Smoke Damaged Wood stock

Tucker 1371

New member
I have an AK that I had to leave home when I left for college and there was recently a fire at my house while I was away. The gun recieved no direct fire damage but it did get hot enough to warp the plastic blinds on the windows in the room it was in and it was covered in soot. I am home on spring break now and my gun is supposedly off getting refinished so I have yet to see it. I wanted to know if the laminate on the wood stock has been melted away is there a way I can have the stock re-laminated or do I have to find new stocks?
 
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laminated stocks are made by laminating multiple pieces of wood together and then cutting or carving the stock out
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are you saying the pieces of wood melted off and you're wondering if they can be replaced?

or is there some varnish on the wood and you're wondering if it can be re-finished?

if it's laminated, and pieces of wood are missing, you're S.O.L.

If it's just a finished wood stock, then it depends on how much damage there is to the wood. If the wood is still intact then re-finishing would be easy, and the smoke darkened wood might even add a nice depth
 
Oh, guess I'm not too sure what I was talking about. Whatever it is that makes the wood nice and shiny, has a glossy smooth feel to it, can that be repaired?
 
As long as the wood isn't burnt, the stock can be refinished. Most of the AK's come with a cheap laquer finish on them. You will need to strip the finish off or sand it and then refinish the wood with either a polyurathane or an oil finish. Once you get it down to bare wood and get the wood smooth with progressive sanding, it's just a matter of applying multiple coats of urathane or oil. Sanding lightly between coats. I always wanted to do an oil finish on an AK, but a polyurethane finish would be more durable.
 
I wanted to know if the laminate on the wood stock has been melted away

Plastic melts at around 300 degrees. In that what you're talking about is plastic trapped between the wood layers, and the wood layers act as an insulator, it sounds like the gun got well above 300 degrees. It may have gotten into the area that the steel is effected. I'd strip that gun down to bare bones and check every inch of the steel for any discoloration. If I found one part that appears to have been effected, scrap the gun.
 
Laminated stocks are like plywood. Layers of wood stuck together under pressure and heat. Wood doesn't melt and neither will the glue used to make the laminate. It takes a lot more than 300 degrees F to bother the steel too.
 
Where in the house was the fire? Kitchen,garage or adjacent b/r.Where was the rifle,on the floor, in the closet,was the door closed where the rifle was.Closer to the floor the rifle was the least amount of damage will occur.
Did the F.D. do a "surround and drown"? You may have more moisture issues then heat issues.
 
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