At the top of the photo is the Glenfield 25 I picked up in shabby condition a while ago. All the metal has been cleaned of rust and re-blued with Brownell Oxpho-Blue.. The stock was sanded down to bare wood, and finished with good old Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil.
Below it is a Marlin 60 I restored maybe 30 years ago. You can see the difference in the wood- the Glenfield uses poplar, and the Marlin, walnut. Both were finished in the same manner, the difference being that the Marlin 60 was given a final once-over with #0000 steel wool to cut the shine as it was supposed to be a hunting gun. (That shine on the stock is a smear of oil I didn't notice until I looked at the photo. Oops.)
The technique is simple, but it requires patience. Start by sanding the wood down to about a 320 grit. Working in a small area at a time, pour some try-Oil (or other oil based finish) on the stock, and work over it in a circular motion with a small piece of 320 grit sandpaper. Add enough oil to keep a wet surface. Rub the oil /sandpaper mix into the stock with the heel of your hand, and wipe off excess against the grain.
The next day, after the stock has dried, do this again. Keep repeating until the grain is filled and the stock feels smooth. At that point you can just add layers of oil. Go over the surface with #0000 steel wool, wipe off the dust, and rub the oil in as you did before, but without sanding. The more layers you add, the deeper the shine. You can leave the surface glossy or give it a final steel wood rub for a matte finish.
Even though the Glenfield 25 looks a lot better than it did when I started, I'm still not crazy about the poplar. I'm kind of tempted to give it a rattlecan paint job in forest green, or even a mixed camoflauge job, in order to make it into more of a hunter. I'll probably add an inexpensive 4x scope as well.
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