Found mosin with a stripped stock! How to refinish?

thats quite interesting about the french polish. Looks like lots of work though, not that I'm not up for it, just I'm very new at all this finishing business, and that looks like an advanced technique.
 
Some may have you believe you can only learn from being taught. I think those people need more hands on experience. Cause that's all you need to learn a harmless skill. Its ok if you mess up or don't like it, you learn from it and do it better next time. There was a time when every great gunsmith would have royally screwed a simple refinish job up. For an easy first time job, tru-oil is very forgiving. Pretty much every finish can be removed and redone so have at 'er.
 
Use a black stain first (Saman makes a nice product) then sand to desired darkness/lightness. After, apply what ever colour/shade you want (again, water based) Doing this will really make the grain contrast nicely. As a final/clear coat I recently used Varathane Nano-Defence wood floor finish. Apply many coats, let dry a day. The sand down from 150-200 grit to 1500grit. Then polish with a rubbing compound till shiny. Will look freakin' pro, I promise!! :)
 
DirtyCZ said:
Use a black stain first (Saman makes a nice product) then sand to desired darkness/lightness. After, apply what ever colour/shade you want (again, water based) Doing this will really make the grain contrast nicely. As a final/clear coat I recently used Varathane Nano-Defence wood floor finish. Apply many coats, let dry a day. The sand down from 150-200 grit to 1500grit. Then polish with a rubbing compound till shiny. Will look freakin' pro, I promise!! :)
Click to expand...

Can you post a pic?
 
So after working on it some more to clean it as best as possible, here is what I have found

1 - Simple green took some junk off, after washing with it and hot water, and using a stiff brush to help clean it, after a few passes of that, nothing more moved.

2 - I tried steaming the darker areas, and found that they weren't getting lighter - it was the woods natural coloration, or something had stained it in it's former life

3 - I spoke to an old man about cleaning old furniture, he suggested a hot, wet rag over the wood, and using an iron to "dry" the rag on the wood, this managed to pull out some old cosmo look-like stains. Yay!

4 - Sanded down the stock some with 100, then 150, then 220 grit, and it helped lighten up the gripping areas more, but didn't go too far as I did not with to remove too much wood, or character.

Here are the after prep pics










I fell in love with the finishes that Tom's Pine tar mix, and 1/3 Finn mix does, so I contacted him and unfortunately, he does not ship his Pine tar mix to Canada. However, he gave me the receipes, and after concocting it up in my kitchen, and testing it out of multiple pieces of wood before testing it on the gunstock, this is the test area after it sitting on it for 2 hours before wiping off, no heat or anything applied.

 
First coat of Pine tar mix applied.

This is after letting it sit for an hour, then heated up with a hair dryer and buffed off with paper towels




Thoughts?
 
While we are here talking about removing finishes from old guns what would people recommend for removing the old ####ty black paint that on some of these butt plates and so on. Would vinegar work. I tried doing a sks stock one time by ironing out all the cosmoline but for some reason the finish was very easily removed even with three coats of clear. What does one have to to keep that stain from flaking off. I didn't think it was rocket science but I must have missed a step. Has anyone ever put there stock on a cooking pan and baked it in the oven at 170F to remove it?
 
So here is it after the second coating.




and just for a pic taken in the complete dark with flash



I now have to let it sit for a couple of days for the turpentine to evaporate away before I move to the Toms 1/3 mix. Going to use the white mix to keep the color, as I like the coloration the two coats of Pine tar mix has done.
 
upinsmokeweldinginc said:
While we are here talking about removing finishes from old guns what would people recommend for removing the old ####ty black paint that on some of these butt plates and so on. Would vinegar work. I tried doing a sks stock one time by ironing out all the cosmoline but for some reason the finish was very easily removed even with three coats of clear. What does one have to to keep that stain from flaking off. I didn't think it was rocket science but I must have missed a step. Has anyone ever put there stock on a cooking pan and baked it in the oven at 170F to remove it?
Click to expand...

take the butt plate off and use Simple Green HD and boiling water and the paint will bubble off easily.
 
Alright, so were pretty much done

Here are the pics after 2 coats of pine tar mix, and 2 coats of Tom's 1/3 mix, natural on the stock. She looks way better in person, there is a lustre that comes out of it, and you can really see the detail of the gun. Also, after the firxt waxing I sanded it lightly with 400, and buffed hard the second time with a rag to smooth it all out. Very very smooth finish on the gun, and water just beads right off.

Since it was a bubba, I decided to make the most of this as can be. I bedded the receiver, using the JB weld trick found here, but instead of wax, used vaseline and duct tape to cutout what I did not wish to bed.

Let me say, the receiver used to rattle around, even when at it's tightest, and this really has made it solid. I will see how it holds up after a hundred or so rounds downrange one day soon. I also "corked" the barrel by using an old intertube that I cut to piece, now the barrel floats except for the contact point at the end of the handguards, which has been made tight and solid with intertube pieces cut to size. Everything is very tight, solid and very positive feeling.

The bolt was very stiff, and needed some love, now that I polished it up, it shines big time, and most importantly, actuates nicely on itself, and is no longer "mosin stiff" as some tend to be. I have felt some lower end recently manufactured Remingtons that have a similar feel when cocking and closing.

I noticed the sight pin was bent, and the hood out of shape. I am seeing if I can fix it, if not I will replace it, that is next to do on my list with it, and when I do so, I will report back with a range performance report.

Lastly, here are the pics so far!







What do you guys think?
 
I wont lie, I thought the pine tar would make it darker, but it's actually quite nice in real life, I wish I could take a better picture.
 
I'm surprised at the look of the pine tar also, didn't expect it would look so clear. You did a nice job though, although I prefer the reddish look on the Mosin stocks myself.
 
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