My first project (so nervous!)

Cessnate

Cessnate

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So last weekend i picked up a Mosin-nagant M91/30 I know 1 in more than 17,000,000 but hey. this one is MINE! the bore is great, all matching parts, and well, the finish is a little ruff:(

I decided i'm going to do my first restoration project. which i am very nervous about. i really don't want to destroy my gun.

as far as taking it apart was concerned. no problem!
now i have to strip the old shellac off......i have read that denatured alcohol is the best for this. with some steel wool? ------ is this right? will it spare the markings on the stock? those i really do not want to loose.

next I will have to re apply some new shellac? I have read that garnet flake is the best choice? and i also read a formula that sounded like i needed a degree to get right......which is the best. I understant this is an old topic. but i can't seem to find any GOOD information on refurbs!!!!.......i'll be sure to do before and afters shots.
 
To be historically accurate, the finish should be maintained by simply slapping on a new coat in ten seconds without disassembling the rifle.
 
actually I noticed that when I first got it...there was residue all over the metal parts and in every single nook that I had to scrap, pick and buff off the bloody thing. they sure were in a hurry to get those thing on the front lines.
 
Well, by the time it got to you it had been refinished post-war before being placed in storage. If you think about it, a little shellac on the metal isn't going to affect it's actual performance, so they didn't really care.
 
You are now in the realm of furniture refinishing. A recent edition of "Wood" magazine, featuring Norm Abrams on the cover had a story about shellac. As I recall, flake was better, and after mixing, the test was how little sludge the cut left in the bottom of the mixing container. Lee Valley sells shellac in dry form.
 
Check out "Lou the Pou" 's posts. Although he specializes in Lee-Enfields, he's a master at restoring milsurps.
 
Thanks for the praise stevebc :D although I still consider myself quite a newbie in firearms restoration. But each rifle teaches me new things, so... a little by little...

cessnate, recoating the wood on a Russian Mosin-Nagant is (in my opinion) good maintenance. Maple_leaf_eh is dead on (as usual a great resource he is), a while ago another CGN member sent me some shellac flakes (thanks again!), which produced a darker colored shellac compared to the "clear" stuff usually found in places like Home Hardware etc. I believe many Mosins got red shellac or orange, but seldom the clearest stuff?

I usually don't strip all the old shellac off. I clean it with methyl hydrate, which may remove a bit of old shellac but mostly prepares the surface to receive a new coat. Then I give one or two coats and the wood is ready quickly and nice looking. But more importantly it looks "right" (again, in my opinion...)

Lou
 
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remember that if you do use hardware store shellac, get the dulling agent so it doesn't look like glass after. Lee Valley is still the best provider of shellac.
 
Thanks alot lou. theres alot of talk about restoration out there. but none of it was helpfull for a newbie like myself. i read one thread that even got as far OFF topic as the origins of shellac being bug secritions! i was hoping for more of a step 1,2,3 guide.

P.S: how do i post photos, the box in the lower left corner it says "you may not post attachments"???
 
To post pics, you need to host them in a site like Photobucket, then copy and paste the link for your pics in your post here.

Feel free to ask any question about your project; for my first projects I must have spent as much time typing and reading as I did actually working on the rifle! :)

And I still bug many knowledgeable folks on a regular basis with questions.

Lou
 
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