#1: Do not use steel wool on a wood stock. It will break off and imbed itself into the wood. Use wet - dry (automotive) sandpaper.

Start off with 100 grit sand paper. Sand off all of the old finish. Always sand in the direction of the grain of the wood and use a sanding block. Do not use your hand as a sanding block.

After all of the old finish is sanded off then procede to finer grits up to 320 grit making sure that all of the heavier sanding scraches are gone.

Wisker (lightly wet) the wood between each grit of sandpaper to allow the grain of the wood to rise. It will feel like little wiskers, hence the name. Continue to wisker the wood with 320 grit until the water no longer raises the grain of the wood.

Apply your desired stain to the wood now before you put any oil or other finish on the wood. Allow to dry for two or three days.

Now you can begin applying your finish. I suggest a hand rubbed oil finish. The spray on crap usually yellows and chips and flakes after time.

First you need to apply a lot of oil to the stock and allow it to soak up the oil. A good method for this is to get a plastic garbage bag and put about 1/2 to 1 cup of oil into the bag. Place your stock into the bag and get the air out. Tie the end and rub the bag all over your stock. This will get the oil everywhere on the stock with out making a mess. Now allow it to sit in the bag and oil for about 30 minutes. Do not use pure boiled linseed oil if you ever plan on doing any kind of bedding at all. Pure linseed oil never dries and will continue to seek its way to the rest of the wood. When it gets to the bedding it could make it come loose from the wood.


Now you get do do a "mud rub". This is to fill in the pores of the wood. Get your 320 grit wet dry paper and a small square eraser or other small sanding block. Wrap the sand paper around the eraser once so that you can get a good grip on it. Wet the sand paper with your oil and begin sanding the stock. Work in small sections at a time. You will see a "mud" begin to develope. After you have worked it into the pores wipe the excess off across the grain. Do the entire stock like this and then let it dry for a day. Continue doing this each day until all of the pores are completley filled. Then let it completely dry for two or three days.

After it has dried you can do one of two things.
#1: Begin lightly working up in sandpaper grit until you get your desired "sheen". Usually somewhere around 800 to 1200 grit is good.

#2: Begin with a hand rub.
For a hand rub simply use the same oil that you have been useing and dab a very small ammount to the palm of your hand and start rubbing in the direction of the grain. Make a little go a long ways and replenish as necessary. Do a hand rub and let it dry for a day. Do one each day until you get your desired "sheen". You will be done when the entire stock has an even finish through out.