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Thread: The how to's of gunstock work

  1. #21
    Moderator Emeritus / Trusted loob groove dealer

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    Quote Originally Posted by enfield View Post
    Whats the best "stain" to darken light coloured wood, I have a few stocks that look like they could be birch or something that I would like to darken. The regular Minwax "dark walnut" doesn't really get it that dark.

    Leather dye.
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  2. #22
    Boolit Grand Master



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    Very nice job. Thanks!

  3. #23
    Boolit Bub Chuck_ls's Avatar
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    Some good ideas I will try on that old Springfield stock I have.

    Chuck

  4. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by enfield View Post
    Whats the best "stain" to darken light coloured wood, I have a few stocks that look like they could be birch or something that I would like to darken. The regular Minwax "dark walnut" doesn't really get it that dark.
    Laural Mountain stains. Best I ever found.

  5. #25
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    I replaced the stocks on my Garand as the old ones really were beyond my help. The new ones arrived with a nice stain and a fuzzy finish. It was like they did not sand it at all. I started with 120 grit wet/dry sandpaper and gently rubbed off the fuzzy stuff. Then I moved to 320 grit and again gently sanded down the entire set of stocks. Then 400 and finally 1000 grit.

    It came out smooth as a newborns bottom. Then I applied Tung Oil in very thin coats. Apply on Monday, rub out with wool patches from a blanket on the following Monday. Ya cannot hurry the drying process. Somewhere around 4 months later I started to rub it out with 0000 Steel Wool wrapped around a sponge with some Tung Oil. This picked up the dried oil and filled in all the open grain in the wood. This went on for a few months and finally it is done. The finish is semi glossy but very hard and is quite attractive to my eyes. I should look as good as this Winchester that was made 4 months after I was born in '43.

    AS a bonus I ended up with an ammo can (.30 cal) in which I stored the sponge and sandpaper that had been exposed to tung oil that had an interior finish that smells wonderful and will never ever ever corrode.
    Last edited by Crash_Corrigan; 10-26-2017 at 04:37 AM. Reason: spelling
    Pax Nobiscum Dan (Crash) Corrigan

    Currently casting, reloading and shooting: 223 Rem, 6.5x55 Sweede, 30 Carbine, 30-06 Springfield, 30-30 WCF, 303 Brit., 7.62x39, 7.92x57 Mauser, .32 Long, 32 H&R Mag, 327 Fed Mag, 380 ACP. 9x19, 38 Spcl, 357 Mag, 38-55 Win, 41 Mag, 44 Spcl., 44 Mag, 45 Colt, 45 ACP, 454 Casull, 457 RB for ROA and 50-90 Sharps. Shooting .22 LR & 12 Gauge seldom and buying ammo for same.

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    Quote Originally Posted by waksupi View Post
    Leather dye.
    I am working on a stock right now that just wont take stain I will try the leather dye and hope it works!!!

  7. #27
    Boolit Master
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    I just ordered fiebings leather die for little scout project

  8. #28
    Boolit Man
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    Very good read, thank you. A couple questions, I have a model 94 that I need to put a finish on, long story short the stock did get sanded, simple butt plate/ screw replacement gone bad. Project got mothballed for 10 years. My original plan was to use Minwax antique oil finish only because my father and I did a 22 with it years ago and it seemed to work quite well, I still own the gun and the finish has been on it for 30 years, however the can of it I had went bad. Has anyone used this for guns? Or have any idea what it is made of? I think I have kind of decided on boiled linseed oil, seems like the go to?

  9. #29
    Boolit Master
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    Is there any literature on making a stock from scratch? It's what I have been doing for my 1873 winchester replica, though the project has gone into hibernation. I have the forestock roughed out, need a piece of walnut for the rear stock still. Figure maybe there's some good reading on this subject?

  10. #30
    Boolit Mold GranddadsDadsMine's Avatar
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    Absolutely beautiful transformation. Amazing. Learning a lot from posts like this.
    Take pride in everything you do, or not, you do what you think's right, I'll do what I think's right

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  11. #31
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    I have to go with easy off lye or not . As for a finish i use linseed oil with a bit of bone black to highlight the grain. I have been told that once you do an oil coat thats it you can't use anything else over it. I am a bit anal about things i don't believe it can't be done until i prove it to my self i have a swede mauser that i bubbaed up . I worked on this gun on and off for around 30 years i put probably more than 100 light coats of oil rubbed in real good. Didn't want to have to do this again so put god knows how many coats of poly on it went over it with 2000 wet dry paper until it was like glass but no shine then waxed with Johnson's wax .people keep asking how i got the wood to look like that i just say a whole lotta work.

  12. #32
    Boolit Bub

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    I have let oil soaked stocks sit in the hot Texas sun for a day. They need to be wiped off now and then. Check often for any stock damage that might result from the heat. I usually wash quickly with lacquer thinner after some cooling. So far since 1958 this has worked well on old oil soaked military rifles.

