I recently cleaned up a set of old colt grips that were dirty and grimy to the point of being a dark muddy brown color.
It turns out they had decent grain underneath all that, but now they're dry. I'd like to refinish them to bring the grain out but not darken them too much.
The grips are fully checkered and I'm reading conflicting info about what to use and what to avoid.
What do you reccomend for a finish? Am I good with just using boiled linseed oil (maybe diluted with mineral spirits) and making sure to wipe excess out of the checkering?
Some stuff I'm reading says Tung oil, or mixed finishes like Danish oil or truoil is superior. Others say they'll gum up in the checkering.

Buy some raw unprocessed flaxseed oil from the health food store, (or Amazon). Rub on very thin coats. 24 hours between coats minimum. Prepare to be amazed.

How long does pure flaxseed oil take to fully dry after the final coat?
And what’s the advantage over the treated BLO?

An Oil Finish that fully soaks in with no build is preferred. I've used walnut oil which is friction cured on lathe projects. I've also used frett board oil for guitars which I believe is a citrus oil. The worst is TruOil or Danish/Tung oil due to build, filling in the cuts.

Just went with 4 applications of BLO (first 2 diluted with mineral spirits) and will probably finish up with a light coat of renaissance wax today. The right (left in photo) panel came out a little darker than I wanted, probably after 99 years of being held in someone’s palm, but much nicer than before without looking obviously refinished.