Guest HaDeRonDa Posted November 25, 2006 Report Share Posted November 25, 2006 TooPointer got me thinking about this in a the Savage/Marlin post. I'd like to refinish my Ruger M77 stock. My wife says leave it alone for character reasons. I guess I'm not set on leaving it alone. I have to look at it everytime I hunt and she doesn't!! Does anyone have any tips or ever a process that they prefer besides, "Go buy this kit" I prefer a poly to an oil finish. How to "clean" checkering? Dremel possibly? Getting out wood dings? Should I use the wet towel technique or just sand? The stock has a "maple look" currently but under the poly it looks to be walnut. Possibly that is just ground in dirt were the finish is missing??? Any and I mean any ideas, LMBO would be appreciated here. No one wants to screw up a nice piece of wood!!! Thanks Harry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tominator Posted November 25, 2006 Report Share Posted November 25, 2006 Re: Refinishing a stock. I have refinished many stocks, kind of as a hobby to kill time at school. I just take them down to the woodshop and work on them in my spare time. I'd suggest the following: Use a scraper to take off the original finish, then progress from 150 sandpaper all the way down to 500. For checkering, I use chemical stripper (sparingly) and a brass brush. You really have to be careful though, don't let the stripper get on the non checkered stuff, it's impossible to get off and it will raise the grain of the wood. strip the checkering first. Putting coats back on I use a spray poly wetsanding inbetween coats. Most of my stocks got at least 7 coats of poly and some of them got at least 10 to 11. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ronin Posted November 25, 2006 Report Share Posted November 25, 2006 Re: Refinishing a stock. I refinish old military stocks and the occasional sporting rifle. I use stripeze to remove most of the oil or other coatings on the rifle first then boil it. I heat an appropriate size container of water to boiling then place the stock and other wood in it for about 2 minutes. Remove the wood and let air dry thoroughly. The above method removes just about everything with little to no damage to most wood; laminates, etc excluded. Boiling lifts the grain and really helps to removed oil and other chemicals deeper in the grain. I have found that sanding and scraping does far more damage and often ruins the real shape of the wood. It also has a tendency to drive the coating substances deeper into the grain unless you clean and brush frequently between sandings. Once the gun is dry, I use a very fine grit to smooth the lifted grain on the wood and clear other imperfections. Deep dings can be handled with the iron and towel method. Once all the prep work is done, I follow up with multiple coats of Tru-oil for sporting rifles or my own military style bees wax compilation for military rifles. If you use truoil, make sure you allow for complete drying between coats. I wait a day for each one and will administer up to 10-15 coats. Tru-oil is extremely tough and beautiful when applied well. I have a great recipe for the military product. It makes an old army gun look like it just came out of the armorers shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
too_pointer Posted November 25, 2006 Report Share Posted November 25, 2006 Re: Refinishing a stock. Harry, This is what I'll will be using for instruction, good luck with it and we will have to trade pics rifle refinshing too_ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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