Shellac Cracked and Falling off My Guns

Pcmx

Pcmx

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:mad: so I had all rifle out today and noticed my unissued Sks looks messed up. The shellac is full of hairline cracks and turns to dust when touched. I turn to the Mosin, same thing. I know some people refinish their stocks, but I'm the kind of person who takes extra care when taking the bands off the Mosin to preserve such things the way I got it. I've been using only a silicon cloth to the the stocks of both, one without issue for 6 months, the other for under one.

It is freaking cold here, my furnace is running non stop and humidity is below 30%. I can't get it very well in a phone pic but I did try and can post tomorrow. Any advise to stop this spreading? I think the silicone cloth is no good. I haven't even shot these two yet, the only ones I haven't. I was keeping the Sks the best I could unused. No safe queens for me now, I think. My other corrosive fed rain, sand and snow Sks is beautiful!
 
I coated the stocks of my collection with linseed oil after I sweated the cosmoline out of them. You could lightly touch them with denatured alcohol to blend. Try it in a section that can't be seen inside the stock first to see if it will work then just lightly go over the stock surface. It will soften the shellac and blend it. Be careful and take your time. Don't rush. Then when air dried coat with warm not hot linseed oil. Do a couple of coats and let dry in between. The best I can suggest.
 
Thank you for the suggestions. I really appreciate the help. I can live with what's done, even as particular as I am with supposed care. Wondering if just some applications of BLO would help..

I'd be curious to find out what's causing this, with the only change in the past week being the weather outside. I notice it is mostly on the thinner parts like the handguards and not so much the buttstocks. They were fine 7 days ago. I have a new furnace and my house is very dry.

Posted is the pic below. The cracks are raised and flake into a dust when touched. Hopefully you can see. The finish used to be smooth as glass..

Phantom Bubba is trying to strip my stocks!!

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That can happen with drastic changes in ambient humidity. Try a thin coat of fresh shellac over it & if that doesn't stabilize the finish, take it off with alcohol & re-shellac the stock using garnet shellac. No biggie, that lac will not survive the test of time if its that brittle anyway.
 
I bought some parts awhile back, the CGNer that sold them to me sent them in a gun sock. Never seen them before. Anyways since them I've keep me "good guns" in them. I lightly oil the socks, themselves and put the gun in and tie the end closed. Where I store my guns, hot,cold temperature changes with the moisture around 30% and as hight as 50% . Ya they come out a little oily but no rust and the finish has stayed intact. I think, what it does is create, it's own little environment. Is works for me, maybe it will work for you.
 
quinnbrian said:
I bought some parts awhile back, the CGNer that sold them to me sent them in a gun sock. Never seen them before. Anyways since them I've keep me "good guns" in them. I lightly oil the socks, themselves and put the gun in and tie the end closed. Where I store my guns, hot,cold temperature changes with the moisture around 30% and as hight as 50% . Ya they come out a little oily but no rust and the finish has stayed intact. I think, what it does is create, it's own little environment. Is works for me, maybe it will work for you.
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all of my rifles wear the socks....they also prevent those nasty little "safe kisses".
 
For cracking you could try a technique called fogging. Get some denatured alcohol and put it in a spray bottle. Lightly mist the shellac all over. DON'T TOUCH IT. It will start to dissolve into the alcohol and fill in the cracks. If You try this, and it doesn't work, you can try LIGHTLY wet sanding with 320 or 400 grit when the shellac is wet with the alcohol.
 
I only have one sock, not even a pair haha! This gives me things to consider now since preservation is of interest. Too bad it's a bit late and this happened so quickly but at least my suspicions are more verified.

I have some Ballistol sitting at the post office ready to be picked up. Should I risk putting some on? Would it clean silicone off? I've never used it before. I'm not all too sure just how fragile the already fragile to begin with finish is now but I don't really wish to do any refinishing if it could be avoided. It is no reall biggie, but I would like to do something sooner than later to prevent any more..
 
With all shellaced rifles I've been taking outdoors I had issued with shellac, so I ended up removing it completely and used various oils to protect the stocks. There's no value in post-war shellac.
 
