"Tuesday, October 22, 2019
"A Word About Modern Gun Care Products
"Many modern gun care products are quite simply incompatible with the finishes used on classic and custom firearms. Many of these products contain silicone, teflon or some other type of "high-tech chemical enhancement" that is touted as the last word in gun protection, usually because these additives are used in some form in some unrelated industry. It's called marketing, which is the way bullshit is spelled in the language of business. The biggest hazards posed by these products are to organic oil-based stock finishes, including any variation of "London" oil finishes and oil-based film-type finishes. Silicone (NOT silicon, which is what computer chips are made from) rags and sprays should not even be in the same zip-code as a gun with an organic stock finish. Regardless of whether it's a spray or on a rag, IT WILL PENETRATE ANY ORGANIC STOCK FINISH and it will soften and ruin it. As a side benefit, it will also completely prevent refinishing unless the contaminated original finish is chemically removed. Depending upon the depth of the silicone contamination of the wood, complete removal ranges from merely damnably difficult, to almost impossible.
"Keep the following AWAY from ANY organic stock finish:
"- Silicone, in any form, be it spray, oil or cloth
- Rem-Oil in any amount, or really any gun oil for that matter
- Gun Scrubber, this stuff will dissolve even some synthetic finishes and some plastics
"Probably 90 percent of the gun care products that exist only excel at separating money from one's wallet and the above are actually capable of damaging a fine gun's finishes. A good oil that doesn't contain silicone, teflon or powdered space-shuttle tiles is all that is needed for the metalwork and if you feel the irresistible urge to fondle the wood, please only use a drop or two of boiled linseed oil. Do NOT use LIN-SPEED or TRU-OIL (or their like) as "maintenance". These are FINISHES (they are in fact varnishes), they are not used for maintenance any more than one would wipe one's car down with fresh paint to "freshen it up". Speaking of cars reminds me of waxes and there is a certain brand of very expensive wax that some museums use, and many gun owners as well . Do not use this on any stock that you ever plan to have refinished either.
"There, you can't say that you were not warned."
Vicknair Restorations, Specialist Gunsmithing Weblog
Entire post can be found here:
https://vicknairgunsmithing.blogspot...q=stock+finish