Birchwood Casey Fast-Drying Long-Lasting Water-Resistant Oil-Based Tru-Oil Stock Finish Bottle, 3 Ounce

This stuff rules. Smells good. Very satisfying to apply.People say to store it upside down once you open it to avoid the lid from sticking. Well, it'll still stick. I think my bottle may very well never open again.But that's neither here nor there...Apply your first coat. Wait a day for it to cure. Then apply about 2-3 coats a day, dry sanding every couple coats to level it out. Use super thin coats, or it will cure tacky and take ages to dry.Build up about 20-30 coats and you'll have a real nice finish. Sure, it'll take a week or two. But you'll be happier with how it comes out.

I bought a fountain pen a couple of years ago that was supposed to have come with a gloss finish. It did not. In fact, it did not appear to have any finish on it at all. I saved the pen and thought that I might refinish it someday.Then I came across the Tru-Oil. I had used this stuff clear back in the 1970s on a .22 cal. Wards Western Field rifle. I remembered it having done a pretty good job on the rifle so I tried it again, but this time on the fountain pen.The barrel and cap of the fountain pen are made of California Buckeye Burl. This appears to be a type of precious hardwood that looks a lot like marble. If you get a good enough finish on it, then it definitely looks like marble or maybe even better.One drawback to the wood in the pen is that it does contain some pits and other flaws. Probably for this reason, it took several coats of Tru-Oil to do the job. Multiple coats of Tru-Oil will eventually fill most imperfections in the wood.I used the index finger on my right hand to apply the Tru-Oil. I used fine steel wool between coats. I'm not sure of the coarseness of the steel wool because it just said "finest" on the package in English and then some other things in other languages.The trick to getting a beautiful finish seems to be first to get the wood completely filled and then to apply the top coat evenly. The top coat was very tricky for me and I had to do it over a couple of times to get the finish that I really wanted. I think the trick is to rub the Tru-Oil on very quickly and as thin as possible. You can feel the Tru-Oil quickly getting tacky. It sets up very quickly. Keep your finger moving and use the least amount of finish as possible. With practice, you can level the finish by skimming your finger quickly and lightly over it. But don't try to do this too long when the finish starts to get tacky.The grain of the wood in the pen I finished with Tru-Oil has a translucent 3-dimensional look. Some of the grain looks 1/16" - 1/8" deep. This reminds me of looking at the designs inside glass playing marbles that we had when we were kids. We were good at playing marbles and we had about a gallon of them saved up at one time that we had won in marble games at school during recess and lunch hour. The top coat of Tru-Oil on the pen is extremely high gloss. It's as smooth and bright as glass or even better.I have an Eastman mandolin that has a lacquer-over-spirit-varnish finish on the maple wood back of it. The maple on the back of the mandolin is flamed maple, like a lot of violins and some guitars. The finish on the mandolin has this same 3-dimensional look.I'm waiting to see how well the Tru-Oil finish holds up on the fountain pen. Fingers produce acid and oils and it will be interesting to see how this affects the Tru-Oil. At any rate, the finish looks very good and this is only the second time I've used the Tru-Oil. I think doing a gunstock should be easier than doing a classic fountain pen.If there is anything that could use improvement with the Tru-Oil, it would probably be that it could flow out a little more easily. I like the idea that it dries fast (you are supposed to be able to apply the next coat after 2-3 hours), but I find it a little difficult to flow it out evenly on a surface like this fountain pen. Anyway, the finish on the pen turned out very good, I think. It's interesting to see all the applications that people are using the Tru-Oil for besides gunstocks.

I used this on expensive trim in my kitchen to match the existing finish. It worked very well. Nice finish, good tone. Very easy to use. It smells good too, so no off odors (more natural aroma that dissipates quickly). I plan to use it on a guitar neck and I look forward to seeing the grain pop, like it did in the kitchen.

I absolutely LOVE Birchwood Casey's TruOil! I've used it on gun stocks, knife handles and even expensive guitar parts (bodies & necks) with incredible results!It's a fantastic, easy-to-apply, transparent hardening finish that levels very well, cures fully in just a few days and can be applied by sponge, rag or truly "by hand" with your fingers. There's even have an aerosol version available that works very well for larger, flat surfaces!My personal favorite is the bare hand technique...I finished the guitar neck in the picture below by rubbing the coats in with my fingers and lightly sanding between the coats. Built up quickly and came out great!Fewer and thinner coats will create a more satin finish, while more generous application and/or an increased number of coats can develop a deep gloss finish that rivals most professional sprayed finishes for depth and smoothness!TruOil dries harder than most polymerized varnishes, making it very durable and wear resistant, but if it is ever damaged, it is easily repaired by sanding lightly and adding additional layers of TruOil or spot finishing if the area is small enough.Furthermore, TruOil is one of the more transparent finishes out there (very minimal tinting effect on lighter woods) and it really makes figured wood grain "pop" visually in ways that wipe-on poly and similar finishes don't. It also goes a long way, so a small bottle can easily do a couple gun stocks or other wooden parts.All in all, TruOil is among the best looking, most durable and easiest to work with DIY finishes out there!Highly recommended!