m44 help

FraserJ20

FraserJ20

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Edmonton
hello everyone, I am thinking of a project and would like a bit 'o' information before I start. I have a m44 with a laminate stock. The shelaq finish or varnish (whatever it is) has chipped off in a few places and worn off in others.

1) Can I safely use the oven cleaner technique to strip the rest of the stock, or will this damage the laminate?

2) If I can, is tung oil a good choice for a refinish? after light sanding (to remove burs raised by the moisture)

3) If a chemical strip will wreck the laminate (I have no desire to do a full sand job), what are my options?
 
If its shellac, you could try alcohol, which is used as the solvent when shellac flakes are dissolved. Keep in mind that you will be removing the factory finish.
 
Oven cleaner won't remove shellac properly. Also, oven cleaner might attach the laminate's glue.

Go to the hardware store and buy denatured alcohol - also sometimes called methylated spirits. WEAR RUBBER GLOVES!!!

Get an old paintbrush and LIBERALLY apply the alcohol to the shellac if you want to remove it. Wait a minute or two for it to get soft, and then use a cheap plastic putty knife from walmart or wherever to scrape the resulting goo off the stock. Once you have most of it off, fine steel wool used carefully will remove the rest.

Alternately, you can order some garnet shellac flake or buy dark orange shellac at Lee Valley and just touch it up. THis is what I recommend because once you remove original finish, it will never have original finish again ;)
 
re: the gods will smite you

even on a hardwood stock?

I am willing to accept your alternative, I am no bubba

but what about on one of those orange chinese sks stocks? will the gods smite me then? I figure if I am gonna mess a stock up trying to clean it up, it might as well be chi com.

Anything different from above or is it a different finish entirely? Would tung oil be good in this case or is their some sort of collectors value in an chinese sks that would be ruined with an oil finish too?

thanks

jay
 
The orange stocked chicom SKS rifles on the market now aren;t milsurp and aren't collectible as a milsurp. Have at 'er if you really want to, but bear in mind - thye are possibly varnished, not shellaced.
 
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