Posted by David Williamson on December 30, 2014, 7:14 am, in reply to "Re: Stock Refinishing"
Richard, the finish from the factory was probably shellac. If you would like to try something instead of stripping the stock, take some denatured alcohol on a rag along with a few drops of amber shellac and start on an area that has finish on it and rub this into that area and then move to the area that has no finish. Do this until the areas without finish look like the others. Make sure the pad/ rag has alcohol and shellac on it and don't let it dry out. You cannot make a mistake as the alcohol and shellac mix will fix that. What you will be doing is taking some of the old shellac and mixing it with the new.
Boiled linseed oil is the ingredient to all those secret oil finishes, along with whatever the finisher wanted to add. Tru Oil is a good store bought finish to use and gives a nice finish with the more coats you put on.