Has anyone used Rottenstone on any of their stocks (wood) to tone down the finish to more of a satin finish? Longone
Rottenstone
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- Last Post 04 April 2015
It works, I tried it 40 years ago on P.O. Ackley's advice, but 0000 steel wool and mineral spirits works just as well. FWIW Ric
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I've used it. Use it if you can get it for making a matte finish. use on very soft flannel with water and make circular rubbing motion to evenly dull. I use flours of Pumice or volcanic ash the same way.
These abrasives work best on a completely filled glass-like finish to take down the glassy shine. A good paste wax after getting an even matte is the customary method. I use Johnson's Paste Wax.
Gary
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Interesting, I would have thought the Mineral Spirits would eat into the oil but apparently not. Thanks guys, good information.
Longone
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I should have been more compete. I used the 0000 and MS with those spray-on epoxy finishes popular in the 1970's. They were like the Browning finishes, glassy and hard. Yes, MS will remove teak, tung oil and linseed oil fresh finishes. Ric
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Ric, Thanks for the clarification. I'm going to do a little digging around here to see if I can find some Rottenstone at a woodworkers supply.
Thanks, Longone
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Make dang sure that the finish is fully cured and hard before you use the rotten stone though!
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I have read that and will give it ample time to cure thanks. You can see why I would like to tone it down a touch. Longone
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Just went on the Birchwood casey site and they reccomend 30 days of cure time before rubbing it out with Rottenstone. That could be tough!!!!
Longone
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All good advice. I try to stay away from 0000 steel wool though, as I had two projects that got mysterious teeny brown spots in the finish after experiencing a little weather. I finally realized it was from microscopic bits of steel wool embedded in the finish. A bit of an extreme example, for sure, but I stopped with the wool for the final rub out.
One product recommended to me is “Mr. Clean Magic Eraser” for final rub out. I grabbed a package of it at the grocery store and it is setting on my bench awaiting a chance for trial. From the glowing reports of its effectiveness I am anxious to try it out. The product consists of two fine sponges impregnated with some kind of mild abrasive- just add water and rub.
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Longone,
Fine river silt or even natural clay will do it if you can't find any rotten-stone, flours of pumice or volcanic ash.
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goahhh wrote: “All good advice. I try to stay away from 0000 steel wool though, as I had two projects that got mysterious teeny brown spots in the finish after experiencing a little weather. I finally realized it was from microscopic bits of steel wool embedded in the finish. A bit of an extreme example, for sure, but I stopped with the wool for the final rub out.” The reason that that happens is because either steel wool was used on the bare wood when finishing it. Or steel wool was used on the wood finish before it was fully cured and hard. In both cases, bits of wool embedded themselves and then moisture cased them to rust.
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Longone,
Fine river silt or even natural clay will do it if you can't find any rotten-stone, flours of pumice or volcanic ash. Been doing some looking on the net and found a wood worker supply that has Rottenstone in stock, and best of all it's only about 2 miles away. Thanks for the suggestions.
Longone
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I can give you a few tips on using rottenstone:
don't buy a lot, you only need 2 tablespoons for a rifle stock.
use 2 coffee cups, rottenstone in one and water in the other.
cut an old sweatshirt or heavy cotton sweatcloth that is fluffy on one side into some 2X2” patches, about 2 is all you will need.
Soak a patch in water, then dab the fluffy side of the sweatcloth patch in the rotten stone to load it up good. Make sure it is very WET.
rub the wet and rorrenstone loaded patch on your finish in very small circular motions about 1” in diameter. work about 1 minute on a small area about 2x3” using light pressure (like you would wash your face with soapy fingertips) then keep going adding water and rottenstone to keep the patch loaded and very wet. NOTE-you can damage the finish if you work the rottenstone dry and run out of water.keep it very wet. You can friction burn the finish with dry rottenstone rubbing.
after going over the whole stock evenly, dry gently with a clean bath towel and inspect the degree of matte you have achieved. You may wish to go over it again or you may have missed some spots. Just an even, all over dull is what I look for.
When done, and happy it is dull, dry well and wax. It will shine up some from waxing, but the shine will look expensive and the cheap glassy looking shine will be gone.
If you can't get Johnson's Paste Wax for the last step, you probably have a tin of KIWI neutral color paste wax for shoes, that will work just fine. apply lightly, allow to dry then buff gently with a bath towel or microfiber towel.
Gary
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goahhh wrote:
"All good advice. I try to stay away from 0000 steel wool though, as I had two projects that got mysterious teeny brown spots in the finish after experiencing a little weather. I finally realized it was from microscopic bits of steel wool embedded in the finish. A bit of an extreme example, for sure, but I stopped with the wool for the final rub out.”
The reason that that happens is because either steel wool was used on the bare wood when finishing it. Or steel wool was used on the wood finish before it was fully cured and hard.
In both cases, bits of wool embedded themselves and then moisture cased them to rust.
Tannic acid in Oak does that. Can be mitigaged some by bleach.
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After several years of building ML's with light colored stocks such as red and sugar maple that will be stained, the following is the easiest and only finish and process that I have been satisfied with then it comes to appearance, protection and application. Particularly with ML's. This is also useful whenever a dark wood such as walnut is stained in an attempt to even the color on a stock or when trying to match a butt and fore end. Basically any time a wood stain is used. A relatively simple process that provides great protection with the appearance of traditional hand rubbed oil with no sanding or rubbing between coats with any thing during application or at the end. And no extra grain filling step. This finish does that during the application. The process is relatively fast depending on the ambient temp. and humidity. Here on the Great Plains, I do all my wood finishing in the winter when the humidity is low anyway. One reguirement though is that the final sanding of the bare wood must be flawless which it should be anyway. The finish is a 50/50 mixture of marine spare varnish and boiled linseed oil. Thinned a bit with mineral spirits. This combination is fairly fast and provides the protection of Marine spar along with the ability to be applied like oil, and fills the grain at the same time. And no final rub out. Another advantage is that this finish acts as it's own sealer so there are no compatibility issues.
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I have used Rottenstone for many years and have just about run out of a one pound box I bought about 30 years ago. Google Rottenstone and you will find it is readily available at a modest cost. I use rotten stone two ways, for a more satin finish use water as others have said. For an absolutely magnificent finish I will use linseed oil in place of the water. Takes a good bit more rubbing but the result is well worth the effort. One could start with water and finish up with the oil and accomplish the same finish a bit quicker. Do make sure the pores in the wood were sealed/filled and the finish is fully cured. Failure to do so you will start to see pores in the stock several months after you have finished the project as the balance of the solvents dry out of the finish. For a rubbing block the best thing I have ever used was a cork block wrapped with several layers of felt which is usually available at most fabric stores. Good luck on finding cork.
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If you would like a nice cork block that is grooved at the top for a good hand hold go to a ski shop. If they cater to cross country skiers they should have a cork block for rubbing out wax on the bottom of traditional cross country skis.
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Brownells has Rottenstone. Just got a can from them
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