Old CW4
BANNED
- Joined
- Sep 8, 2006
- Messages
- 870
In this Thread, I'm strictly talking about wood stocks. I like the modern man made material stocks not for their looks but because they are 'inert.' By that I mean they don't absorb moisture and are minimally affected by heat and cold.
Wood stocks, however, were once a part of a living tree and can be affected by weather conditions and especially moisture regardless of age. I've refinished countless stocks in my day and all with a rubbed oil finish. I prefer oil because it is, properly done, absolutely beautiful and no modern 'dip' into some plastic concoction can even come close IMO to the beauty of a hand rubbed stock.
Okay, refinishing a wood stock. Of course, first remove from the firearm and take off the buttplate, pistol grip cap, if any, sling swivels, etc, so you're left with a lump of wood. I use a hardware store paint stripper to remove as much of the old finish as possible, then out comes the sandpaper. I start with 220 grit and go finer from there. Takes more elbow grease but doesn't remove too much wood in any area to cause a 'low spot.' I use my hand in lieu of sanding blocks because it gives me a better feel. Stop sanding when you're down to bare wood. Usually I'm at a 600 grit by this time. And use masking tape to protect fancy fore end doo-dads or other inlays. A critical note: When sanding, SAVE the sanding dust! Put it in an envelope or plastic bag.
Next comes OO steel wool. This is a character and patience improver. You rub the stock with the steel wool until it shines---and it will with enough rubbing. It becomes a thing of beauty at that point even though bare wood.
Now we digress to dent and crack repair. I have an old drapery steamer iron which puts out a jet of really hot steam and you can also use a tea kettle on the kitchen stove. Steam each dent liberally and move on to the next one. When you've wet them all, do it again, then let the stock sit for a few hours. The water absorbed by the clean wood will usually cause the dents to swell and 'equalize' themselves with adjacent wood.
A cracked stock. You have to personally judge this carefully. If a stock is badly cracked at a strategic point such as the hand grip or pistol grip area just behind the action, it will depend on the extent of the crack and how it runs. I need to explain at this point that I can usually make the cracked area stronger than it was originally by the careful use of epoxy and metal pins but I have experience in doing this. If you have doubts, junk the stock and get another.
Repairing a cracked stock. I spread the main crack or cracks apart with wedges of metal or wood. Little shims of sheet metal or worked down tongue depressors work great. I use an old spoon, hypo needle, or other tool to force epoxy glue down into the crack, then I clamp it to squeeze the crack shut. Of course wipe off the squeezed out epoxy glue. Now, if I think the area needs reinforcing of just to ensure the crack can never separate again, I clip the heads from two inch long zinc plated roofing nails, the types with serrations on them so they resist pulling out of roof sheathing. Get out your hand drill and a drill bit just slightly larger than the nail shank, say .010 or so. Drill your holes, however many you choose and at the locations where you think they'll do the most good, and at least 1/8th inch deeper than the length of your pins. Then fill the holes with epoxy. Force your pins point first into the holes and push them well down below the surface of the adjacent wood. Get generous pinches of your retained sanding dust and fill up the tops of the holes with it. Make sure you wind up with a little 'hump' above each hole formed by the epoxy saturated sanding dust. Then let all this sit overnight as a minimum. BTW, if your worst crack was especially large, you can 'V' the crack cown a bit with a chisel edge or knife point and fill the 'canyon' with sanding dust and a bit of epoxy.
Now it's back to sanding with some fine grit and more steel wool rubbing. When it's all shiny, it's time to start rubbing oil. You can get stock oils from Brownells, Birchwood Casey, etc. I use at least one four ounce bottle per stock so I buy the stuff in quarts and/or gallons.
This is critical! You begin by ENSURING ALL interior wood of the stock receives a generous wetting down with the oil! I don't know why not but many of the very best firearms made have all bare wood in their stock' interiors. By sealing the bare wood with oil, you ensure it can't absorb moisture and change your zero. In other words, we make the wood stock more inert.
Now the exterior. I use a soft rag like a piece of old cotton t-shirt to apply the oil and coat the whole stock with an even coat and as heavy as possible. If it runs, use the rag to even it out. Take this and use a length of wire or coat hanger through a stock screw hole and hang it outside in the sun. It will dry in four to six hours. Then it's time for a steel wool rubdown and another coat of oil. It will look pretty bad at this point but, after about the fifth or sixth coat something magic happens. It starts to 'mirror' and you can begin to see your reflection in the stock. I've gone as many as twelve plus coats on a really fine gun and I'm always tickled when they become almost a work of art. Hand rubbed finishes are rare these days but they are easy to do.
BTW, you'll find that the 'humps' over the pin holes sand off easily and so do any such repairs for bad cracks. After sanding, steel wooling, oiling, and rubbing, you'll be hard pressed to even find them. Another possibly handy tip: If you have one of those 'American Hardwood' stocks, read Birch wood, and it's featureless after sanding, you can turn it into a real pretty item and a conversation piece by lighting up your propane torch and randomly making black burn or carbonized stripes all over the stock. Don't overdo this and don't burn too deep but scorching a plain wood stock this way, then sanding and oiling, can turn it into something very like Tiger Maple. You can also add various colors to the stock oil if you want to go that route.
Stock refinishing is something anyone can do and it's a fun pastime during those cold winter weekends. It can also help turn a clunker into something really nice.
Have to end with a story. Several years back, I had a local MD bring in an old and VERY expensive custom Belgiun double barrel shotgun. He'd been hunting desert grouse when he tripped and fell down the bank of an arroyo and really splintered or shattered the stock of the gun. I mean it was a mess. He was smart enough to pick up the several sizeable and long splinters that had parted company with the stock as he and gun rolled down over the rocks.
The doc had tears in his eyes and asked me if I could do anything to make the shotgun presentable and shootable again. I told him I would sure try. He left the gun with me and, as time permitted, I set to work. I refitted, glued, and pinned the splinters, then used two 3/8ths diameter and about eight inch long lengths of drill rod to pin the two parts of the stock back together. The old gun already had an oiled stock finish so I set in to do my speciality. I called the doc about a month later and told him he could come and pick up his gun. He was absolutely stunned and asked if I had somehow restocked his shotgun. I assured him I had not and what he was holding was his original shotgun and stock. After searching for a while he managed to locate some of the hairline cracks where I'd done my repairs. He was amazed---and pleased, very pleased. When I handed him my bill for $200, he popped his wallet, gave me $500 and wouldn't hear a word about it being too much. I made his day and mine too.
So thanks for reading and I hope this may help or inspire some budding gunsmiths or hobbiests out there.
Wood stocks, however, were once a part of a living tree and can be affected by weather conditions and especially moisture regardless of age. I've refinished countless stocks in my day and all with a rubbed oil finish. I prefer oil because it is, properly done, absolutely beautiful and no modern 'dip' into some plastic concoction can even come close IMO to the beauty of a hand rubbed stock.
Okay, refinishing a wood stock. Of course, first remove from the firearm and take off the buttplate, pistol grip cap, if any, sling swivels, etc, so you're left with a lump of wood. I use a hardware store paint stripper to remove as much of the old finish as possible, then out comes the sandpaper. I start with 220 grit and go finer from there. Takes more elbow grease but doesn't remove too much wood in any area to cause a 'low spot.' I use my hand in lieu of sanding blocks because it gives me a better feel. Stop sanding when you're down to bare wood. Usually I'm at a 600 grit by this time. And use masking tape to protect fancy fore end doo-dads or other inlays. A critical note: When sanding, SAVE the sanding dust! Put it in an envelope or plastic bag.
Next comes OO steel wool. This is a character and patience improver. You rub the stock with the steel wool until it shines---and it will with enough rubbing. It becomes a thing of beauty at that point even though bare wood.
Now we digress to dent and crack repair. I have an old drapery steamer iron which puts out a jet of really hot steam and you can also use a tea kettle on the kitchen stove. Steam each dent liberally and move on to the next one. When you've wet them all, do it again, then let the stock sit for a few hours. The water absorbed by the clean wood will usually cause the dents to swell and 'equalize' themselves with adjacent wood.
A cracked stock. You have to personally judge this carefully. If a stock is badly cracked at a strategic point such as the hand grip or pistol grip area just behind the action, it will depend on the extent of the crack and how it runs. I need to explain at this point that I can usually make the cracked area stronger than it was originally by the careful use of epoxy and metal pins but I have experience in doing this. If you have doubts, junk the stock and get another.
