| Posted: Sat Jan 21st, 2006 03:41 PM |
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1st Post |
BigBill
Master Ballistician and Handloader
| Joined: | Fri Apr 22nd, 2005 |
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I'm not crazy about stripping my stocks down to bare wood with stripper and starting over but with some guns I hate to see them in really bad condition when i know there is a great piece of wood underneath all that grease and oil. I don't use a wood stripper at all.
I had a battle proven well used yugo sks that was used in the recent war over there and it was so greased up you couldn't see the wood grain. I took the gun apart first then i took a piece of coarse steelwool and some Murphy's Wood Soap straight out of the bottle and went to work on it. After a few minutes of having the murphy's soap on it I started scrubbing it. I ended up having an awesome wood grain stock when it was wiped off. (( DO NOT USE WATER TO RINSE THE SOAP OFF THE STOCKS.))) It will lighten the wood up in certain areas and ruin the stock just take paper towels and wipe them dry thats it. Then just let the stock sit for a day or so and dry completely.
On a nicked stock like a chinese sks if most of the stck is good you can lightly use steelwool and blend the nicks flush then lightly steelwool the complete stock and wipe it clean. Then you can apply Formby's Tung Oil Finish right over the orginal finish. It may take a few coats to make th estock look good again but it will come out awesome just like it was when it was just out of the box.
BWT; You can repair modern gun stocks with nicks and scratches the same way too.
Example; On guns like the Swiss K31's beech stocks they have a very thin finish on them. These can be redone by using 100 grit sand paper just to remove the finish thats it. Then i go to 150 grit over the complete stock, then to 220 grit and then I will stain the stock to see if there is any sanding marks i missed with the 220 paper. Then i will work it over with 320 grit to smooth it out even more. Then i stain the stock again and go over it with 0000 steelwool once the stain is dry. This removes the excess stain and starts to polish the wood. It will lighten the color just a little too. Once the stock takes on this new look its ready for the Formby's Tung Oil Finish. I use a soft rag to apply it and give it 24hrs between coats using 0000 steelwool before each coat to smooth it out more. The normal coats of finish for these are about 3 to 4 coats but may go up to 6 coats if it soaks in. On the walnut stocks the wood is much softer so one must becareful how much pressure you use with the sand paper if you must sand. If you do it right they come out with an even glass like finish very much like the orginal.
If i'm using a surplup for the out doors (hunting) i will go with extra coats on my sporters i may have 10 coats to seal the wood really good for the outdoors.
On the really greasy oily stocks to sand them i start off with a 60 or 80 grit lightly just to remove the very thin surface of soft greasy wood. Then follow my 100 grit instructions above. Try not to round the square corners on the stocks too leave them square you wnat the wood to look as orginal as possible. Don't press hard with the coarse sand paper too just go lightly. It may help to practice on an old stock first. You want to do it right.
With stains I use only BEHLEN MASTER Solar-Lux Stain it comes in all colors its one of the best stains I have ever used. Make sure you wear gloves!!!!!
I don't do all my treasures most are left in the orginal state too. Rather than replace the stock I just want to clean up the wood a little so they will last forever for the future generations of my family so they can enjoy them too.
Last edited on Sat Jan 21st, 2006 03:47 PM by BigBill
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| Posted: Sun Jan 22nd, 2006 01:48 PM |
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2nd Post |
The_Mountaineer
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Good advice Bill!
I agree. A lot of those mil-surps look bad with all that grease and crap all over them. However, if you can simply get that gunk off of there it's amazing what you can find.
I'm not real big into the mil-surp rifles for collecting or using. Sure, I wouldn't mind having a few M96, M-98's and a 1903 Springfield but as far rifles go, I'm more into the classic hunting types. A few of which I've refinished myself.
With these, nothing was ever coated up in cosmaline. However, they do tend to get nicked and banged. Your steel wool advice is good and one that I've used before. If you don't have a polyurethane finish or equivalent finish, but rather just good ol' plain oiled wood then the 000 and 00 steel wool will luster it right up.
Good advice!
