I received a couple pms about what I did to that chu wood stock.
I'll answer here in case anyone else wants to fix theirs up.
First thing I did a couple weeks ago was read up here on CGN from folks talking about how to refinish stocks and cut and pasted a word document up for me to follow.
I essentially just did what more experienced people here said to do.
Some of the following are direct cut and paste quotes from previous posts by CGN’ers like Turf about how to refinish stocks.
- Disassemble the rifle including the butt pad and butt strap loop.
- Soak a rag in wax/grease remover or varsol and clean up the wood. I didn't scrub the outside of the wood with varsol too much because I didn’t want to lighten up the color a lot. I wanted most of the dark original color to still be on the stock. Using varsol, I wiped it down and filled and drained the cleaning kit/bolt holes in the stock butt and put the stock in the sun on a window sill, I did this a couple times over a span of a few days to try and kill the mold.
- After the stock has dried for a couple days wash it with warm soapy water, dish soap or hair shampoo will work, rinse it off with clean water really well. Get the stock good and wet. Use the bathtub or outside with the garden hose is fine.
- Let dry for 24 hours, no sanding. If you see traces of mold, varsol/wash/dry again.
- After drying for 24 hours soak the stock for a minute in clean water, this is important as you want to de-whisker and get a smooth stock. After the water bath, towel it dry and let it sit for an hour. Heat up an iron and place a damp towel over the stock and apply heat from the iron through the towel onto the stock. This will raise any whiskers and especially dents. After ironing as much of the stock that you can get at set it aside until the next day.
- Next day, usually you will see tiny wood whiskers sticking up; the whiskers generally will be pointing in one direction towards the stocks butt, use 0000 steel wool to cut them off. Cut them off in one direction, don't rub, one swipe south to north depending on the grain.
- After de-whiskering you can light sand with 600 grit then clean the stock with isopropyl alcohol.
- You can now stain it for as many coats as you want. Cover the metal on the outside of the stock with masking tape, don’t need to tape over the metal on the inside. The first coat you should put on the stock is a stain conditioner before actual staining. For at least the first couple coats of stain use 0000 steel wool to rub the stain in across the grain. Follow the directions on the stain can about how long to leave the stain on before wiping off the excess and drying between coats. After using the steel wool to apply the first few coats of stain, you can use clean soft cloths to rub additional coats of stain in or brush it on with a little foam paint brush. Remove excess stain with clean cloths and polish lightly with steel wool between coats.
- For final coats use Varathane Diamond Coat from a spray can and apply a minimum of three coats. Nice light coats, you don’t want any runs. If you do get a run in the varathane let it dry for a couple days before trying to sand out the run. The wood on the 2007 M14s is very soft and this will help put a harder coat on for a finish. Light rubbing between coats with steel wool is OK; in fact you can knock the shine off the final coat of varathane with a light buff with steel wool for a more military look if you want. Even with a bunch of coats of varathane on those chu stocks they will still dent, just not as easily.
- An air compressor or a can or two of compressed air is almost essential to blow off the steel wool fibres after polishing between stain/varathane coats.
- I also painted the handguard black. I hated that brown color on the original handguard. I used krylon fusion for plastic spray paint.
I bought everything from Canadian tire for about $40.
- Couple bags of disposable latex gloves.
- Bag of 0000 steel wool.
- 400 and 600 grit sandpaper.
- roll of masking tape
- A small foam paint brush.
- Bag of small wash cloths for wiping off excess stain.
- Liter of isopropyl alcohol
- Liter of paint thinner to clean stain off the brushes. If you use steel wool and cloths to apply the stain you don’t need paint thinner for clean up.
- Liter of wax/grease remover like simple green or varsol.
- 236ml can of Minwax pre-stain wood conditioner to help the stain absorb evenly.
- 236ml can of Minwax wood finish, color of your choice. (dark walnut or gunstock color)
- Outdoor varathane diamond coat wood finish in a spray can to help harden the finish of the wood.
- Krylon Fusion for plastic black spray paint for the handguard.