Repairing a cracked stock. I spread the main crack or cracks apart with wedges of metal or wood. Little shims of sheet metal or worked down tongue depressors work great. I use an old spoon, hypo needle, or other tool to force epoxy glue down into the crack, then I clamp it to squeeze the crack shut. Of course wipe off the squeezed out epoxy glue. Now, if I think the area needs reinforcing of just to ensure the crack can never separate again, I clip the heads from two inch long zinc plated roofing nails, the types with serrations on them so they resist pulling out of roof sheathing. Get out your hand drill and a drill bit just slightly larger than the nail shank, say .010 or so. Drill your holes, however many you choose and at the locations where you think they'll do the most good, and at least 1/8th inch deeper than the length of your pins. Then fill the holes with epoxy. Force your pins point first into the holes and push them well down below the surface of the adjacent wood. Get generous pinches of your retained sanding dust and fill up the tops of the holes with it. Make sure you wind up with a little 'hump' above each hole formed by the epoxy saturated sanding dust. Then let all this sit overnight as a minimum. BTW, if your worst crack was especially large, you can 'V' the crack cown a bit with a chisel edge or knife point and fill the 'canyon' with sanding dust and a bit of epoxy.
Now it's back to sanding with some fine grit and more steel wool rubbing. When it's all shiny, it's time to start rubbing oil. You can get stock oils from Brownells, Birchwood Casey, etc. I use at least one four ounce bottle per stock so I buy the stuff in quarts and/or gallons.
This is critical! You begin by ENSURING ALL interior wood of the stock receives a generous wetting down with the oil! I don't know why not but many of the very best firearms made have all bare wood in their stock' interiors. By sealing the bare wood with oil, you ensure it can't absorb moisture and change your zero. In other words, we make the wood stock more inert.
Now the exterior. I use a soft rag like a piece of old cotton t-shirt to apply the oil and coat the whole stock with an even coat and as heavy as possible. If it runs, use the rag to even it out. Take this and use a length of wire or coat hanger through a stock screw hole and hang it outside in the sun. It will dry in four to six hours. Then it's time for a steel wool rubdown and another coat of oil. It will look pretty bad at this point but, after about the fifth or sixth coat something magic happens. It starts to 'mirror' and you can begin to see your reflection in the stock. I've gone as many as twelve plus coats on a really fine gun and I'm always tickled when they become almost a work of art. Hand rubbed finishes are rare these days but they are easy to do.
BTW, you'll find that the 'humps' over the pin holes sand off easily and so do any such repairs for bad cracks. After sanding, steel wooling, oiling, and rubbing, you'll be hard pressed to even find them. Another possibly handy tip: If you have one of those 'American Hardwood' stocks, read Birch wood, and it's featureless after sanding, you can turn it into a real pretty item and a conversation piece by lighting up your propane torch and randomly making black burn or carbonized stripes all over the stock. Don't overdo this and don't burn too deep but scorching a plain wood stock this way, then sanding and oiling, can turn it into something very like Tiger Maple. You can also add various colors to the stock oil if you want to go that route.
Stock refinishing is something anyone can do and it's a fun pastime during those cold winter weekends. It can also help turn a clunker into something really nice.
Have to end with a story. Several years back, I had a local MD bring in an old and VERY expensive custom Belgiun double barrel shotgun. He'd been hunting desert grouse when he tripped and fell down the bank of an arroyo and really splintered or shattered the stock of the gun. I mean it was a mess. He was smart enough to pick up the several sizeable and long splinters that had parted company with the stock as he and gun rolled down over the rocks.
The doc had tears in his eyes and asked me if I could do anything to make the shotgun presentable and shootable again. I told him I would sure try. He left the gun with me and, as time permitted, I set to work. I refitted, glued, and pinned the splinters, then used two 3/8ths diameter and about eight inch long lengths of drill rod to pin the two parts of the stock back together. The old gun already had an oiled stock finish so I set in to do my speciality. I called the doc about a month later and told him he could come and pick up his gun. He was absolutely stunned and asked if I had somehow restocked his shotgun. I assured him I had not and what he was holding was his original shotgun and stock. After searching for a while he managed to locate some of the hairline cracks where I'd done my repairs. He was amazed---and pleased, very pleased. When I handed him my bill for $200, he popped his wallet, gave me $500 and wouldn't hear a word about it being too much. I made his day and mine too.
So thanks for reading and I hope this may help or inspire some budding gunsmiths or hobbiests out there.
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