Better SKS finish ideas??

happydude

happydude

CGN frequent flyer
EE Expired
Rating - 100%
28   0   0
Location
Victoria, BC, Canada
After comming back from the range on friday, I noticed that the orangey shellac finish that the norinco sks has was blistered and almost 'popped' or boiled in areas around the handguard. It seems to do this every time that I shoot it. When I go to the range I like to shoot a lot, last time it was about 360 rounds of czech surplus in about an hour and 45 minutes which makes the sks really hot to say the least. I'm looking for ideas to replace the finish on it, I've got some leftover walnut stain and plolyurethane finish left over from other proejcets, anyone know if those would keep well under a high heat situation such as this one?? The mystery chinese wood appears to be rather dark in color, that's as close as describing it is going to get.
 
Tung oil is very nice if you have the time. I personally used danish oil on my norc sks. I made the mistake of using chemicals to remove the cosmo on mine.

I stripped it with scotch brite, sanded it with 320 then 400 grit, then applied the oil. After about six coats, alternating with 600 grit and some more oil. I followed up with some paste wax and now have a quite decent finish that can be touched up easy. It took maybe 3 evenings.

I'd stay away from water based finishes as solvents can mess with the finish. For a truly easy finish I'd recomend minwax polyshades. It combines a stain with a polyurethane so all you need to do is prep and apply and after a few coats you're done.

Good luck
 
Tung or boiled linseed oil is the way to go. Tung is shiny , linseed oil is dull. You should put on about 5-ten coats, buffing and leetting it dry completely each time.
 
If you have some time I'll be able to answer your temp questons. I am almost finished the final coat of tung oil on my sks. I like to wait a week before putting it to action to let the finish harden. I'll post my range results after. I would assume that due the fact that tung oil penetrates and hardens in the wood not on the wood like a poly finish that it wouldn't peel or blister. I have been proven wrong before though.
 
Happy to report that tung oil will withstand high heat. I had a day off today (my boss and I had a difference of opinion and he sent me home to think about it). I was not in the best of moods so I decided to burn off a few rounds. After about 50 without much of a break between clips the hand hold on the gas tube was noticably warm to the touch. The barrel was super hot. The tung oil looked identical tto when It first was applied. I wouldn't recomend getting your gun this hot but if you do the finish is going to take it well. good luck.
 
wobbles99 said:
Sorry I lent out my digi cam a while back and it hasn't come back. Its glossy and durable and is in the wood rather than on the wood like a poly. I'll post if I ever get the camera back.
Click to expand...

I hope you do get it back someday. I'm curious too ;)
 
Hi guys,
I did the tung oil treatment on my SKS as well then followed with beeswax /oil combination. I will try to post some pics tomorrow for you.
Since it soaks into the wood to protect it the finish ends up just slightly darker than the bare wood, and the gloss mellows after a while to end up really nice....kind of like oiled wood (go figure) :rolleyes: Hard to explain but once you've seen it it makes sense.
The only downside is that the wood protection from dents is lost compared to a plastic type finish that some of the varathanes provide....but this is on an SKS chopstick-wood sock so I care less about dents.

Cheers
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom