Wood Stock Help (refinish Work)

P

PDXGraham

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Can anyone help me bring this wood stock back to life and look good again? When I was a kid for some reason I made some marks on it with a ball point pen or sharpie I can’t remember. Well I wanna make it look decent again and have no idea how to get these stains out of the wood, I’ve sanded on it and tried using deluted bleach but nothing I tried works. The rifle it self isn’t anything special, abliteral hardware store .22lr from coast to coast hardware, but it was my first rifle I got when I turned 13 and it has sentimental value



 
Try a paste of water and baking soda rubbed in with your finger and removed by rubbing with moistened cloths.

Try tooth paste.

Try alcohol.

Try nail polish remover.

Good luck.
 
I would use acetone, the true wonder-solvent. Use plenty. Goes on wet; dries in a flash; ready for immediate finish coatings.
 
The only way you're going to get that out is to keep removing wood until you get deep enough to be below the surface of those deep scratches. Start with coarse sandpaper until the marks disappear then work up to finer grades. I'd use files to start with, but I've done enough woodworking to know how to use them. Most people will be less likely to make a mistake with sandpaper.

You will in effect re shape the stock. Be sure to remove the same amounts from both sides and from the entire length of the stock. You don't want to sand out a depression in the wood.

If it were mine, I'd not put that much effort into THAT rifle. But it is yours. If there is enough sentimental attachment then go for it.
 
Try those hard white pen eraser's , dampen the wood first , the pore's will swell use the eraser , then fine sand paper an 0000 steel wool to shine the wood . Stain a few coats ,spray with clear lacquer gloss a few coats then use the 0000 steel wool to smooth the finish.
 
All these suggestions are just going to make it worse.

You will need to strip off whatever finish is there, sand it smooth, stain it, then apply finish. You can buy sandpaper at the local hardware store (200, 320, 400, and 600 grit).

Sand with a sanding block. When you have removed the marks, move to a finer grit. When you have worked through the various grades of paper, wet the wood, then sand to remove the whiskers. Repeat 2 or 3 times. Then stain. Then apply finish.
 
jmr40 said:
The only way you're going to get that out is to keep removing wood until you get deep enough to be below the surface of those deep scratches. Start with coarse sandpaper until the marks disappear then work up to finer grades. I'd use files to start with, but I've done enough woodworking to know how to use them. Most people will be less likely to make a mistake with sandpaper.

You will in effect re shape the stock. Be sure to remove the same amounts from both sides and from the entire length of the stock. You don't want to sand out a depression in the wood.

If it were mine, I'd not put that much effort into THAT rifle. But it is yours. If there is enough sentimental attachment then go for it.
Click to expand...

When I refinish a stock I seldom use sand paper. But there are times I find only sand paper can fix a problem. our's is one of them. Sand just enough with 400 grit paper to remove the scratch's. And feather the sanded area away from the scratch's. I don't know if you feather the wood before finish but that area could probably use it.
 
"...effort into THAT rifle..." It's an excellent stock for teaching yourself how to finish a stock though. And sandpaper is how it's done.
Hand an old aunt who said toothpaste works on ink on a shirt. Dunno what it'd do on wood. Very much doubt it'd do much of anything, but it's worth a try.
I do know that sand paper will work. You will have to sand the entire side to keep it mostly even using the various grades of paper, like Scorch says.
 
First things first!

Too late for you, never start with sandpaper.

A proper refinish begins by chemically removing the original finish. Ink on wood is a .....difficult. Other posters have some ideas that are worth a try.

Use a sanding block. I like the hard rubber 1/3 sheet that 3M makes and mostly used by auto body guys. It has hard rubber flaps on each end that are lifted to expose tacks that hold the paper. Great little tool.
 
Ball point ink takes centuries to dry. A permanent marker uses dye the re-wets easily. dish soap and hot water will bring ball point ink into an emulsion that can be cleaned with water. The permanent ink is best sanded until there is no trace left. Both will take a lot of work and time. Just be patient with it and don't give up.
 
A note about sanding...( 3M Professional thumbs up)

Never use a coarse grit unless substantial stock removal is required- and that doesn't look like the case here. If you're not experienced enough to know when to switch to medium and then fine grit, you'll likely keep sanding with coarse until- in this case the black ink- is gone, and then you've gone too far.

You'll need to remove much more stock than was needed, just to remove the deep scratches from the coarse grit- and a heavy hand with 80 grit will leave a mess of them.
 
Hey, no other old-timers on here that remembers using broken glass as a "card" ? Nice thing is, you can use the various shapes of broken glass for curves too.
 
Get a damp rag and put a hot iron on it for a second to create steam. That should raise the grain enough that youll be able to sand the marks out.
 
If you use sandpaper, use a block.

You might try literally flooding it with methyl ethyl ketone but that will still probably not work. These things are permanent. They are meant to withstand anything, even years in the sun. If it's sharpie it's penetrated a bit, it will be a heavy pigment or aniline dye, neither will wash out or bleach.
 
I would suggest Scorch's plan

A couple of things. The O.P's stock looks like a low grade piece of wood that was stained and then finished with something semi clear. Obviously it could have been finished with a one step stain/finish. Stain to make it dark like higher grade walnut.
Refinishing, that will at least look good, can only be done after the stock has been taken down to bare wood and the marks eliminated during the overall sanding. If you simply sand, scrape, or try to wash out the ink with some sort of concoction and put some finish over everything, nothing will match. The ink ugliness will turn into something bigger and more noticeable. Short of very dark staining that part of the stock will never look like the rest of the stock.
There are exceptions for damage repair. If you know what the original finish was. I.e., Oil, spar varnish, wax, etc. It's possible to do a small repair to be un noticeable.
As far as glass scrapers, that's a new one on me and I'm 73. I have all of my grandfathers high carbon steel scrapers. Some have various radius curves, some look like they were made from worn out hand plane blades with the edge turned to scrape. Made and used prior to sand paper and electric powered hand tools. All of the finish carpenters that had their apples together to skillfully use them are long dead. I use them only to get the old finish off of something. Then I cheat with sandpaper. Usually with sandpaper attached something that plugs into power.
 
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