Pallet stock refinish - How much stain?

[YRUpunting?]

I recently picked up a pawn shop Handi with a rather ugly camo paint job on the pallet wood.  The good news is they put the paint on really thick so the scratches were in the paint and the wood is almost flawless.  At first I thought it was a laminated set given the grain, but it's not.  I'm planning to use the Fred M. method in the FAQ but I want to add enough stain to really bring out the grain.  I have the Tru Oil kit with the walnut stain.  What dilution ratio would be good to get the grain to really stand out?

[Bob_VT]

I recently refinished a stock on my Rem 788 and it came out fantastic.


Here is what I did......


Chemical stripped with a zip strip (Do that outside)
Lightly sanded and stained with 2 coats of black (yes black) stain and wiped each coat off
Next I did the tru-oil ...... 18 coats with a light rubbing of 0000 steel wool between each coat
Then I used 2F Pumice followed by 4F Pumice and finally a rubbing with Rottenstone.


The finish is truly beautiful!


"http://s12.photobucket.com/albums/a212/Bob_VT/Remington/"


 Click for a slideshow


It is absolutely worth the work!  I would not hesitate to do this with any standard or high grade stock.

[Bob_VT]

I used a tiny amount of stain....
Less that one small bottle of tru-oil....
and about 1 teaspoon of each 2f & 4f pumice and the same for the rottenstone.....
I also used a package of make-up pads from the local pharmacy which were lint free and worked great!



I feel embarrassed ...... I purchased 1 pound of each!!! I probably have enough left for 100+ stocks!!




I have been eyeing my next projects from my cabinet

[jpshaw]

I've done two pallet wood stocks using Walnut stain.  One coat is too light so use 2 or 3 possible sanding with 400 grit between coats.  I always finish up with several coats of linseed oil to seal it.