Yesterday, I felt forced into buying some rather expensive oil based decking stain sealant for a finish upon hickory wood.

I know I could have gone with a animal grease finish and wax; but I was looking to color or stain the wood a little bit to a very slight brownish yellow.

Being paleo is not really an issue to this. I am looking for an non-shining expedient finish to be used for a hunting application.

So I described what color I wanted to the clerk and that I was thinking something along the lines of Danish oil or a stain followed by either tung oil or a linseed/tung oil mix, of which the latter I think would take a long time to apply to the effect I am looking for. She had told me because of the extreme heat and dryness of our climate that those would not work well. I did not tell her that it was for an archery bow. I only told her it was for some hickory wood that would be exposed to the elements but not constantly.

She went to the isle across from the other items I mentioned and got some neutral oil based decking finish and proceeded to mix the color I described at her work station. I did not tell her to do this, she just went ahead with it and actually did get close enough to the color I wanted to achieve. Once mixed she could not put the gallon canister back. I felt forced into buying this, plus it is non-returnable.

I do not know how well this stuff will actually work on hickory. The properties of hickory are not to well known here in California, unless you are a professional bowyer with imported stocks of it, or a transplant from somewhere that has a lot of it. Most Californians only know hickory as a wood to be used for barbeque, smoking chips, or tool handles.

I really wish I thought of some light colored Tru-oil before going to this hardware store and buying so much of this stuff that can combust spontaneously if not disposed of properly.

Can this oil based decking stain be used on hickory wood effectively or am I stuck a gallon of this stuff that I currently can not use for anything?