  13. #33
    Boolit Master Jim22's Avatar
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    Bob Brownell, in his book Gunsmith Tips And Kinks, had an interesting way to glue a cracked or split rifle stock. He said to use Accraglass. Pry the crack open as much as you dare, add Accraglass, and then hit it with a compressed air nozzle. Makes a huge mess but it gets the epoxy to the very bottom of the crack. Then bind up with elastic or inner tube ribbons until dry.

  14. #34
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    Jim22, acraglass can also be blown into a thin crack with a hair dryer. The heat thins the epoxy and it gets blown deep into the crack, with less mess than compressed air.
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  15. #35
    Boolit Mold
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    Dark streaks on gunstock

    I'm having the stock refinished on a Sako L469. I've seen lots of the man's work, and it is good. Today he sent pictures of dark streaks on the cheekpiece and by the action that he cannot remove. He tried 6-7 applications of oxalic acid. No joy.

    He said he could stain it to make it a uniform color, but that would hide the different woods on the forend and pistol grip cap. Besides, the rest of the wood is gorgeous. Any suggestions?Click image for larger version. 

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  16. #36
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    Excellent post. A marvel. And one of the few people I've heard say that an oven cleaner is not for the wood in a cylinder head. The oven cleaner is for that, to clean ovens and on top of it it is garbage, because it is so corrosive that it ruins the hinges of the ovens.
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  17. #37
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hotspur View Post
    I'm having the stock refinished on a Sako L469. I've seen lots of the man's work, and it is good. Today he sent pictures of dark streaks on the cheekpiece and by the action that he cannot remove. He tried 6-7 applications of oxalic acid. No joy.

    He said he could stain it to make it a uniform color, but that would hide the different woods on the forend and pistol grip cap. Besides, the rest of the wood is gorgeous. Any suggestions?Click image for larger version. 

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    Start with coarse-grained sandpaper, wet with a wet sponge, dry, sand again, wet sponge, dry ... and go down the sandpaper and repeat the process, until the surface of the wood is like glass. Then the oil finish....
    He would take nuts, break them, and make a doll, that is, he would put the broken nuts inside a cloth and make a small ball with the nuts inside. Then rub the wood, let it dry, rub again, let it dry. Repeat as many times until the wood does not absorb more walnut oil.
    The finish is a luxury.
    The advantage of this finish is that if you accidentally scratch the stock, with a simple sanding with a very fine grain, and then pass the walnut oil with your wrist, it solves the scratch.
    Last edited by JLF; 05-02-2021 at 09:42 PM.
    "When the homeland is in danger, everything is allowed, except not to defend it."

    Gral. Don José de San Martin.

  18. #38
    Boolit Master Rapier's Avatar
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    Gunfreak, really liked your post. I have been building and repairing stocks for decades. A couple of things to add:
    You can thin Acraglass gel with acetone, a few drops from a small syringe and load the mixture in a larger syringe then inject the thinned Acraglass into the broken stock, as far down as possible, using a wedge to pry the break apart, being careful not to increase the split. Remove the wedge Then wrap the stock with surgical tubing stretched tight and loop hooked from close to open end of the break, until the break is closed. The tubing my leave lines that can be removed with finishing oil and 0000 steel wool. Any small crack left, can be filled with finishin oil and 600 wet and dry with an oil finish applied in a circilur morion, then wiped across the crack to fill, just as if filling the grain.
    If doing a fractured fore end, make three wood block to fit inside the barrel channel, front, middle and rear, before wrapping with the surgical tubing, to maintain the spacing and to prevent “rolling the open top over.” Once it cures, remove the tubing and blocks, then go inside with a sanding drum and remove about 1/16” from the inside along the crack 1/2” on each side. Apply a coat of Acraglass Gel, then a layer of cut to fit fiberglass screen, then another coat of Acraglass Gel on top. Smooth with a piece of plastic bag pressed down with a piece of 3/4” dowel rod. Grind for clearance with a sanding drum after the cure.
    If you have a deep gouge or hole, you can make a wood gouge out of 1/2” angle iron, sharpened to a razor edge on the outside corners on one end. Save you wood scraps, find a matching grain and color, then cut a patch out of the scrap then cut the hole in the stock out and then Acraglass the patch in place, as it was cut, to match. If done correctly you will not see the patch after the refinish. Works to repair fouled up sling swivel holes.

    One thing I have found is that a restore is not just a reblue with garbage stock finish sprayed on. Every company used a different blue color and a different wood stain, if you want to do it right, pay attention to the correct finish. I personally do not like old freaks in my gun cabinet, I refinish, then artifically wear them just a bit so they look used, but well taken care of.
    Last edited by Rapier; 07-05-2021 at 12:26 PM.
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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check