I just bought a 187l rolling block pistol, it is in near mint condition and has a 10 inch barrel, except that it had hung on a wall for most of its life. The Stock is beautifully checkered checkered and barrel perfect. I would like our opinions as to what I can add to the finish to darken the light place.
It is not a god deal, just barely visible.
I have seriously considered linseed oil, as from what I can read that is what they used back them.

It shoot 2" left and 2" low, I figure it will be easy t fix with the adjustable sights.

Any thoughts?

I like boiled linseed oil. Same stuff used on stocks in the old days

Rockler Woodworking sells small bottles of universal tint. I think it is called Mixol. Use that or something like it to darken the linseed oil a little. Will need to play mad scientist experimenting to get it close.
Boiled linseed oil has driers to make it harden faster than regular linseed oil.

As a thought, maybe your local paint store would sell you a little bit of universal tint in a walnut color.
Sounds like a fun project.

Thanks for the advice, the boiled linseed oil worked beautifully!

quote:

Originally posted by cxm:
I like boiled linseed oil. Same stuff used on stocks in the old days

Note that modern "boiled linseed oil" is not the same as the "boiled linseed oil" used in the old days (that is, before the mid-to-late 20th century).

Back then, BLO was just what it said in the name: pure linseed oil that had been heated to polymerize it and speed up its drying time.

But the modern BLO that is sold in hardware stores today is only partly made up of linseed oil, which has then been mixed with petrochemical additives and drying agents to speed up its drying time. It is not boiled, and it is not pure linseed oil. It performs fine as a wood finish in general, but it is not historically correct BLO.

If you want actual BLO like the old days, you have to seek it out specially. It's most commonly sold by art supply stores and higher end woodworking supply stores, but is typically labeled as something like "polymerized linseed oil" nowadays, rather than the more recognizable BLO name that has been co-opted by the linseed/chemical mixtures.

The other alternative is raw linseed oil, but that has significantly longer drying time than the polymerized linseed oil.