How do you finish gun stocks?

I have refinished about a dozen of them in my life. It is not as easy as you might imagine, especially if the stocks have cut checkering.

Birthwood Casey makes some pretty decent stock refinishing kits.

I agree that linseed oil is a good product. AND I also agree with the precautions that need to be taken while using linseed oil. Cloth rags that have linseed oil on them will indeed spontaneously combust. So it's best to get them completely out of the house after they have been used even once.

Some of the store bought stains work well. The Homer Formby stuff worked like magic for me on a rifle stock that I refinished. And if you want to go the cheap round, brown or cordovan shoe polish also makes for a decent stain. (Finished a nice AyA 20 gauge side-by-side using leftover brown shoe polish and part of a can of linseed oil. It looked like a Perazzi by the time I was done.)

BEFORE refinishing a stock, ALWAYS check what the original finish is or was. You can sure ruin a gun by not using the right stuff. Re-do it at least in the proper finish type. It is bad enough value wise to refinish it at all. But if not right it is just a butcher job.

I once had a guy bring me an M1 Garand that I wanted to buy. He of course wanted top dollar for it. He came to my home and the thing had been refinished by a butcher. It was first way over sanded to the point the edges were not right, and worst of all had a tung oil finish. With that much damage I told him I would not pay $50.00 for it. The M1 was hideous. That was among the saddest experiences I have had buying a gun.

Edit : If you want to be really good, and be known for your work, you must understand most manufacturers use a proprietary stain color. You will need to experiment to get a color close to original. Winchester for instance uses a red additive of some type. To do it right it must be pretty darn close. Or it would be better to leave it alone, and it's fine to show " character ". Most would prefer that to a butcher job.

+1 Boiled Linseed Oil. You can find instructions by searching on how to finish a gunstock with boiled linseed oil. Be aware that rags soaked with BLO can self-ingnite and must be soaked in water before you throw them away. I lay them out to dry for a few days then soak them with water and put them in a Ziploc bag in the garbage.

i did one using nothing but 'Tru-oil' and it turned out beautifully .. i started with a raw unfinished walnut buttstock for my shotgun, first fitted it to the action mostly using a round and a flat file, then sanded and shaped it with paper and files to get a look and feel i was satisfied with, then used tru-oil to both fill and bring out the final finish .. to start i tried a method of 'wet-sanding' since the raw unfinished wood had deep pores, using wet/dry 120 grit along with tru-oil it creates a slurry that fills in quite nicely ... after that step let it dry for a week or so, then sand off smooth and recoat with tru-oil, repeating that process until its almost completely filled in and the finish is looking done then for the final coat or two buff it off with some ultra fine steel wool instead of sandpaper ... then for the fianl finsh if you want it very glossy simply coat lightly and evenly with tru-oil .. if you want more of a satin look buff with steel wool and rub out with BC stock sheen compound .. as far as color you want you'll have to experiment .. for me walnut turns out fine with no stain at all, if you have a lighter wood you may want to stain it first before you start the tru-oil .. if you wet the wood with water before you start it will give a rough approximation of what color the final finish will be ..

When I'm working with wood I almost always use an oil (linseed) finish.

Lots of elbow grease and birchwood casey stock finish and stuff.

+1 for linseed.

BLO is a common finish.

I like tung oil.