For fixing up small areas of damage to the finish itself, not necessarily wood damage, but scrapes and chips in the original applied finish,,,one of the most easily applied and most forgiving finishes to work with is common Shellac.
It will adhere to and dry on most any other finish. It drys very fast and is easy to work when dry and by that I mean sanding it down if necessary to level it to the original surface.
It cuts easily as it is reletively soft (compared to space age poly finishes) so you can work it over with common sanding papers in fine grits. Then 0000 steel wool or even scotchbrite type pads work well to blend the surface to match whatever is there surrounding it.
Since it's an alcohol based varnish (a Spirit Varnish in true name), applying a coat over a dryed coating does NOT require sanding or roughening up the prior coating. The newly applied coating will disolve slightly and melt into any coating of the same already there.
I like to put a few coats of Boiled Linseed over the top of the finished project when done. Just a dot or two on the wood will be more than enough to rub out and cover the entire stock of a rifle. Let the stuff dry for a few days.
I use an 'Artist' Linseed oil,,seems to have more dryers in it than the big can from the hardware store. It actually does dry hard. BUt the real secret to using the stuff if there is one is to use so much less of it than you'd ever think would be needed and then let it dry.
Back to Shellac,,It does have a shelf life. Most say about 6mo from mix date and after that dry become longer.
I don't know, i've used some pretty old stuff and it still worked ok, but get the freshest you can.
I mix my own and date mark the jar it's in. The stuff I'm using now is from 11/18 and works fine. So take that for what it's worth.
I never mix up very much at all any way at one time.
Most store bought stuff is dated with a mix date. Try and buy the smallest container you can use and the newest Mix Date.
You can mix your own if you buy Shellac Flakes,,dry thin flakes of shellac in a plastic container. They last forever, I have some I bought 15 or more yrs ago and still mix from that lot.
Just pour a 1/2inch or so of alcohol iinto a tight sealing jar,,add a few tbs of the flakes and let it stand for a day or so to disolve. Shake it around a bit after that and it's ready to use. Add more alchohol if you want it thinner. Decant some out and add a bit of any alcohol bases dye (leather dye, Laurel Mtn stock stain, ect) to it to color it when using. I use pill bottles to make up small amts of the dyed/colored stuff for use. We all probably have a bunch of empty pill bottles around.
Shellac comes in natural or Orange color. I use that the most. Actually a light amber color, just right for most any gun stock work.
Most furniture finishing shellac is 'White Shellac'. Same thing as above. It's just bleached during mfg to remove the natural color.
Many late 19th century and 20thcentury firearms stocks were commercially finished with Shellac.
There are better finishes for an over all protective and tough coating.
But for touch up and objects that might get less than combat usage, shellac can be a great finishing product especially for someone to start out with and gain some wood finishing experience.
Alcohol cleanup of course,,but also plain household ammonia cleaner will clean up shellac . It's a cheap brush cleaner if you do use some brushes to shellac something.
On gunstocks I always just apply with a small pad of folded cotton material.
...Don't clean your Shellac finished pistol grips w/' Mr Clean w/Ammonia'.
My question is similar, but much different in scale.
