Restoring a K98k RC

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transitsc

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I am planning on restoring a 1940 CE K98k RC with a laminated stock. I need some advice. I tried using the search as I read a past thread but couldn't find it. First off, what to use to strip the Russian finish from the stock? Second, once stripped, what should it look like, I have a Norwegian K98k and it's blonde, but every picture I can find looks like the stocks should be darker. Should it be a blonde wood or was there a dark finish. Third what to use on the stock to finish it, BLO?

Any help appreciated.

BTW I know some of you shudder at this but I have three RC's, I'm keeping the other two as is.
 
I belive the Russian finish you are referring to is Cosmolene, which needs heat to be melted away. There are lots of threads about cosmolene removal.

Laminated stocks had a varnish type finish. On most RC's the buttstock is dished and shows the lighter color of the stock with new serial number.
 
skirsons said:
I belive the Russian finish you are referring to is Cosmolene, which needs heat to be melted away. There are lots of threads about cosmolene removal.

Laminated stocks had a varnish type finish. On most RC's the buttstock is dished and shows the lighter color of the stock with new serial number.
Click to expand...

No it's not cosmoline, very familiar with that, it's more like a very dark shellack to preserve the wood.
 
The present wood finish on RCs would appear to be the usual shellac- like varnish used universally on many Russian military arms.

Any good finish stripper should easily take it off.
 
As is, it is a representative speciment of a rifle captured on the Eastern front, and refurbished by the Soviets for reissue somewhere. Strip it and "restore" it, and you have a refinished mismatched K98K.
 
The shellac on the RC's was, I believe, applied as a preservative more than a finish. All the VietNam RC return I see in the US have all the shellac either worn off, or never applied in the first place. I don't consider it a travesty to remove the shellac, but your mileage may vary.

Some original stocks were stained, others were left blonde. It depends on the maker and timeframe. Even then, subcontractors for wood might have introduced variation.

Some Norwegian stocks are dark too, but blonde stocks seem more prevalent because some Norwegian stocks were sanded at refurb and this removed any stain that was present.

RC's are hot-dipped blued with little or no metal preparation beyond degreasing. This gives a mottled and unattractive blued finish nowhere near as nice as original finish, but ot's part of the rifle's history.

FWIW, I wouldn't consider "restoring" an RC K98k unless it was a virtually impossible piece to ever find in non-RC configuration like an swp45, dou45, LuftAmpt contract rifle, or xwjXE K98k.
 
PS: You remove the shellac with methylated spirits on a coarse rag with lots of elbow grease. Appropriate finish afterward would be something like Howard's Feed N Wax, possibly with a coat of hand-rubbed linseed oil underneath if the wood is really dry.
 
I agree... You are not really restoring it when you remove the Russian work. The capture was part of its history.

Leave it as is.

tiriaq said:
As is, it is a representative speciment of a rifle captured on the Eastern front, and refurbished by the Soviets for reissue somewhere. Strip it and "restore" it, and you have a refinished mismatched K98K.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks guys based on what I read I won't "restore" the stock, since I have three I wanted to try to bring the stock back to life on this one, stock is very dry. Restore may actually be the wrong word to use, recondition may be more appropriate. Now considering its historic value as a RC, to recondition the exhisting stock and clean it up can I use Ballistol on the stock to clean it up and get some oils back in.
 
I wouldn't worry about hurting the rifle by removing the shellac. A lot of people are uptight about "refinishing" milsurps, and usually I would be too, but an RC K98 is more or less already an abomination. You're not preserving any collector value by leaving that shellac on.... and if someone says you are offer to sell them your rifle to save it from refinishing and see what they say.

You might as well return it to as beautiful a specimen as it might have been if history were reritten.

I was going to strip and wax my RC stock, but it was already so god damned ugly, that I just put it in an original stock from the same date and factory as the rifle's action came from.

My BSW 1937, I prescribe to Claven2's way of thinking and chose only more sought-after RC to consider buying and beautifying. The stock set, bands and buttplate all match one another:

BSWright-1.jpg


BSWleft.jpg


Tell me this old girl looks better in a shellac covered mess with a giant beltsander gouge on the butt.
 
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Skippy said:
I wouldn't worry about hurting the rifle by removing the shellac. A lot of people are uptight about "refinishing" milsurps, and usually I would be too, but an RC K98 is more or less already an abomination. You're not preserving any collector value by leaving that shellac on.... and if someone says you are offer to sell them your rifle to save it from refinishing and see what they say.