I'll answer here in case anyone else wants to fix theirs up.
First thing I did a couple weeks ago was read up here on CGN from folks talking about how to refinish stocks and cut and pasted a word document up for me to follow.
I essentially just did what more experienced people here said to do.
Some of the following are direct cut and paste quotes from previous posts by CGN’ers like Turf about how to refinish stocks.
- Disassemble the rifle including the butt pad and butt strap loop.
- Soak a rag in wax/grease remover or varsol and clean up the wood. I didn't scrub the outside of the wood with varsol too much because I didn’t want to lighten up the color a lot. I wanted most of the dark original color to still be on the stock. Using varsol, I wiped it down and filled and drained the cleaning kit/bolt holes in the stock butt and put the stock in the sun on a window sill, I did this a couple times over a span of a few days to try and kill the mold.
- After the stock has dried for a couple days wash it with warm soapy water, dish soap or hair shampoo will work, rinse it off with clean water really well. Get the stock good and wet. Use the bathtub or outside with the garden hose is fine.
- Let dry for 24 hours, no sanding. If you see traces of mold, varsol/wash/dry again.
- After drying for 24 hours soak the stock for a minute in clean water, this is important as you want to de-whisker and get a smooth stock. After the water bath, towel it dry and let it sit for an hour. Heat up an iron and place a damp towel over the stock and apply heat from the iron through the towel onto the stock. This will raise any whiskers and especially dents. After ironing as much of the stock that you can get at set it aside until the next day.
- Next day, usually you will see tiny wood whiskers sticking up; the whiskers generally will be pointing in one direction towards the stocks butt, use 0000 steel wool to cut them off. Cut them off in one direction, don't rub, one swipe south to north depending on the grain.
- After de-whiskering you can light sand with 600 grit then clean the stock with isopropyl alcohol.
- You can now stain it for as many coats as you want. Cover the metal on the outside of the stock with masking tape, don’t need to tape over the metal on the inside. The first coat you should put on the stock is a stain conditioner before actual staining. For at least the first couple coats of stain use 0000 steel wool to rub the stain in across the grain. Follow the directions on the stain can about how long to leave the stain on before wiping off the excess and drying between coats. After using the steel wool to apply the first few coats of stain, you can use clean soft cloths to rub additional coats of stain in or brush it on with a little foam paint brush. Remove excess stain with clean cloths and polish lightly with steel wool between coats.
- For final coats use Varathane Diamond Coat from a spray can and apply a minimum of three coats. Nice light coats, you don’t want any runs. If you do get a run in the varathane let it dry for a couple days before trying to sand out the run. The wood on the 2007 M14s is very soft and this will help put a harder coat on for a finish. Light rubbing between coats with steel wool is OK; in fact you can knock the shine off the final coat of varathane with a light buff with steel wool for a more military look if you want. Even with a bunch of coats of varathane on those chu stocks they will still dent, just not as easily.
- An air compressor or a can or two of compressed air is almost essential to blow off the steel wool fibres after polishing between stain/varathane coats.
- I also painted the handguard black. I hated that brown color on the original handguard. I used krylon fusion for plastic spray paint.
I bought everything from Canadian tire for about $40.
- Couple bags of disposable latex gloves.
- Bag of 0000 steel wool.
- 400 and 600 grit sandpaper.
- roll of masking tape
- A small foam paint brush.
- Bag of small wash cloths for wiping off excess stain.
- Liter of isopropyl alcohol
- Liter of paint thinner to clean stain off the brushes. If you use steel wool and cloths to apply the stain you don’t need paint thinner for clean up.
- Liter of wax/grease remover like simple green or varsol.
- 236ml can of Minwax pre-stain wood conditioner to help the stain absorb evenly.
- 236ml can of Minwax wood finish, color of your choice. (dark walnut or gunstock color)
- Outdoor varathane diamond coat wood finish in a spray can to help harden the finish of the wood.
- Krylon Fusion for plastic black spray paint for the handguard.
Last edited:
