Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil ... What is this stuff??

[uscra112]

That formula is home-made Tru-Oil, if their "proprietary" 40% is just varnish.!!!

I once waterproofed a convertible top with Thompson's Water Seal, which seems to be a wax dissolved in diesel fuel. Had to park the car outside for months, it stunk so! But it worked. Twelve years later that top is still watertight.

And yes, all front-stuffers should be browned, never blued.

[waksupi]

That formula is home-made Tru-Oil, if their "proprietary" 40% is just varnish.!!!

I once waterproofed a convertible top with Thompson's Water Seal, which seems to be a wax dissolved in diesel fuel. Had to park the car outside for months, it stunk so! But it worked. Twelve years later that top is still watertight.

And yes, all front-stuffers should be browned, never blued.

Actually, muzzleloaders were blued very early, and at one time were more common than the browning.

[uscra112]

Actually, muzzleloaders were blued very early, and at one time were more common than the browning.

News to me, but then I'm not big into antique muzzle loaders, so I take your word for it.

[Lance Boyle]

Alkyd is a technical name for polyester, so it's not "natural". Phenols all date to 1909 (yeah, I hadda look it up), so they're not that old, compared to the ancient recipe of oil and pine rosin. Phenolic resin was the basis for Bakelite. You've got me there - I never knew it was used for varnish. Ought to work though. California probably hates because it was formed using formaldehyde.

Phenols are in lots of stuff, plastics, coatings on electric windings, it’s in many toothpastes. I used to have a client that made the stuff. Formerly known as Schenectady Chemicals Inc.


Back on topic, I used to used tru oil to reproduce or touch up old Winchester finishes. It seemed a pretty close facsimile to my eye.

[Lance Boyle]

That formula is home-made Tru-Oil, if their "proprietary" 40% is just varnish.!!!

I once waterproofed a convertible top with Thompson's Water Seal, which seems to be a wax dissolved in diesel fuel. Had to park the car outside for months, it stunk so! But it worked. Twelve years later that top is still watertight.

And yes, all front-stuffers should be browned, never blued.

My uncle, a chemical engineer in the paint industry, used to curse Thompson’s as nothing more than diluted liquid floor wax. He thought it was criminal to sell it as a deck finish because hard sun ruins it. He worked in sales as he was promoted to the executive level.

[uscra112]

I've been told that there's natural phenols in wine and beer, too. Carbolic acid. The active ingredient in Listerine. (hadda look that up). So they don't date to 1909, just the solid forms.

Thompsons now prohibits the use of Water Seal on canvas. Not fireproof. Apparently it was implicated in some fatal tent fires. I'm sure EVERYBODY obeys the warning on the can.

[facetious]

After posting that I got it out of the safe and took some pic's. I haven't looked at it maybe two years. It still looked good , no rust or any thing any where. Used paste wax on the out side and grease in the bore. Before I put it back I took it apart and rewaxed it and put it back together and cleaned out the old grease and put in some fresh. Not as fancy as some of the stuff I see on here but it turned OK for 20 year old kid who had never did any thing like that before. 42 years ago.

It is the only gun (kit) I made so I tought I would show it off.