Slowly updated SKS wood stock refinishing thread

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jimbo14

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I'm about to refinish my Chinese solid wood stock and thought I'd post updates as I went along. If you have any questions, be sure to ask. I can take better pics of the areas you're interested in.

The "slowly updated" bit to this is that I'm really busy right now so I don't know exactly when I'll get this done, but I want to get this done sooner rather than later. :)

Here's my plan so far:

- strip old finish
- repair poorly made finger grooves in front handguard
- repair dents
- level out surface
- clean up inside a bit
- stain
- polymerized tung oil finish

Some pics of the "before". I'm hoping to strip the old finish in the next couple days.

Basic Chinese SKS with ventilated upper handguard:

Before_SKS.jpg


Uneven finish (shiny and dull spots, also highlighting uneven wood):

Before_SKS_2a.jpg


Another example of uneven wood:

Before_SKS_3.jpg


Sample dent:

Before_SKS_1.jpg


Poorly made finger grip:

Before_SKS_4.jpg


No surprise to anyone, but these issues are all very typical of a rifle like this and since a hobby of mine is woodworking, I plan on merging my two hobbies and having a little fun. :D
 
Got a little time tonight to strip the old finish. Real easy job. I bought the Circa 1850 Furniture Stripper from Home Depot and followed the instructions. It's nice to have a product work as easily as the container says it will. :)

Getting ready:

Refinishing_SKS_1.jpg


Slapped on a generous coating and let it sit for about 10 mins:

Refinishing_SKS_2.jpg


The camera flash exaggerates the orange in the finish so the following shots are without the flash and using a tripod. Colour is much more accurate now. Here I'm starting to scrape off the old finish with a scrap of wood. It just falls off the stock.

Refinishing_SKS_3.jpg


All done. I couldn't find my steel wool so I used an abrasive pad. Some areas needed a little scrubbing with the pad to get the old finish off. If you are dealing with some stubborn areas, use more stripper to wet the area and scrub away. It comes off without too much effort.

Refinishing_SKS_4.jpg


Even the finger groove came out great:

Refinishing_SKS_5.jpg


Pic showing the cleaned bayonet groove and the poor woodwork is pissing me off so I'll fix that later on.

Refinishing_SKS_6.jpg


I'm swamped with other projects the next little while, but the next installment will fix up the larger defects: bayonet and finger grooves. After the major repairs are done, then the dents will be steamed out and then general leveling/sanding.
 
Another tip: don't forget to strip the upper handguard if you have it. :) I forgot about mine because I'm not using it anymore, but it's good to refinish it with the stock in case you decide to use it in the future.

My forgetfulness was good because it shows the colour difference the original finish adds to the wood.

Refinishing_SKS_7.jpg


...and after:

Refinishing_SKS_8.jpg
 
Thanks guys. IMHO I think anyone who has an interest in refinishing a rifle stock should play with a Chinese SKS. Make mistakes on this that will save your butt on a much rarer rifle you refinish in the future.

Mortified Penguin said:
Is that a synthetic brush you used to put the stripper on? Because the goo just liquified mine XP
Click to expand...

Yup. The synthetic fibres on the brush have now melted together to form a hard blob. Time for it to be tossed. :)
 
I just finished putting boiled linseed oil on mine, much improvment. Thanks Jimbo14, your thread inspired me to finally do something about my ugly gun!
 
Mortified Penguin said:
I just finished putting boiled linseed oil on mine, much improvment. Thanks Jimbo14, your thread inspired me to finally do something about my ugly gun!
Click to expand...
Great to hear! Please post some pics when all the BLO is on. I have a multi-step finishing process planned for mine so it'll still be a while until it's complete. And now with the other projects my wife has added to my list, I'm not sure when it'll be done. For some reason she feels other things are more important than refinishing this rifle. Silly woman. :D
 
Repairing Dents

Once the finish has been removed, you may want to repair a dent or two in the stock. When wood fibres get crushed, you can often "inflate" them by driving steam into the wood.

Get a rag, some water and an iron. Wet the rag and lay it over the dent. Then hold the hot iron on the rag for 15-30 seconds, or until the rag mostly dries out. Remove the rag and see how the repair is progressing. Repeat until the fibres are puffed back up. If the dent is really deep or if the fibres are broken, it may never be completely level, but it will be better than before.

Let the wood dry, sand smooth to level the surface and proceed to more repairs and/or finishing.

Before (dent in circle):

Steam_SKS_1.jpg


Wet rag in position:

Steam_SKS_2.jpg


Driving steam into wood:

Steam_SKS_3.jpg


Checking for progress (a little better, but needs more work):

Steam_SKS_4.jpg


Good enough for me!

Steam_SKS_5.jpg


Now to try out the large, deep dent from the swivel:

Steam_SKS_6.jpg


Getting much better!

Steam_SKS_7.jpg


Over the next few days as I get time, I'll be doing little repairs like this.
 
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