Back to the stock work I guess. Once the stock is fully shaped and detailed it is time to start the sanding out and finishing. With all metal that meets the wood in place and your pad or butt plate on the stock it is time to begin. The rough sanding is done with 120 grit, this is just to get rid of the file and rasp marks. Once finished with this I wet sand with 220 grit using mineral spirits as a wetting agent and so the paper does not fill up so fast. When no sanding marks from the 120 are able to be found and the stock is still wet with the mineral spirits I wipe it down and apply the first coat of finish.
For finish I use either thinned Birch Wood Casy Tur Oil or Super Goo (We make that stuff) or a combination of the two. This first coat can be brushed on however as finishing goes on each coat is rubbed in by hand. Once the first coat dries again the sanding process starts again, but this time it is with 320 grit and mineral spirits. Again wipe the stock down, apply a coat of finish and keep going with finer and finer paper until all the pores of the wood are filled. I go as fine as 600 grit during the finishing and the last few coats are buffed out instead of sanding. I never use any filler partly because most contain silica which eats checkering tools but primarily because fillers make the pores of the wood stand out. This process of wet sanding, wipeoff the dust and apply a coat of finish process fills the pores with the wood dust and finish. Since I do not have a digital camera you will have to waite a bit for pictures of how the 450s stock looks finished. I still have to do the checkering, what do you guys think I should do, point pattern or a fill in Fleur Di Lis pattern.