When is sanding good enought to apply finish?

[Fishoot]

More often than I care to admit, I apply my first coat of finish to a stock to find that sanding marks that I thought were gone are now evident. It seems that the finish highlights the sanding marks enough to reveal them. Before the finish is applied it looks good but not after finish is applied. So is there a way to make them appear before you apply sandpaper clogging finish?

[country gent]

Sometimes a light wipe of water will show grain and sand marks or other flaws, but then it has to dry before finishing. With the finish I use I wet sand with fine paper and the finish. Several coats down to 600 grit then 3-M pad. Last 2-3 coats are rubbed in deep. This fills grain and evens everything out.

[MrHarmless]

I'm on board with Country Gent, although personally I would use mineral spirits, which accomplishes the same thing.

[Bad Ass Wallace]

Sanding to 600 grit, wet timber, sand to 600 grit, apply sanding sealer then sand to 600grit. then apply at least 4 coats of finish rubbing with 000 grade steel wool between coats. This 1885 Martini Henry buttstock came up a treat!

[Dapaki]

I always raise the grain with a dampened rag before my final sanding with 600 grit. It will reveal tearout, sanding marks and fine cracks as well. Mineral spirits will darken and show you scratches but can complicate the drying on many traditional finishes and can takes days to evaporate if you get a little generous with the amount used.

In the end, there is no right or wrong, just different.

[nawagner]

I use lacquer thinner for the reasons mentioned by Dapaki and country_gent.

[pietro]

.

After the preliminary sanding, use the finest grit you can lay hands on.

Next, wipe down the wood with a damp (not wet) towel & let it air dry.

Sand off all the resulting whiskers with multiple new pads/surfaces of 0000 steel wool.

Run a strong magnet over ever square inch of the wood, wiping the magnet often, to remove the unseen steel wool lint that was lifted from the wood pores.

Begin to apply several thin coats of finish, letting each coat dry before rubbing the finish off down to bare wood - each of which builds up finish in the pores.

When the rubbed down stock's pores become very hard to see against a properly-angled light is the time to make a decision - an eggshell finish or a glossy finish.

For eggshell, leave it alone for a week or two to cure (it will feel dry in a few hours), then apply a good paste wax (not automotive wax).

For glossy, apply another coat of finish & let it cure for a week or two before waxing as above.

.

[Winger Ed.]

Whatever it looks like wet is almost always what it will look like with any clear finish.

[waksupi]

Wetting a stock can usually show the sanding marks left. Or a diluted coat of stain. I've done hundreds of stocks. I never go past 320 grit. If you are doing rub out properly, no sanding marks are visible from 320. That's what I used on all our exhibition grade stocks, and one that won Best of Show at SHOT some years ago.

[porthos]

what waksupi said. i to have finished hundreds of stocks. mostly shotguns for clay target shooters. never went past wet sanding with 320 grit.

[samari46]

Depends on what shape the wood is in. For many military surplus rifles can vary as to condition. Like excellent to rode hard and put away wet. oil and grease soaked wood I usually scrape the stock with hand held wood workers scrapes. This usually removes some of the oil and grease and smaller dents. Then an acetone and whiting treatment. This helps to remove a lot more oil and grease.
For sanding I usually start with 220 grit silicon carbide paper. Then go to 320 grit, then 400 grit and finish up with 600 grit. Then will take some 0000 steel wool and rub it with the grain. The wood will actually start to shine at this stage. The steel wool is actually burnishing the wood. And then take a tack rag to remove any fibers or pieces of the steel wool. Then take an old shop towel
and rub the stock. I usually use either Tru Oil or G96 Linspeed
as a finish. Any stock with a hole under the butt plate gets a dowel in it and stuck upright and easier to get the all important 1st coat on without any problems holding the stock. Stocks can get any number of coatings, But I like to steel wool in between coatings to see how well the wood and grain is/are soaking up the finish. Once the wood and grain or pores are filled all coatings are literally hand rubbed into and on the wood. I use the old wire hangars to hang the wood in the garage to dry between coatings. String a line much like the old wash lines used by out moms and hook the hangars on it to dry. All staining is done prior to applying the finish coats. Some stocks respond well to oil based stains and some with water based stains. With water based stains that can and will raise the grain again 0000 steel wool is used. For a shiney finish I let the last coat dry normally. To knock down the shine old tee shirt with some motor oil with rotten stone. One caution, never lean or place and wood with a finish against anything. Can mar the smooth coating or stick to whatever you lean it against. Hang it at least for a few days to let the finish cure and dry. Frank

[TNsailorman]

I only sand plastic finishes found on modern firearms. I start with 220 and slowly work into 400 or 600 grit ; depending on the finish. Even then, I am careful about getting into the wood. Once I see I am getting into wood, I stop with the sandpaper and start using 0000 steel wool to prep the stock. Once the stock is smooth and all the sanding marked are gone, I apply stain. If any sanding marks appear after the stain, I will again go to the 0000 steel wool until they are all gone. Then reapply the stain. Just be sure to get the stain reapplied evenly. I only use filler on wood with course grain. If you use filler, be sure to take the excess back to the wood with steel wool. When you start to see any sign of sanding dust, stop. Rub down good with a course cloth to get any residue material of the stock. Apply your finish( I use Lin-Speed a lot). Follow the instructions on the Lin-Speed. Once you get the finish on, let it dry about 2 weeks to harden. I then use rotten stone to polish as needed and to the finish wanted. The main thing is take your time, a really good finish take time. works for me, james

[TNsailorman]

Attachment 263407Attachment 263408Here are a couple of photos of a stock I am working on right now. It is waiting on the two week drying time to polish out. James

One more stock on drying time period.

