Stock Repair & Refinish Before & After

[Mumbles Marble Mouth]

Before

After

A stock that deserved a breath of live. Just waiting for a stock end cap and screw to finish it off. If it takes a long time I may make an end cap instead until I get the original. One of the easiest stocks I've ever done. I've done a Beretta shotgun that took 1 month, a Sauer 202 that took 3 1/2 weeks, a Whitworth .375H&H that took 2 weeks, but this one only took 5 days. Took the oil very well. The next stock refinish is a Ruger No 1 Tropical in .375H&H Ackley Improved.

 

[Mumbles Marble Mouth]

Well I guess no replies is better than bad replies.

 

[TheTooner]

That turned out better than I expected when I had just seen the "before" pictures. I'd be pleased if I had fixed it that well.

 

[Shooter1971]

Looks blotchy and rough. What stain is it? Did you fill the grain? I like the original better...sorry.

 

[Northshore]

I really like the new look, it gives the rifle much more character. The rifle looked pretty plain jane in the before pictures. How did you repair the crack, with glue, with metal reinforcement?

 

[Mumbles Marble Mouth]

Looks blotchy and rough. What stain is it? Did you fill the grain? I like the original better...sorry.

Its oil not stain. Oil brings out the stocks natural colour and grain. While you think its blotchy and rough, that's the stock's natural colour and grain right down to the odd little parts that are really bright. You may find it blotchy and rough but that's widely considered the beautiful part of an oil finish.

 

[Mumbles Marble Mouth]

I really like the new look, it gives the rifle much more character. The rifle looked pretty plain jane in the before pictures. How did you repair the crack, with glue, with metal reinforcement?

Its just a .22 so epoxy is all that is needed. I used a air compressor to blow the glue in deep into the crack and then clamped it.

 

[mike t]

I like the finished product, the grain makes it look a lot better than your everyday run of the mill Ruger stock. Job well done.

 

[Zedbra]

Good job - it looks great afterwards.

 

[mrgoat]

The wood in that stock is birch which is close grained and hard. Some areas of the wood are less porous, harder than others due to the wood density. Oil and or stain does not absorb the same as other areas so you get the lighter or blotchy appearance. To avoid all that and to get uniform colour and appearance Ruger and most manufacturers spray on a coloured finish. The important thing is that you are satisfied with the result.

 

[Mumbles Marble Mouth]

The wood in that stock is birch which is close grained and hard. Some areas of the wood are less porous, harder than others due to the wood density. Oil and or stain does not absorb the same as other areas so you get the lighter or blotchy appearance. To avoid all that and to get uniform colour and appearance Ruger and most manufacturers spray on a coloured finish. The important thing is that you are satisfied with the result.

Correct. When I stripped the stock, chunks of brown flakes were coming off. Ruger undoubtedly does it for consistency. It’s hard to hate a plain wood stock but colour and grains is subjective and some will like it and some will hate it.