Ballistol wont hurt or help the shellac but linseed may help hold it together a touch. Shellac that is applied to a clean stock & is of good quality is actually pretty tough. I have dropped rifles on concrete & not had it come off.
 
Sweet. Both are postwar stocks. I'll likely try lindeseed. I also like the idea of the denatured alcohol mist but I definitely like the shellac on my Russian laminate better. It's tough!
 
"...shellac is full of..." It's like that. Used by the Russians because it's cheap(female bug resin) and they didn't care if the stock lasted or not. The cracks are easily fixed, as per ljones. And you can put on another coat if you want. Home Depot or any hardware store will have shellac. Isn't horribly expensive either.
 
I was going to go to can tire after the post office but after waiting over 20 mins in line to be told my parcel will be stuck there for 15 days then back to sender, as I feared, different story, I just went home.

I'm not partial to shellac as it seems brittle if you look at it a certain way or even if you're not apparently. I'm figuring the garnet is tougher.

At home though, I already have Miniwax tung oil protective finish.. Wipe on, then 5-10 min buff off.. Contains mineral spirits, linseed alkyd resin, and tung oil resin. Says also, should not be used over surfaces already coated with a protective finish as prevents adequate penetration of the wood. Everything else looks like fair game. have no other use for this full sealed container purchased earlier this year. Would this be of use? Sorry, it's been since jr. high that I worked with wood finishes (I think tung as well).

But basically if BLO or polyurethane is the type of protectant that I can wipe on any stock whenever I feel the stock could use it, then that's the kind I'd like and I would rather go buy the right thing.

Thanks everyone for your help!
 
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Pcmx said:
I was going to go to can tire after the post office but after waiting over 20 mins in line to be told my parcel will be stuck there for 15 days then back to sender, as I feared, different story, I just went home.

I'm not partial to shellac as it seems brittle if you look at it a certain way or even if you're not apparently. I'm figuring the garnet is tougher.

At home though, I already have Miniwax tung oil protective finish.. Wipe on, then 5-10 min buff off.. Contains mineral spirits, linseed alkyd resin, and tung oil resin. Says also, should not be used over surfaces already coated with a protective finish as prevents adequate penetration of the wood. Everything else looks like fair game. have no other use for this full sealed container purchased earlier this year. Would this be of use? Sorry, it's been since jr. high that I worked with wood finishes (I think tung as well).

But basically if BLO or polyurethane is the type of protectant that I can wipe on any stock whenever I feel the stock could use it, then that's the kind I'd like and I would rather go buy the right thing.

Thanks everyone for your help!
Click to expand...

Yes but if you remove or change the shellac then it is no longer original and you lose value on an unissued SKS. Try at least to reblend the original shellac and then coat with linseed and see how it does...
 
ljones said:
Yes but if you remove or change the shellac then it is no longer original and you lose value on an unissued SKS. Try at least to reblend the original shellac and then coat with linseed and see how it does...
Click to expand...

Awesome, thank you so much! Thank goodness the two combined come in just around $400 purchase. Still, I like them best if unaltered much. Will try :)
 
I was having a good day. I got my stranded mail and even managed to pick up the last bottle of linseed oil. I made an attempt, first did a test spot with the alcohol, then a mist:

The SKS hand guard was turning out:

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After alcohol mist:

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Then the Mosin:

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And..

Uh oh.

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But I'm not worried about it. Many of the cracks have bonded. Shellac is holding on; actually, I sort of held back when I seen this happen, but I should have kept applying. More later...
 
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Shellac Adhered and Staying on My Guns

They turned out well, managed to get a coat of BLO on last night. Wiped down and took some more pics:

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So they are ok. I'll be keeping an eye on them. I could have used better tecnique knowing what I know now, but if you're not looking for anything out of sort, you won't notice, and the shellac is adhering, that's the main thing!

I promptly learned some new things here and I hope all the above comes in handy to anyone concerned as I was. Thanks again for all your help!
 
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