks). For knife handle material, I've not had to do more than a few coats and a quick buff to get a lasting finish; knives that have been in the hands of owners for the past year and a half still shine like nobody's business. On rifles, I've yet to have see a finish dull even after all this time, and without any of the milkiness that appears in urethane finishes whenever humidity spikes above 90%.
You will need:
1 spritz bottle of classic Armorall "Original protectant"
1 bottle of Birchwood Casey TruOil
2 "dixie" mouth rinse cups
A 3m Scotchbrite pad
0000 Steel Wool IF you choose to do a satin Finish.
Nitrile Gloves--these chemicals are safe to work barehanded and known others in the past to prefer using bare hands to track the finishing process, but there's a reason I'll explain later.
Prep:
Hand sand to your your handle material to the final desired grit--I've finished handles from 600 up to 2K and not seen a difference in absorption--before wiping clean with a damp cloth and letting air dry.
This will provide a very slick finish to even G10, for "tactical" texturing on G10 prior to applying Woodstock's elixir, I'll either lightly rasp or bead blast and necessitate this wipe down step even more. While this mix won't stain materials, trapped filth will muddle the color on liners or make glue lines stand out in stark contrast.
Note:
If working with wood, a quick swipe with 4-0 steel wool will help to raise hairs after clean off. Typically I'd use a bit of steam to wick fibers, but moisture will prolong the time needed for coats.
Put on your gloves and Let's begin:
The essential here in this process is to go lightly with your mixture ratios--too much Armorall or TruOil only slows the drying time.
Until you get used to eyeballing equal parts, a couple mouth rinse cups will help to keep the two separated and allow for recovering excess, which is why I have included them here.
Dab two finger tips worth of armorall onto your handle, you'll only want just enough to wet the surface.
A dab's worth of Truoil on another finger tip can now be rubbed onto the surface, it'll only take a minute or two before the reaction starts.
Neither endo or exothermic, there is no temperature shift during the reaction, but the slick mix will suddenly get a bit thicker.
This process seems to be encouraged purely by the rubbing action, trying to speed it along by using warm air from a hair dryer or similar doesn't work.
You will rub this compound in for the entire 15 minutes.
As you rub, the now slightly thicker, pasty elixir will thin to a tacky residue--And this is why the gloves become important.
Excess will begin to gum up a bit, a slight "booger" film that will form on those wrinkles and edges of your hand, as well along the areas that don't absorb the solution such as exposed metal surfaces or liners.
The boogers can be wiped off using the 3M pad by lightly brushing--the point is to just snag and lift.
If working with bone, antler, or extremely porous wood, this stuff can be worked around the surface and pressed in to pores. When working stag handles, I generally fill the marrow pores with this resin.
Each coat, as mentioned in the introduction, should take about 15 minutes--you can check progress on the finish by tapping it against your skin, it will still have a slightly tacky surface at about 95%. When it begins to have the same feel as worn out tape, you can apply the next coat.
An excess of humidity or poor mix ratio will require longer working periods--so if you're in a damp, rainy environment, you may expect to have to rub a little longer. However, if you find yourself still rubbing after 30 minutes, you should just lightly wipe down with a paper towel before trying to apply a fresh coat.
For a satin finish, brush the surface between coats with your 0000 Steel wool.
When working natural woods, I would use up to 30 coats--I've yet to have a situation call for even that many when using synthetics. However, there is no set figure on coats yet. As a novice, I do not feel like a fair judge in making a call there--when I and others who try this can collaborate on findings, maybe I'll eventually suggest fixed numbers.
To finish:
The final finish can be buffed with typical rouges or hard waxes--when refinishing rifle stocks, I'd often use my own mix of Feed-n-Wax with Caruba and paraffin. With knives, I've had fantastic results with Ren wax. If using a rouge, a nice thing to note is there's no color transfer--whether white or green rouge is used on the buff, I have yet to have the color wick over to the final finish.
Before presenting to customers, I generally give it a last, quick, light wipe-down with Scott's Liquid Gold (non aerosol). Looks great, and the almond smell is nice.
For the curious:
The reaction between TruOil and ArmorAll is similar to what we see in Gorilla Glue when it comes into contact with water, minus the foaming action.
Armorall's protectant is a plasticizer, a lesser form of urethane in suspension--TruOil also contains a Plasticine, but mixed with a shellac. As they homogenize, the anhydrous phthalate forms a quick-drying pvc like compound. Something in the mix, however, acts as a Base, neutralizing alkalines and inhibiting oxidation. This probably contributes to the hardened preserved shine to the finish, and why customers who have even high carbon blades have noticed a reduction in oxidation on the exposed metal surfaces such as full tangs, pins, and bolsters.
One major advantage to it I've noticed is the lack of chipping and milkiness from moisture--if a stock gets dinged or dimpled by accident, I place a damp cloth over the spot and use a normal clothes-iron to pull the indention, no need for touch-ups, and without clouding, nobody knows it was even there.
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Thanks for the tip!
