My re-finished stock

[TomBulls]

I picked up a sporterized mauser stock at the Indy 1500 last year, but I never found a good enough excuse to refinish it. Well, that time finally came. I have a project rifle that I am finishing up and this rifle needs a project-stock to go with it.

I stripped the stock on Saturday evening, and then pre-stained/stained/oiled on Sunday. I know there are various schools of thought on this matter, but I went ahead and used it anyway. Generic brand oven cleaner. Sprayed all over very generously and let sit for one minute and then rinsed/scrubbed under running hot tap water. I cleaned off all of the crud from the wood by boiling the stock and alternately scrubbing with boiling water and a scrubbing pad like one would use for washing dishes.

The next day after the stock had dried, I sanded with 120/220/340 grit paper (yes, in that order) and then went straight into staining and oiling. With the warmer weather the stains dried very quickly and let me move straight into applying Boiled Linseed Oil. The BLO also dried pretty quickly with the warmer weather.

With six or seven coats of BLO, I think this is as good as this 50+ year old piece of wood is going to look.

-thomas


Stripped stock...
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y90/TomBulls/StrippedStock.jpg


If only the landlord could see me now, I'll bet he would be proud of me!
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y90/TomBulls/100_1640.jpg


All finished.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y90/TomBulls/100_1643.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y90/TomBulls/100_1642.jpg

[sparky45]

Shoulda taken a before pic as well. Nice work.

[littlejack]

That is a very nice finish.
I have that same Professional Redneck Stock Hanging Device in my dining room.
We must shop at the same place.
Jack

[TomBulls]

Yeah, hindsight is always 20-20, guess I just forgot to take the BEFORE picture. Maybe next time, yeah?

-thomas

[Wolfer]

I bet most of us have seen enough original ( sporterized ) stocks to know that looks pretty darn good.

What brand of stain did you use? Mine always look like walnut stained beech. Yours actually looks like walnut.

[Chamfered]

Very nice, color turned out good.

[TomBulls]

I used MinWax Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner and four coats of Varathane "Golden Pecan" stain. I finished up with something like six coats of Boiled Linseed Oil.

-thomas

[nicholst55]

I used MinWax Pre-Stain Wood Conditioner ...

-thomas

A very, very important step, IMHO! It allows the wood to accept the stain evenly, and avoids that 'walnut-stained beech' look. I know, because I learned about it the hard way!!

[Frank46]

Bought a rem 870 police shotgun awhile back. Sanded the corncob forend and buttstock and used the min wax pre stain wood conditioner. As previously mentioned it is a necessary step that a lot of stock refinishers overlook. Allows the stain to evenly penetrate the wood and looks
much nicer. If you don't use it even walnut stocks look like a piece of pine sometimes, from uneven stain. Frank

[Pigslayer]

You did a nice job.

[bmac1949]

That's clean as a whistle and durable too. Nice job.