Need wood refinishing tips...

W

Wedge

New member
On my SKS that I got today the wood stock is rough and I would like to refinish it I think... I don't know diddly about wood working. Can anyone give me some tips on what I need to do? Do I sand and then varnish it or something.. forgive my ignorance.
You guys know your wood.. eh he he he... and I wanted your input.

I also see several wood stocks on various on-line auctions for $10-15, most are for Chinese SKS's it says. Will this fit my Romanian SKS and is this the easier way to go rather than to refinish the one I have?

Serg
 
I have found the Homer Formby's line of products to be quite good - their stripper is the best I've used, especially for getting off tough ex-military finishes.

But I do like the MinWax line of stains better for staining. I think the Formby stains are "muddy".

Both Formby and MinWax are sold at most WalMarts. I use Formby's stripper to clean off the stock down to bare wood, use a steam iron to raise dents and dings, use sawdust mixed with Elmer's wood glue to fill gouges, and then stain the whole thing with MinWax dark walnut stain. Then I use Formby's satin finish Tung Oil to seal it.

For your standard issue ex-military stock, that's a pretty good routine - not a prize-winner, but it looks nice and will last.

Ken Strayhorn
Hillsborough NC
 
I've used Strayhorn's "sawdust and glue" method and it works great. Keep the glue to a minimum so the stain gets at the sawdust.

With your SKS, I'd also like to recommend some procedures I used on a Mosin Nagant M44. I stripped off the old finish with regular furniture finish stripper. Put on a nice thick coat and work it in with 0000 steel wool - it won't hurt the wood.

The choice of stain is up to you, if at all, but I added a light maple stain that brought out the different laminations.

For a finish, I chose a dull finish marine spar varnish, diluted 4:1 with paint thinner. It goes on real smooth and dries to a nice dull finish. Two coats should do. When thoroughly dry (24 hours), buff the dickens out of it with a nylon stocking stuffed with a sock. This smooths out the finish and removes and dust, hair or small bubbles in the finish.

Good luck,

Noban
 
Another good final finish for military rifles is boiled linseed oil cut 50-50 with mineral spriits paint thinner. Rub it in good and wait a day or so between coats.

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Carlyle Hebert
 
Formby's Stripper and Tung Oil finish is great. Minwax and Red Devil are better for staining.

Here's an interesting tip: a light coat of Johnson's Baby Powder, dusted off after liberally sprinkling on, between coats of Formby's Tung Oil Semi-gloss finish or on the tacky coat of stain, gives a faint silvery sheen to the finished product.
 
Concerning the wood stocks that you see advertised, yes they would work, but the bayonet cutout might be different. Most of them are takeoffs from rifles that were restocked with one of the various styles of plastic stocks available, and are probably in no better shape than the stock on your rifle. You can easily refinish for that $10-$15, + a little elbow grease.
I am a carpenter and have done a lot of finish work, including trim and cabinetry and I have done quite a bit of refinishing of furniture and other woodwork. I find BIX stripper to be quite effective without being as harsh as others such as ZIP-STRIP - that stuff will eat the skin right off your fingers, BIX doesn't bother me at all. Hit it light with some 100 grit paper first just to help the stripper get into it, apply the stripper, let it sit for a bit, scrape of most of it then wash it with some mineral spirits and a scotch-brite pad. repeat if needed. Steam out any dents and sand out the scratches if they aren't too deep. For deep scratches the sawdust/glue mixtures does a decent job, or there are some products available at your local lumberyard.
I have done a couple of stocks using the following products and they turned out pretty darn good. Birchwood Casey makes a good filler/sealer, either clear or "walnut" colored for about $3.50 for a small bottle, the clear can be put on over stain if you want. Dries in about an hour, rub down with steel wool and repeat. Does a great job of filling in the pores of the wood so that you will get a smoother finish. Then spray it with Birchwood Casey Tuff-Sheen satin finish (about $7.50) - very lightly, but build it up by going over the whole stock a couple of times to make sure you have it covered evenly. Let it dry, then rub it with some extra fine steel wool (very fine sandpaper if you got any runs in it) and repeat. This stuff takes at least 24 hours to dry, don't try to sand or hit it with steel wool before that no matter how dry it feels (I know). Produces a very nice low-gloss finish that is very durable.
bergie
 
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