Argentino M1879 Rolling Block. Is it worth restoring?

[Patrick Chadwick]

The boning, on the other hand was done usually with an animal bone, often a rib bone. It was drawn along the wood, with the grain, to smooth it out and compress the wood fibres into a more tightly grained surface. This coupled with linseed or flaxseed oil is what gave us those wonderfully smooth finishes on old pre-1900 gun stocks.

Of course, these days you just can't get the rib bones...
Seriously, the diskette cover burnishers have the advantage that they can be curved to fit the wood and will not leave "flats" or grooves on the wood, as anything too rigid will tend to do.

Now I know where the expression "to bone up on..." comes from!

Joel: you've got a century of "boning up" to do on that wood!