You might as well return it to as beautiful a specimen as it might have been if history were reritten.

I was going to strip and wax my RC stock, but it was already so god damned ugly, that I just put it in an original stock from the same date and factory as the rifle's action came from.

My BSW 1937, I prescribe to Claven2's way of thinking and chose only more sought-after RC to consider buying and beautifying. The stock set, bands and buttplate all match one another:

BSWright-1.jpg


BSWleft.jpg


Tell me this old girl looks better in a shellac covered mess with a giant beltsander gouge on the butt.
Click to expand...

There seems to be an unspoken contempt for Russians in our culture, sort of a degredation of all that originates in the East. Certainly not something new, but comments like this are all too common.
 
I have nothing against Russians, you're reaching pretty far if you're getting that out of my first post. I just think the K98k's trhat came out of Russia after going through their refurb process are the lowest common denomenator as far as German rifles go.
 
For what it's worth, I've got three of them. Figured the worst of the three I would freshen up. It would be great to have an all matching example, but lets just say they are way out of the range I'm willing to pay. The RC's let me grab a piece of history that's affordable. Not all of them are pieces of junk. Yes they are a mix of pieces from other rfiles, but that in itself lends to the versatility of the design. Mix and match and still safe to shoot. All three of mine have strong rifling and are in great shape all things considered. So thanks Claven2 for the method on how to strip the stock. I'll post some pics of the progress. The other two, a 1937 147 and 1939 660 will remain untouched. Skippy, I like that stock as well, looks sharp.
 
Hey Skippy - Should a 1937 BSW not have a walnut stock? ;) Granted, BSW walnut stocks are, shall we say, rare? LOL.

Regarding stripping off the shellac, I've found old denim works well. You'll use darn near a whole bottle of methylated spirits to remove the shellac.

Acetone will also work, but RESIST THE TEMPTATION! Acetone will inherently damage a laminated stock by weakening the glue and wood fibres.

I find that using a sharp piece of plastic can help to use as a scraper once you get the shellac good and soggy with the meth spirits. Once done, you may wish to buff with fine steel wool to get the last few flakes.

Whatever is left is what the stock looks like when it was captured, except the top layer of wood will have some oil leeched out of it from the alcohol in the methylated spirits. If it's blonde, then the original was blonde. If it's brown then it was a stained stock. It's crap shoot as to what's under the gunk ;)

By the way... I wonder how many ppl who say altering an RC is bad, but in the next breath will advise someone to replace the forestock on an "Ishapore Screwed" No.4 Enfield? To me it's the same thing...

FWIW - I've had maybe 5 or 6 RC's now and I've only kept one that I "restored" using all original parts. Why? It was an exceptionally nice SWP45 barelled action and I'll NEVER locate a vet trophy of this code since they virtually don't exist. Almost all known examples are RC's! The bonus is that you can do a nice restoration if you can locate the stock because most parts were not serialized on the late war guns to begin with ;)
 
Standard Disclaimer - it's your property and you can do whatever you want with it. I don't care if you drill and tap, sand the stock, bend the bolt handle or whatever you want to do to improve it. It's yours and your business.

When I have something that's damaged or missing pieces, I will either "restore" it, or relegate it to the parts bin to restore other guns. I recognize that it will never be more than a working parts gun, as anything not done by a recognized arsenal (a debatable term) is either a bubba, or a restoration - it's not an original gun. Yes, my Ishies stay that way - I never understand the horror some people express over a damn screw.

I have a RC and it's staying as it was when it left Russia. It's nothing special (BYF 43), but it very nice as RC's go. Once I strip the stock, and add the missing pieces (e.g. a cleaning rod), all I'll have is a former RC that's been modified. An RC is a piece of history - a "restored" RC, loses that.
 
Actually, it's debatable if RC's should be missing the cleaning rod and lock screws.

About 20% of the RC's I see direct from the importers have the lock screws with shellac over them, so clearly not added since the refurb. True, many are missing cleaning rods, but not ALL of them are. Batches have gotten to the states with cleaning rods still in them, though many dealers will strip them out since customers aren't expecting it to come with one. They bring big bucks on e-bay, if original ;)
 
With my RC, I put bought a sight hood, locking screws and took the shellac off the stock. I made a thread about it...I am a bit surprised you didnt find it. In any case, Ill see if I can find it right now...
 
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