Tanner's Oath Wood & Leather Salve

Left is my dad's deer rifle the day I finally took it out of the safe this spring. Stock had gone grey and chalky, felt like driftwood in your hands, and the butt looked like the wood was just done. I'd put linseed on it twice over the years, it would darken up for about a week and go right back. Two guys at the club told me to strip it and refinish it and I about did. Glad I didn't. That gouge in the butt is from him dropping it off the tailgate in '89 and the scratch is from a fence he had no business climbing. I'm not sanding those off. That's the gun.

Rubbed this in with an old t shirt right there on the bench, let it sit overnight, wiped it down. Right side is the next morning. Didn't sand a thing, didn't strip a thing. Every mark is still on it, it just looks like a rifle again instead of something you'd leave in the barn. Grain came back, color came back, checkering doesn't feel like sandpaper anymore. Same old scope, same old gun, it just looks like he'd have kept it.

Taking it out opening weekend for the first time in six years.

Right side is my grandfather's 16 gauge as of Saturday morning. Left side is what it looked like for the last eleven years. He carried that gun after grouse every fall of his life and when he passed it came to me in a cloth case and honestly I was scared of it. Stock had gone grey and dead, scuffed white on the butt where it rode in the truck, and the checkering was worn smooth right where his hand sat. I didn't know what to do with it. One shop wanted $600 to strip and refinish it and another one said it wasn't worth doing. Neither of those was going to happen. You don't sand a man off his own gun.

So it sat in the closet. Every couple years I'd take it out, look at it, feel bad, put it back.

Did this on the kitchen table on a Saturday with the newspaper down and a cup of coffee, same as he cleaned it. Ran the bores first, then rubbed the salve into the wood with my fingers and let it sit while I had breakfast. Wiped it off and that's the photo. No sanding, no stripping. The dents on the butt are still there. The worn spot on the grip is still there. The color just came back up out of the wood like it had been waiting. Looks like the gun in the picture of him on the mantel.

I'm taking it out for grouse in October. First time it's been in the woods since he was.

That's my dad's sling. Hung on that nail in the barn since he quit hunting and it had gone stiff and grey as the boards behind it. Cracked at the buckle, felt like it would snap if you pulled on it. I'd been carrying my rifle on a nylon strap for years because I didn't trust it. Worked this in with my thumb one evening, both sides, hung it back up. Next morning it bent like leather again and the color was back, all the way down to the swivels. Didn't get shiny, didn't get sticky, just looks like a sling somebody still uses. It's on my rifle now. Felt right.

This belt has been to duck camp every year since 1994. It lives in the truck, which is the problem. Sun and heat had it cracked like a dry creek bed and I figured it was about done. Loops were stiff, couldn't hardly push a shell in. Rubbed this on the tailgate before we went out, wiped it down, loaded it up. That's it in the picture an hour later, same seat. Loops loosened up, color came back, and the cracks that were there are still there, just not white anymore. Bought a second jar for the sling and the dog collar.

Eight seasons on these boots and I wasn't buying new ones. They fit. But they'd gone chalky and dry where the salt and mud sat, toe box especially, and mink oil just made them dark for a week then greasy. Wiped them down, rubbed this in by hand while the dog watched, let them sit overnight by the door. Right photo is the next morning. Leather is soft again, color is even, and they still look like boots that have been somewhere, which is what I wanted. Not new. Mine. Did the wife's riding boots after and she stopped asking me what I'd ordered.