Stock refinishing color

G

Greguw

New member
Hey guys , I just refinished a m38 stock ...did not plan on getting that carried away with a 100 dollar gun ...it looks good .
Any of you guys ever use any stain on your stocks for a color change before you use your refinishing tru-oil ?
I would have liked to had the stock a little more brown highlights to the grain ...all in all I am pretty happy with the finish , I ended up knocking down the shin with some OOOO steel wool .
Any refinishing tips are welcome .
Thanks again !

greg
 
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You can stain stripped wood with a water-based stain before finishing it. If you use oil-based stains, the TruOil will pick up the color and get cloudy.
 
I recently refinished several pairs of wood grips, for myself and others. If the grips had a decent finish on them originally, it usually doesn't take mauch effort to bring the color back. Most of the "damage" on wood grips is really scatches to a finish coat, and a build-up of oily dirt from handling the gun.

Use an oil cleaner to get the hand oil off completely. I then sand them with a very fine grit (like 400) so as not to sand all the way down to the wood. Then, at least in my experience, a light stain (lighter in color than the original color) will usually bring back the original color very easily. If you go too dark with your choice of stain, the grips will end up darker than the original color, which tends to hide the natural grain of the wood. The lightest walnut stain available usually works pretty good, even if the grips were a shade of red wood. The red will come back, even with the light walnut.

After wiping off the excess stain and letting the grips dry, apply 1 or 2 coats of polyurethane. I like my wood grips with a gloss look, but some don't. If not, get some satin polyurethane and apply just one coat. For glossy, let the first coat dry, sand VERY lightly with some 400 grit sandpaper, and then apply a second coat. I like Minwax brand, but others are good too. One little 1/2 pint can will cover many many grips.

I know some will recoil at the thought of polyurethane on gun grips, but it really will help to repel hand oils and that gritty look on the wood. The satin gloss will give a more natural wood look and still give some good protection - easy to clean too. Good luck.
 
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