Stock Refinishing

[zoglog]

I recently got an SKS and want to keep it in the original wood. It was stained a little darker than original and looks great. So now what do I need to do?

I have read about using Boiled Linseed Oil and polyurethane. So do I use both or just poly the stock? The can of linseed oil had directions for using it on gunstocks! Will the BLO be enough to keep the wood safe?

If I need poly should I brush it on or use a can? Any knowledge would be helpful!

 

[Naptown]

Use a furniture stripper to remove all the old. Use sand paper from about a 100 grit down to 300 grit. Stain in the color you like, there are hundreds available. I use a poly spray from a can. Use LIGHT coats and lightly go over each coat with steel wool. Do not use steel wool on your final coat. It works and it's easy, see:

Before:

After:

 

[zoglog]

Wow, looks awesome. So no need for the boiled linseed oil?

 

[Naptown]

Wow, looks awesome. So no need for the boiled linseed oil?

I have never used it. You can find a ton of 'wood refinishing' videos on youtube. Lots of those guys use tung oil and linseed oil. I've always used stain and poly. Easy enough for me to get a GREAT finish. Practice on an old stock or a piece of scrap wood in your garage. Refinish something for practice.

 

[88E30M50]

I've used the spray poly, tung oil and lindseed oil and I like the finish I get from tung oil better. I had redone my Mosin M38 using spray polyurethane and ended up redoing it with tung oil. I did not like the satin look on the poly and found that it got soft with Hoppes 9. Tung oil takes more time, but I like the feel of it better than the poly and it seems to hold up well to cleaning solvents.

I also did a 91/30 with linseed oil and the results are about the same as the tung oil. With the linseed oil, IIRC, I cut the first couple of coats with mineral spirits starting at 50%, then reducing the amount of mineral spirits until the final couple of coats were straight linseed oil. The mineral spirits supposedly allow the linseed oil to penetrate deeper and it did end up with a nice finish.

If you want to play around, you can try pine tar and bees wax. My son did one of his Mosin's that way to see if he could replicate the look of a Finnish finish. They have to be heated to get them to mix. All he ended up doing was making a mess and it did not have a Finnish finish.

 

[Nayls47]

+1 for tung oil.
I use Formbys Tung Oil. Light coats let dry overnight and steel wool between coats. It's almost impossible to mess it up and makes touch-up a snap.

 

[Electron don]

Tung Oil or BLO

You can't go wrong with Tung oil or BLO (boiled linseed oil) but I just like the oil finish. Poly is just like plastic to me.

 

[sptland]

Has anyone tried using brass bristled brushes on their stocks? I've heard that this will help cleanup any checkering, etc ... spots in the wood without damaging the wood.??

 

[Naptown]

Has anyone tried using brass bristled brushes on their stocks? I've heard that this will help cleanup any checkering, etc ... spots in the wood without damaging the wood.??

If you have a lot to remove, go for it. I had a ton of lacquer on my stock that the stripper had a tough time getting through.

Sounds like tung or linseed oil is the way to go. I'll have to try one with that.

 

[boozoo]

Another vote for an oil finish.

What I've done for BLO finish is 2-3 coats of BLO steel wooled onto the stock with 24hr drying periods in between, then a couple of hand rubbed coats (again with drying time in between), then paste wax on top.

This is how my Norinco SKS turned out doing it that way. You should have seen how pitiful it was when I started. Dried out pretty bad and had raised grain in some spots from getting wet before I got it.

I can't go the site to get the right link (blocked most firearm related sites at work) but from best memory, if you go here:
Surplusrifleforum.com • Index page

There is a "Stock Care" folder most of the way down the page. If you go in there, at the very top of that page is a subfolder for stickied threads and you'll find some threads by Candyman for doing BLO or PTO finishes.

 

[zoglog]

Awesome. Thanks for all the posts and the pictures! I should have a fun weekend ahead of me.