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| Posted: Sun Jan 22nd, 2006 11:56 PM |
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3rd Post |
BigBill
Master Ballistician and Handloader
| Joined: | Fri Apr 22nd, 2005 |
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Years ago i did woodworking and i'm very fussy about the end result with finishes it has to be perfect when its done. I want the military surplus finish to look as orginal as possible too. I hate working with poly finishes everything has to be perfect like no dust, the application has to be exactly right, there is no room for error at all. Now with Formby's Tung Oil the wood has to be clean and dry and you apply it with a soft rag. I apply very thin coats. There's no way it can mess up it has to come out right. The more fussy you are about the final finish(sanding/steelwool/prepping) the better it will look when its done. The tung oil works so well i have even fixed very bad poly jobs with runs on the stocks too from bubba doing it. Don't get me wrong either I have done some great poly jobs on stocks too with great care and if it gets scratched or nicked its hard to touch up this is were the tung oil finish is easy to touch up. If your going to do it do it right and make it look purdy.
Once you get a few surplus military rifles and you shoot them and you see how good they are this is where the addiction starts. I had modern scoped rifles for hunting but many years ago i shot with open sites and peep sites(match rifles) and i did pretty good. But lately hunting its scopes only and i thought my 55 yo diabetic eyes were bad i never thought i was still good with iron sites. When i got my first swede mauser I shot 1 1/2" groups(average) with it using new sellier & bellot ammo. I hit coffee cups at 100yds with an 8mm rifle with iron sites. I was shooting 3 to 4" groups with other rifles at 100yds too which i don't think is too bad either with surplus ammo. I'm sure that reloading could tighten the groups or even trying new ammo would too. Once you figure out what ammo the surplup likes to eat for the best accuracy then your good to go. Some guns can be ammo finiky and some aren't its just like new modern guns too.
Last edited on Mon Jan 23rd, 2006 12:07 AM by BigBill
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| Posted: Mon Jan 23rd, 2006 03:30 PM |
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4th Post |
saddlesore
HB certified Master Handloading and Ballistics advisor
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I have refinished sevreal old mil stocks, and have found if you don't get the old oil/grease out down about 1/8" into the wood, the new finish doesn't stick well, or the oil bleeds out bfeore you get it all done. I do take it to bare wood, but no more than necessay. Then I start to heat with a hair dryer or heat gun to bring to oil to the surface and continually wipe with acetone.
For finish, I use a product by General called Armr -Seal, satin finish. It is tung oil and urathane mixture that wipes on. I thin the 1st two coats a little to get it to soak in, and then buff with 0000 steel wool between coats. Usually it takes 6-10 ligt coats to do the job and fill all end grain. Buffing at the end or using pumice, you can get any desired finish luster you require. It is easily touched up if scratches occur in the future.
Prior to finishing I bring any dings, etc out using a wet rag and the tip of a hot soldering iron to swell the wood back out.
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| Posted: Mon Jan 23rd, 2006 05:20 PM |
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5th Post |
BigBill
Master Ballistician and Handloader
| Joined: | Fri Apr 22nd, 2005 |
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Great point on the heat and wet rag to pull out the dings if you stock has a lot of them. I like to leave some of the history marks(dings) if the stock isn't too bad it makes the stock worthy of being a surplus military treasure too. I have had some stocks that are so greasy i won't even touch them either there is just no way to make them right. I do have one sks yugo stock that constantly bleeds all the time. I may use the black plastic bag in the hot summer sun in the car treatment to try to get some of the oil out of it most say it works the best. This is a good post on refinishing stocks there's lots of tips and tricks to doing it right. I'm just getting the hang of it by doing it more and more. I practice on an old stock and i thought i did a great job on it until i learned more about doing it better then i just redid it again and it looks 50% better than my first time. I learned to use a base color stain like a darker and then enhance it with a redish color stain and the softer wood grain on the stock picks up the redish color while the walnut color is mixed in. You can use the wood grain and stain to add a different look to the wood too. The grain stands out and actually speaks to you. There's nothing like a good looking piece of wood.
You guys made some very good points about refinishing stocks and i hope there is more to follow......
Last edited on Mon Jan 23rd, 2006 05:22 PM by BigBill
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Live life to the fullest everday, live everyday like it was your last day on the planet.
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