Refinishing old stock . . .

P

Prof Young

New member
I have a 22lr bolt action that is old enough that it doesn't have a serial number on it. It's a real shooter. I spent the $$ a couple years back to put a scope on it and it is now the proverbial tack driver. Anyway the finish on the stock is coming off and I think I'd like refinish it.

Are there some good on line sites that might help me out.

Live well, be safe
Prof Young
 
I'm also a fan of Minwax Antique Oil on a gunstocks, I use it on a lot of the wooden things that I make, which is why I first tried it in a gunstocks. As for what it is, it's called a wiping varnish, being a blend of varnish, BLO, and Mineral Spirits. Goes on easy and gives a lovely finish. It does, however have limitations. It won't build a finish and it is NOT waterproof. Water resistant is more correct.

Watco Danish Oil is about the same, as are other wiping varnishes. I decided on the Minwax at the recommendation of an old woodworker that said that after 35 years of using this finish and that finish, the Antique Oil had become his favorite.

So, prepare the finish by going through the sandpaper grits ( I use 150 grit through 600 grit), then raising the grain and removing the 'whiskers' again and again until there are no more whiskers. I speed this process by wetting and then drying with a hair dryer. Then I apply the Antique Oil as shown on the can. 4 coats will do it, but more than that is good. Note that after the first coat, it looks awful. After the second coat it'll look good.

You can have a very nice looking finish, with 4 coats, in 4 or 5 days. Hard to find a faster and more attractive finish. That said, more attractive and really water resistant would be if you used Waterlox Original in satin. It isn't fast however, and I'd save it for prized center fire rifles. And the Waterlox is pretty expensive.
 
I'm not a gunsmith, but I find most of Larry Potterfield's videos to be interesting, if not helpful. (MidwayUSA -- available on their site, or on YouTube.)


My personal preference is for a finish that seems to have fallen out of favor (due in large part to laziness, no doubt - it's a lot of work and takes weeks or months to complete); and I use a variation that I've never seen anywhere else. It's a mix of mineral spirits (to thin), pure (unrefined) Tung oil, and Formby's Tung Oil Finish. I got the original recipes from my grandfather whom, in the '50s or '60s, got them from some kind of Herter's gunsmithing pamphlet.

The Formby's is actually a wiping varnish with polymerized ingredients (including polymerized Tung oil, refined Linseed oil, and several others). As such it cures like a varnish and seals when dry. So, as the coats build up, the stock is slowly being fully sealed beyond what plain Tung oil will do. In addition, you end up with a final 'gloss' finish according to the luster of the Formby's that was used. I prefer 'Satin' but it was discontinued some time back, so I have to use 'Low Gloss' now.

The beauty of 'my' finish is that it hides nothing and doesn't change wood color, at all. It simply brings the wood to life and shows the natural beauty in all of its warm, golden, inviting glory.
No matter how plain a stock may be, I'm a sucker for showing what it is. I don't like stains, dyes, or fillers. ...Raw, unadulterated nature has a beauty all its own.
 
The stock on a .22lr bolt action made before 1968 is very likely to be birch. Birch is pretty plain wood, as in very little grain, however, it can be made decent looking with a bit of labour.
Go to your public library and get a few books on finishing furniture. Wood being wood, the same techniques and products are used on gun stocks that are used on fine furniture.
Partial to pure tung oil myself. Not Tung Oil Finish. Brand doesn't matter. A quart(will go a very long way) runs about $20 in Home Depot, et al.
You must put any stain you may or may not use(birch comes out a nice honey blond colour if you don't use stain) on before you put any tung oil on. Tung oil soaks in about 1/4" and keeps everything else out.
Oh and the scope did not make it a tack driver. Scopes don't do anything but allow you to see the target better.
 
That mention that the stock may be birch was a good point to make. A buddy had an old 22 and wanted me to refinish the stock. I said that I would, so he brought it over. Once i got the old finish off, which was painted on to the wood, it was birch or some other soft white wood. I tried to stain it, but it blotched terribly, so I had to sand off the stain. Finally, after much experimentation, I sprayed the stock with shellac (2 coats, I think) to put a seal coat on it. Then I took a wiping stain and painted it on with a wadded up cotton rag. That actually made the walnut colored stain look like wood grain. Took me a couple of tries to get it just right, and if it doesn't look right you can just wipe that surface stain off with mineral spirits and try again. So, when I got the look that I wanted, I let it dry for a couple of days, then put a couple of coats of Shellac over that. Looked great, and looked like a walnut stock unless you looked really close. The buddy was very happy.

I sure wish I had known it was going to be that much work before I volunteered to do it. It's hard to make birch look good, but I finally figured it out.
 
Thanks . . . and . . .

Thanks for all the help and suggestions.

T - You are correct. On the other hand, I can't see the tack without the scope.
:)

Live well, Be safe

Prof Young
 
One other thing about Birch...it doesn't tend take regular Minwax stains well,
so if you wish to add color, and you intend to use Minwax,
you MUST purchase & use the Minwax Wood Conditioner.
The Minwax Tun Oil is exempt ;)

Otherwise, use a high-quality stain like Formby's, General Finishes, Old Dad's, Bullseye, etc...
they already have the conditioner in them...
it is your rifle, might as well spend a couple extra bucks to make it look REALLY GOOD :)
 
Gunstock Finishes

I am a little like you. To get into re-finishing gunstocks, my gunsmith gave be to broken stocks that I stripped and finished: one withe BLO and another with pure uncut tung oil.

Then, I stripped and refinished 2 stocks for in-use shotguns. I used pure tung oil for the first one which highlighted the walnut character of the wood real good. I was most pleased with the result.

The next one was a wooden stock that was not walnut. It was light in color and probably birch or maple. For that, I used Pilkington's Classic Gunstock Finish, followed the extensive instructions carefully, and finished it with Pilkington's Classic Linseed Stock Rubbing Oil using rottenstone, as instructed. I am most pleased with the finished product. These products should also be used on walnut stocks.

Do not be turned off by the "extensive instructions' of Pilkington's mentioned above. It is really not complicated, but the instructions describe each step in very thorough detail. I really like the Pilkington's products.
 
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