Lakefield MarkII restore went well I think.

[MagnumPeanut]

Here is a before pic. I wish I would have taken a few more. The finish was pretty chewed up and it was very ugly.

I sanded the finish, I know sandpaper is bad, you will forgive me with time. I read somewhere from a woodworker when sanding walnut to get the wood wet after it looks done and then let it dry, after it drys then use 400 grit to sand off the "timbers" that stick up afterwards. I did this about 4 times till it was as smooth as glass.

I then stained the stock with Varethane gel in "Early American" color and then used True oil. I did 3 coats and then wet sanded ith 400 g. One more coat and then wet sanded with 800 grit. After I used Birchwood Casey wax and did a few coats and polishing with the wax. There is some wax in the checkering still in the pics hence the white spots.

I then wet sanded the barreled action and re-blued the metal. All the small metal pieces like the screws and trigger guard were thrown in the ultrasonic cleaner with some CLR and then re-blued those as well. CLR is a really good blueing stripper I found out.
I upgraded the optics and rings while I was at it as they were just sitting around.

 

[firemachine69]

Blueing is a form of rust I've learned, so it would make sense that CLR is so effective. I never thought of using it before, however...

 

[sunray]

The quality of the stock wood used on them is kind of amazing. Doubt you'd see it these days. Isn't likely to be walnut. Walnut would be dark. More likely to be birch. Birch isn't ugly wood. Lots of grain. It turned out nice.

 

[firemachine69]

Definitely. A very classy piece right there!

 

[lone-wolf]

Very nice.

 

[Twisted Canuck]

The quality of the stock wood used on them is kind of amazing. Doubt you'd see it these days. Isn't likely to be walnut. Walnut would be dark. More likely to be birch. Birch isn't ugly wood. Lots of grain. It turned out nice.

+2 It is very pretty wood, but is birch and not walnut. You can really tell by the grain on the forend.

Very nice job on the stock and blueing, BTW.

 

[pharaoh2]

Looks good to me.

 

[rustysdream]

Excellent job. Congrats.

 

[Winnipeg Toymaker]

I refinished my Mark I,2-Mark IIs and a Mark III....I love the blonde colour the light birch gives and the spectacular grains that are in the woods. To cover up such great grains is really a sin... great job....not all old stuff is past its prime.

Never used an sandpaper but used a spray finish remover for fine furniture, steel wool, tru-oil and several coats of Min-Wax.

 

[Jefferson]

you are more talented than

some of the folks that pretend to be gunsmiths

fun doing your own stuff eh !

Jeff

 

[Sluice]

good work

 

[mcpiper]

Nice looking rifle. What did you use to reblue? How is it holding up?

 

[MagnumPeanut]

Nice looking rifle. What did you use to reblue? How is it holding up?

I have been using birchwood casey gel blueing. The stuff is amazing. I have used some garbage blueing in the past and this stuff is top notch. I find if it is applied after degreaseing with varisol and then using a cotton ball to apply blueing, it goes on very smoothly and evenly.

I thought it was walnut, I couldn't tell so I googled it and it said walnut. Either way it beats the pants off most beaver puke stocks.

Thanks for all the compliments all.

 

[Elliott]

Looks good! I have a lakefield 64b and have been considering re doing the stock on it. The stock on it is similar to yours. I would be very happy if it comes out near as good as yours.

 

[easyrider604]

Leaving the checkered panels dark so they stand out makes the stock more attactive, giving them a custom look, IMO. Beautiful rifle. You should be proud. I feel inspired to restore a couple of Lakefield Cooey Winchester 64Bs after seeing your work. Congrats!

 

[cyclone]

I'm sufficiently "wowed"......excellent job!

 

[Twisted Canuck]

I thought it was walnut, I couldn't tell so I googled it and it said walnut. Either way it beats the pants off most beaver puke stocks.

Thanks for all the compliments all.

I've found a lot of times that if a stock is stained walnut (dark) that it is often described as a walnut stock, when in reality it can often be birch. Which is actually a more stable wood, and less prone to warping/checking from my understanding, and just as durable/hard.

 

[zimbu]

Nice job!!

 

[MagnumPeanut]

For those wondering, I took the rifle outta the safe to inspect the bluing. And it is perfect. Dark and uniform. I have cold blued with different stuff a few times and often after a week or so the metal is all rusted and you have to go over it with steel wool and do another layer and repeat until it stops. That is probably a mix of cheapo bluing and cheap metal. Sorry, Cooeys were the worst for me.
So, strip that barreled action to nothing and wet sand with 400 grit paper and then apply casey birchwood gel bluing until satisfaction looks good and is holding up. I should also mention that I used Varisol on the metal after the wetsand to get all oils and unwanted stuff off and let it dry before bluing.

I want to do a range report with this gun with some match ammo, but I haven't had time and now I am recovering for having 4 wisdom teeth removed so it may be a while yet before the local range sees me again.

So here I am bumping my own thread and giving a small and relatively unimportant update.

 

[drslav]

well nice job...i am in the process or working on something as well. i will use your pointers. just have to find that gun blue you used.///where did you buy it/ i dont seem to be able to see it here anywhere