Refinishing M-14 Stock

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danvan

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Hey all,

Be nice, I'm a noob (first post).

I've got an '02 norc M-305 with the mystery wood stock.

I'm wondering if there is anything I can do to improve the furniture without dropping mucho $$$. Maybe stripping and refinishing to improve looks.

Has anyone tried this? I guess I don't have much to lose. I can't make it look much worse than it does already. Sooner or later, I will buy new furniture.

I love what some of you guys can do with the M-14. But I guess with money you can do anything!

Thanks

Dan Van Gilst
 
Hi. Even low end wood can be made better looking with stain and a tung oil finish. Use the same techniques and products used on fine furniture.
Plan 'B' would be paint. Spray paint will be better than using a brush.
 
There have been some real nice one's posted on here of refinished chinese wood. Some of them used solvents, some actually used the dishwasher to clean the wood of its present oils. I think I'd try varsol and fine steel wool, restain it if the finish color isn't to my liking, and finish it with Birchwood Casey Tru-oil.
 
There used to be a thread on people who have refinished the Chu Wood stock. You can try searching.

As mentioned, some have put the stock in the dishwasher, others used various detergents and strippers. Then comes any tung oil or BLO treatment in layers with wet sanding.

Mine came out nice, I don't know if it is any harder from the treatment. It's a decoration for me.
 
Dishwasher it and let it completely dry.

Then put about 10 very thin coats of truck bed liner on it.

It takes awhile to fully cure (maybe a month) but it will be hard like a fiberglass stock.
 
OC-3 said:
Dishwasher it and let it completely dry.

Then put about 10 very thin coats of truck bed liner on it.

It takes awhile to fully cure (maybe a month) but it will be hard like a fiberglass stock.
Click to expand...

My friend did this, one cyle thru sanitizing setting with some Sunlight dishwasher detergent. Don't forget to run a couple mpty cycles with detergent to cleanse your dishwasher.
I soaked one in a painter's trough full of acetone. It disolved all the oils off the stock. Then I sanded it to open the grain and bathed it a second time in fresh acetone, complletely submerged. Next day, wiped her down and let her sit. This was done outside in summer so temps in high 20's easily evaporated the acetone and dried the stock.
Once satisfied I had a nice oil free hunk o wood, I bought a can of EZ Liner adhesion promoter and 2 spray cans of EZ Liner
Sprayed evenly with can held about 8 inches away, will produce a nice, non globby, fine textured, Durable finish.
6 even light coats will do it but I like about 8 thin even coats.
Paintable with krylon camo paints as well

All solutions, coatings and paint can be found at Can Tire, total invstment about 6/8 hours hands on and about 50.00 ;)
And as above, let it cure for a good week.
 
Thanks for all the advice, guys.

I think the dishwasher has been put off limits by my wife, however. Hmmm, the one at work might come in handy during my next night shift.

DanVan
 
Nix the dishwasher. Water, steam and heat break down wood fibers. Moisture will expand the wood,then it dries and compresses. Best approach is a non-caustic stripping agent. I use multiple treatments of Minwax antique refinisher and laquer thinner. When stock dries, do a lite sanding,followed by oil or alcohol based stain (alcohol penetrates old,imbedded stock oil best). After staining use multiple coats of tung oil or Minwax Tung Oil Finish which contains a drying agent. Do not let tung oil accumulate on the surface of the wood. You want it in ,not on, the wood. Apply, rub in,then wipe off and let dry between coats. This will yield a military style finish. I've done this on many military stocks and it looks good.
 
Lots on here if you search, I refinished mine mostly thorugh other people's info. I suggest chemically stripping it more than once, and if you sand any parts, be careful not to take too much off. Mine ended up looking decent with some stain, and then a couple of coats of tung oil. I polished it up with "trewax" which is easily fixed if it gets dings or damage to it- though more patience and more coats of tung oil could be a better option.
 
purple said:
Nix the dishwasher. Water, steam and heat break down wood fibers. Moisture will expand the wood,then it dries and compresses. Best approach is a non-caustic stripping agent. I use multiple treatments of Minwax antique refinisher and laquer thinner. When stock dries, do a lite sanding,followed by oil or alcohol based stain (alcohol penetrates old,imbedded stock oil best). After staining use multiple coats of tung oil or Minwax Tung Oil Finish which contains a drying agent. Do not let tung oil accumulate on the surface of the wood. You want it in ,not on, the wood. Apply, rub in,then wipe off and let dry between coats. This will yield a military style finish. I've done this on many military stocks and it looks good.
Click to expand...

As mentioned, hand rub the oil into the stock. Your hand and the rubbing friction will aid in working the oil into the wood.

You should also start with tung oil or BLO which has been cut with mineral oil. Basically you can start with light coats of rubbed mix and graduating to just say tung oil.

This aides in getting the oil deep into the wood. It is also easier to work with if you are wet sanding between coats to fill in the pores with the sludge.
 
I would just sand it, then use a gloss finish.

I bought a USGI walnut stock and refinished that.

Here's how it ended up:

IMG_0067.JPG
 
Hey all,

I thought I'd show some pictures of the progress.

Here's a shot from a few years ago with the Norinco SKS
Guns007.jpg


I made a break for the dishwashe, butr was forbidden by my wife:( I went to work with circa 1850 furniture stripper, brake cleaner, and TSP.:eek:

The stripper only managed to take off some surface stuff, plus eat up some el-cheapo paintbrushes. The brake cleaner worked a bit, but only to degrease it.
The TSP worked wonders, with the oil running out with every wipe. With some final sanding, it looked like this
DSCF5220.jpg

DSCF5221.jpg


I didn't think that looked too badly. I put a coat of light stain on it. Minwax golden oak. After that I went to town with the Tung Oil Finish. I thinned it up 1:1 with thinner and put 3 coats on. #0000 steel wool before each coat, 24 hrs between.
Here's where I am now:
DSCF5241.jpg

DSCF5242.jpg


Dan VG.
 
That doesn't look bad at all! I was also thinking of doing this with my '07. I'll try my luck with the TSP when the time comes. Has anyone tried to checker their mystery wood? I'll post a thread if I give in to it.
 
Wow-I just got done refinishing my '07 Norinco, wish I would have known about the TSP! I used Acetone, ultra fine steel wool, and a lot of sanding to get that ugly assed Ho Chi Min stain out. Even so, mine didn't turn out quite as clean as yours....I finished her with hand rubbed coats of BLO and Truoil, it looks almost like USGI walnut now. (site won't give me permission to post pics...:()
 
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