I use several coats of shellac to prep wood for tru oil and put it on thin with fingers.  Gotta let it dry!!!

Monterey, Do you use canned shellac or flakes?

Here is one that is two coats from finish.

So when doing the 0000 wool inbetween coats, you're wanting to completly dull it back down?  I'm on third coat right now and it feels like I'm taking off everthing I just put on.  The wood seems to be getting smoother, but do you need as many coats on the glass limbs?

I only coat the limb surfaces a couple of times. I do all the edges as many times as the riser to completely fill the wood and seal it./ I save the final coat on the glass until last and then apply a very smooth coat on it. Prior to that I just coat and sand with 400 until the limbs are completely smooth.
God bless you, Steve

QuoteOriginally posted by Walt Francis:
Monterey, Do you use canned shellac or flakes?

Walt, sorry to be so slow responding on this.

I use bullseye shellac from the big box stores.  It seems to also be called Zinser.  Follow directions to cut it with alcohol.  I also use several coats of shellac on gunstocks.  Especially walnut with it's open grain.  Several coats of shellac will fill the grain in walnut, whereas it can take 6 or 8 coats of tru oil alone to fill it.

Was using tru oil on exotic woods that I used for knife scales.  It never seemed to really seal the wood or create a permanent finish.  Then I notices on Texas Knifemaker dot com that they suggested using a filler on the grains of those woods.  With several coats of shellac before the tru oil, the scales kept a nice sheen that held up to wear.