Sks refinishing question...

rethius

rethius

CGN Regular
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Location
Calgary
Hey guys... I have an all matching sks with an ugly stock. It looks very dark, with some red color deep under the laquer... also, the laquer itself is nasty, flaking off in some areas.

Is there a way to clean off all the laquer and try and get out the natural red colors?


I don’t want to restain, but really just want to bring out the natural colors.
 
maybe dont strip it fully? Im not to positive to be honest.

Might have to end up re staining but maybe a light sand and re finish the lacquer.
 
ive used oven cleaner in the past to get rid of caked on cosmo. it leaves the wood pretty bare so putting a few coats of linseed oil will help it from splitting
 
If you use paint remover you could also lose some of the stain. I would suggest sand lightly to remove old lacquer and then cover with shellac lacquer (amber). I cut and bent a clothes hanger to hang the stock while applying, and used a air brush to apply.
 
There is a lot of controversy out there as to whether or not the SKS and Mosin rifles we see with Shellac is the finish they went into the field with. I saw several of each in Africa and I can attest to NEVER seeing one with a Shellac finish. That finish certainly doesn't stand up well to much use, especially field use.

It's quite possible they were issued with the Shellac finish and they let it wear off then applied oil.

I've read different tomes suggesting both and another that the finish was stripped before issue. I'm sure there are some CGNers that could at least tell us how their nation dealt with this.

I've seen two Korean War bring backs and both had oiled stocks. I've seen a collection of Mosins in the US from both Korea and Viet Nam and none of them had Shellac finishes. None of the Finn rifles I've seen have Shellac. There were several M91/30 rifles on display in Austria when I was there in 76. None of them had Shellac finishes either.

OP, it depends on which theory you choose to follow. The Shellac is fairly easy to refinish with commonly available tools and Shellacs from the local paint shop. Several good treatises on CGN explained how to repair the Shellac finishes.

I have a Hungarian M91/30 sniper rifle that really looks like its been there and done that. No finish on the visible metal or stock. It has a pristine bore though and shoots better than I can hold it.
 
Just don't sand the stock with more than fine steel wool and light at that. I removed the shellac from several of my milsurps as it looked terrible and I did not think original. This was mostly necessary to also remove absorbed cosmoline so I would need to do less laundry after shooting in the summer. I used non-bleach tilex and crud cutter along with the garden hose... then some "natural" remover to lift the shellac and brushes it off with a stiff horse brush.... then neutralized with the garden hose. The stock is then dried and can then be stained to whatever colour you like. At this point I have never stained the stocks. Only treated them with true-oil for several coats drying and buffing with fine steel wool btw coats. This way all stock markings are preserved and with several coats even a rough stock looks ###y. It's easy enough to remove with the same process to do something else as well. Just don't send your old milsurp stock smooth. Buy a new gun if you want a new gun.
 
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You could use rubbing alchohal and wipe of the shellac and put 4-5 fresh coats on. If ur wood is clean this should work. Its its cosmo soaked it may not be enough to cut through.
 
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