[RustyReel]

Generally, when I am simply refinishing a factory stock I don't sand at all. I use chemical stripper and rub everything out with steel wool.

If I am reshaping a stock or working on an aftermarket stock someone installed and failed to sand correctly then I will use sandpaper. Generally don't go more fine than 320.

Dents and dings add a bit of character to an old rifle, if it's too bad then it needs to be replaced (or live with it). YMMV

[Pressman]

My experience with a seriously oil and grease covered M-96 Swede stock. This was posted on a Swede rifle forum a couple of months ago.

Fast forward to January, cabin fever is driving me bonkers so I took the short drive to my local stock everything, gunshop. After looking at several rifles and discussing re-barreling, I gave up on that idea as insanely expensive. Back in the corner of the mil-surp rack I spotted a decent Swede. It had a lot of battle scares on the stock, I mean lots of them. And it was greasy, I felt I needed gloves to handle it there was so much grease on it. Since it had been there for two years, they made a reasonable offer if I would take it home. It is a matching number rifle with the exception of a replacement handguard.

Closer inspection shows no import marks. But it is covered in arsenal grease, dried, hard and yuck. No one had been shooting it for certain. But, the stock had just as much grease on it. There would be no holding and fondling this rifle until I could degrease it. And that is where the problems began. I found that Brownell's DeSolve would take most of the grease off, but not the underlying oil. The oil was as bad as the grease for leaving a sticky to the touch stock. I mentioned in another post that I was going to have to refinish the stock I you would think I had committed the one unpardonable sin. But, I wanted to enjoy my rifle, not set it in the safe and leave it for my kids to deal with some day.
The overall condition of the wood was mostly good but, the butt was showing a lot of weather/water damage. It reminded my of many of the Swiss K-31's I had seen. And there was the battle scares, bumps, dings and dents. The stock is a light wood, probably beech, it was hard to be 100% certain. It is not walnut nor elm.

Beginning with Easy Off oven cleaner and not getting good results, I finally settled on a strong degreaser for removing oil stains from concrete. It is very thin and did a great job of soaking in and raising the dents. It took three applications followed by scraping then a hot water rinse each time. The wood is now dry to the touch, no longer oily or leaving me with the need to wash my hands after handling it. But it looks splotchy, the color is uneven. I cannot put a new finish on it looking like this and I am NOT going to put a walnut oil finish on it to cover up the uneveness. I want it to look like it was intended. So, the next step was get a jug of household bleach and soak the wood. Now it is all a single color, and a new challenge was getting the stock to match the replacement handguard. After a light sanding with 320 grit, by hand, never ever use power tools to work on a stock, I found a wood stain color called gunstock. From the pictures it looked like a near perfect match. One coat and yes, it is just right. Next is three coats of Old English Red Root oil, one coat a day followed by three coats of hardener and then hand rubbing it smooth with the palm of my hand. Finally I gave it a good coat of Finish, paste wax.
After all that the stock still looks vintage military, all the dents are raised, but the battle scars are still very visible and it is a pleasure to hold and admire.

[samari46]

Knowing when to stop sanding is very important. How many of you have seen a stock sanded so much that the tang stuck up above the wood,perfect example is the bubba'd 1895 Chilean mauser I bought. Tang was very high above the wood. Barrel had been cut back using a pipe cutter as you could see the roller marks on on one side of the barrel.
I like to look at refinishing a gun stock like redoing a piece of furniture. Been playing around with a Long Branch #4MKI* lately and have a couple forends that fit. One is the original one that has the usual dings and dents. But closely matches the butt stock.
The other is probably a full length one that came off another #4 but has the Ishy screw. Supposedly Indian mahogany. Was the most oil and grease soaked piece of wood I ever saw. Plus a bunch of dings and dents. Don't even remember where I got it. Used furniture scrapers to scrape the wood, then 3-4 treatments of acetone and whiting. Sanding revealed some nice wood. Cherry minwax stain didn't work. But found a can of minwax special walnut. That darkened up the wood nicely but still now what I was looking for. Next time I go to Lowes I'm getting a can of ebony stain (mostly all I use are oil based stains). and mix a little with some walnut and see what happens. Good thing I save my pill bottles and will use one to mix and see how it comes out. Frank

[MrWolf]

I'm on board with Country Gent, although personally I would use mineral spirits, which accomplishes the same thing.

Yup. Same here.

[45workhorse]

If you have a copy of "Gun Digest 2001", turn to page 39. The article is called "lemon meringue stock", a linseed oil finish for amateurs. Very, very time consuming way of doing either new wood or old wood. BUT, the wood can/will shine like a piece of glass, before you put anything on it!
I have done 4 Garand stocks this way, satin shine, mine and the wife's uncle. To glass like appearance, for the local Navy ROTC high school, Color guard detail.
YMMV.

[reivertom]

With me it is when I can't stand the thought of sanding anymore. Sometimes after 5 or 6 filler coats and sometimes after only 3. I figure it's my gun, I can stop when I want.

[GhostHawk]

In my case I wanted to seal and stabilise what I had in a Yugo SKS case.
So I would put on a couple layers let dry, then lightly go over with 0000 steel wool. Repeat.

About the point I got up to 6-8 coats I started being happy with the way it looked. So I put on one more layer of true oil. Let dry, then went over it lightly with steel wool to break the shine. And I left it like that.

Now my Sheridan Blue Steak was shedding finish in strips, so it got treated with citristrip, washed, dried, lightly sanded with 0000 steel wool then started layering up trueoil layers. One every day. About day 9 I was happy, it got left with a higher gloss finish.