Old stubborn finish
- Thread starter igojuone
- Start date
I always strip with a cabinet scraper, except the checkering. For checkered areas I flood them with hot thinners ,
like Laquer Thinner or MEK and scrub with a fine brass parts brush. Keep the scraper sharp , and don't gouge with it. I can strip a stock in 15 to 20 min with a good cabinet scraper.
like Laquer Thinner or MEK and scrub with a fine brass parts brush. Keep the scraper sharp , and don't gouge with it. I can strip a stock in 15 to 20 min with a good cabinet scraper.
my mistake 1850, let it soak a while. Just don't let it dry out, keep brushing on more. Have lots of paper towels ready and wear good nitrile gloves or your skin will come off with the finish. The stuff in the metal can, the soft strip stuff is garbage. The bronze brushes work very good as well to help scrub it off.
Got to thank you STB for your suggestion and warning to wear the gloves. Got some heavy weight Grease Monkey nitrile gloves and I thought the stuff was burning through, my fingers and hands got so hot.
Thanks to you as well petew I'll try your suggestion out if this Circa 1850 doesn't do the job one day.
Thanks to you as well petew I'll try your suggestion out if this Circa 1850 doesn't do the job one day.
Willy Tincup
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Owen Sound
I find that an old skate blade works well as a scraper. Easy to hang onto and control, no goughing if its done right.
- Location
- West Quebec
That's a great tip, will give it a try I have an old rifle I'd like to try it on..
There's always wood bleach for areas where (ghasp) scraping or sanding isn't an option. It won't penetrate a finish but it could help bring the wood to a uniform (lighter) color. I've used fabric dyes to stain (with alcohol instead of water) and they get in there pretty deep.
I've used the Circa 1850 with success on many stocks, a few of which were very heavily coated with a gloss finish of some sort. I usually use a scraper, as mentioned by petew, lots of paper towels, and steel wool for really stubborn bits. I find it easier to work with the "gel" version of Circa, and after each bubbling, scraping, and wipe down, I rinse the stock with hot water in the laundry sink.
Dry wiping after the rinse shows any areas of remaining old finish that need further treatment. No need to worry about the wood absorbing moisture. Just leave it for a day or two before starting to apply the new finish.
No soft brass brushes handy? Old toothbrushes or new cheapies from the Dollar Store can be used for cleaning out checkering. I usually tape off the checkering when doing the final cleanup before the refinish.
Dry wiping after the rinse shows any areas of remaining old finish that need further treatment. No need to worry about the wood absorbing moisture. Just leave it for a day or two before starting to apply the new finish.
No soft brass brushes handy? Old toothbrushes or new cheapies from the Dollar Store can be used for cleaning out checkering. I usually tape off the checkering when doing the final cleanup before the refinish.
if you use a good enough (REALY NASTY) paint and varnish remover - should only need a putty knife to remove the varnish UNLESS there are multiple coats of varnish - then might need a couple of "go rounds" with the remover. As already stated WEAR HEAVY RUBBER GLOVES as the remover stuff is quite indiscriminent as to what it takes off - skin or varnish - it doesn't care which.
Flush the scraped stock with lotsa water and let dry.
Flush the scraped stock with lotsa water and let dry.
The gel version of Circa 1850/60 or Polystripper and I take it off with course steel wool. If the finish is stubborn load the gel stripper to it then wrap the whole stock in plastic food wrap at leave it for several hours. Those high gloss finishes that Remington and Browning used/use are epoxy based and can be a b!tch to remove. The stripper at best at times will only soften the finish and has to be scraped off as mentioned with a cabinet scraper, piece of glass etc. I rarely do a stock refinish without recutting the checkering as that is the ultimate in getting the crude out of the checkering and sharpening up the points.
There was a fella on CGN a while back who in a post mentioned a lovely chemical that would eat that epoxy finish off very easily, of course I can not remember what it was. Sounded like nasty stuff but it supposedly worked well.
There was a fella on CGN a while back who in a post mentioned a lovely chemical that would eat that epoxy finish off very easily, of course I can not remember what it was. Sounded like nasty stuff but it supposedly worked well.
