Springfield Refinishing project; pic heavy

L

LSU12ga

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I figured I would start a new thread for my .22 refinishing project so here we go. (This is a continuation from this thread)


The first thing I did today was go over the old sock with some EasyOFF oven cleaner. I was amazed at the beautiful grain that this gun was hiding:

"Original" grain

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Stripping
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Grain, post sanding:
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Tomorrow I will be staining this stock with a dark brown dye stain, followed by tru oil seal.


After doing all of this I started working on the metal. I started on the bolt using a 150 grit emery cloth, then some 220 sandpaper, followed 400 sandpaper. Later, I'll go over it with some cream polish and some steel wool.

Prepolish:
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Post polish:
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Then, using my lap as a vice I removed the rust from the barrel in anticipation of the rust blueing I'll be doing this weekend. I used some emery cloth, to be followed by some higher grit sand paper.



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Thanks for looking, feel free to leave any comments/criticism/sarcasm.
 
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Always nice to spend time on a project like that, wish I had some vacation coming up soon so I could do something similar. Keep us posted on your progress.
 
Today I stained the wood using some dark brown and coca brown rit dye. The final stain came out a little bit more red than I had hoped, but I think it looks good, at least better than it did when it was blonde.

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I also went over the barrel with 220, 320 and 400 grit sandpaper. I then polished it with steel wool and some mothers polish. This is in preparation for the rust blueing I am going to do tomorrow.

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Looks like its time for some fine crocus cloth on the barrel. That should get all the small scratches out (fine crocus is what is used for polishing journals on crankshafts). Crocus is the final step that I use before going to the polishing wheels.
 
dang you want to come polish the bolt for my mauser, been working on it and the marlin today and man is the polishing a pain. your project looks great
 
Thanks for the comments. I think I'm going to keep the barrel like it is, too smooth and sometimes the rusting compound doesn't take.

I actually just spent the past 2 hours sanding and removing all the stain. After it had dried the grain was nearly completely hidden and there were blotches everywhere. I managed to get it back to the original color which looks almost gold when covered in oil. I sanded the whole rifle in 220 and 400 and it is incredibly smooth and has a great grain pattern. Some of the red was retained so its a golden red color. Pics after the tung oil to come tomorrow.
 
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So I just finished going over the stock with an armor-all/tru-oil mix:

After removing most of the terrible dye job is did yesterday this is what I'm left with.

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Yeah, that definitely looks better than what you started with! It's always fun taking something you don't like and fixing it up into something you do.. even if it's not perfect the first try, haha.

Keep the pics coming!
 
Good job. You are going to have something to be proud of, and a great sense of accomplishment. I'll bet that the accuracy will be excellant with the right ammo.
 
I'm hoping it will look great. I'm planning to give this rifle to my younger brother, who does not currently have a rifle.

The fact that this means I'll have to buy another rifle to refinish is a happy consequence.
 
Yeahh...

LSU 12 Gauge--Latest incarnation of the stock looks nice!

Looking foward to yr description and photos of yr rust blueing work!
 
Blueing

Today I starting bluing the rifle using Laurel Mountain Forge Barrel brown which is actually a rusting agent. I had previously polished the barrel with 150, 220, 400 grit sandpaper followed by fine steel wool and some mothers polish.

As per the instructions I coated the barrel in the rusting agent and let it sit for 6 hours. The ruster works better in hot humid conditions, and today was one of the only dry and cold days in Louisiana.

Here is the barrel at 6 hours, after one coat.
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Here it is 3 hours after a second application:
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I then boiled about 1/2 gallon of distilled water and placed the barrel in a shallow container, and scalded it with the water.

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After ten minutes I took it out and "carded" the metal by wiping it down with a rag and removing the rust that did not stick to the metal. This was the final result.

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I should note that the ceiling is brown and that it is reflecting on the barrel, thats not a rust color.


I ran into a few problems with this method.

  1. Some of the barrel did not get covered and so I had some none blued patches
  2. I had wooden dowles plugging the barrel. They did not make a good seal and some water got in....they also broke. So after I got them out (using a slow moving drill bit ((don't ask))) I oiled and resealed the barrel.

I reapplied the browning and I'm going to wait another 3 hours before scalding again. The bluing looks great, so I figure that after about 3 more applications it should look dynamite.
 
you should be finishing bare steel , no oil , no polish . Water isn't going to hurt your bore unless you leave it in there . Warm the barrel in HOT water before applying your blueing . it will dry as soon as you take it out of the hot water , blue while hot !
 
Well, I've finished the rifle!

Today I also picked up an old mossberg/newhaven rifle which will be for me, so this one is going to my 13 year old brother.


Here are some final pics.

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I got a little fancy and did the back screws in gold.

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