Staining a stock

[Fuzrat]

Just had a schnabel forend fitted to my miroku instead of the beavertail and it is an oiled grd3. My stock however is a varnished grd1 and I am wanting them to match.

I bought some Nitromors this morning and tested it on the adjustable comb (I have a facesaver on there at the moment so the wood bit is spare/scrap) varnish came off a treat I have put a couple of coats of CCL gunstock oil on one end as a test, its going darker but not really dark enough to match.

Question is, if I keep building up the oil little and often will it darken down enough? If not, any reccomendations on wood stain to use?

Other solution I suppose is strip the oil finish off the new forend too and refinish both I suppose I could get it painted like Ambers Guerini :lol: Actually, purple woodwork with gold Fuzrat signature sounds good........

 

[Robo]

I used Birchwood Casey Walnut Stain and Tru oil to do my Beretta Fuz ... you will need to strip back to bare wood and remove any dents in wood ect .

I found three coats of stain then work in Tru oil brings out a nice finnish ... but take your time with the Tru Oil

 

[Fuzrat]

Both bits Robo or do you rekon I'll get the stock to match?

 

[Robo]

I would do both Fuz to get a good match .... Birchwood Casey do the whole kit ( grades of sand paper, wire wool. stain and oil) well worth the money IMO easy to use ...but like I say take your time doing the job

 

[Fuzrat]

How did you get on with stripping the chequering? I think the nitromors will pull the laquer out with a stiffish nylon brush. Mind, to be fair the amount of hand dirt engrained in there its plenty dark as it is :.:

 

[Robo]

Yep..I use Niromors on the whole lot first ...then scrub out with a good stiff tooth brush .. you will be suprised of how much crap comes out of the cheqering !!

 

[Westward]

The poly finish will have to be 100% removed and on Mirokus this isn't easy. The Nitromors shifts it but it takes several goes. I'd recommend slathering it on then wrap the stock in baking foil and leave it somewhere cool for an hour. Scrape of the thick slime with strips of wood, brush out the chequering with a toothbrush then wash down by drenching in white spirit and scrubbing lightly with a medium hard brush. Repeat as necessary, usually about 3-4 times and leave to dry. Lift any dings with a wet cloth and hot iron then a final clean down with white spirit.

That's the easy bit done. The eventual finish quality will depend on how much trouble you take with preparation. The simplest way to prep the wood is by rubbing down with a green kitchen scourer until the wood develops a nice even sheen all over.

For colouring BC walnut stain works okay but I'd suggest thinning it 50% with water and continue to add further applications if needed to get the right degree of colour. For a reasonably presentable finish in a short time TruOil is the obvious choice. Thin it 50% and coat the whole stock including the chequering. When fully dry, mask off the chequering and continue adding coats as per maker instructions. Apply it in the smallest amounts you can possibly use and work it in to the wood. After use store the bottle of TruOil upside down to prevent deterioration.

If you want to do a really nice job with a traditional oil finish you will be without the gun for a few weeks. I can explain how to do it if you want.

 

[Fuzrat]

Thanks Westward. TBH as the stock is a grd1 it hasnt got much in the way of grain or figuring so a proper traditional oil finish would probably be wasted on it.

The Nitromors took the varnish on the spare comb off very well with a 20 min soak and a scrape with a plastic spatula. I would imagine a longer soak will be required for the chequering as scraping isnt an option. Top tip with the foil to stop it drying too quick, even after 20 mins it was starting to dry and go tacky.

Think I will have a go with the birchwood casey route, slow and steady seems to be the way forward with this, little steps and small amounts over a period of time

I suppose sanding/wire wool is the only way to take the oiled forend back to the bare wood or would Nitromores help pull the oil out on this too?

 

[Mike]

Here http://www.nagelhome.com/gunstock1/ and http://www.firearmsforum.com/firearms/article/3037 are two different ways to finish a stock.

Modern Nitromors is not as strong as the old version, I believe they are not allowed to put too much caustic in, you have to keep applying and keep it wet.

 

[Westward]

You can use Nitromors to clean off the oil or find some soft finish remover intended for furniture.

There are at least as many ways to finish a stock as there are shooting methods but don't touch it with sandpaper and I'm not a fan of steel wool either. I use wet or dry paper with stock oil to produce a sludge for filling the grain with a full works trad finish but you won't need to do that with Tru-Oil.

 

[Mike]

The only way to remove oil completley from wood is with heat and steaming is normally the best way. Turpentine will remove a fair amount of oil though.

 

[Fuzrat]

Actually bought some walnut stain from b&q today, put a couple of coats on my test piece so far and its getting nicely dark, another 1 or 2 coats and I think it will be an acceptable match.

Gonna give the wet n dry soaked in stock oil a bash on it when I get close to a good colour, quite like the sludge idea for filling the grain

 

[Westward]

If you go the sludge route, timing comes into it because the sludge has to dry off a bit but not too much before wiping off. Too soon and it won't stay in the pores, too late and you've got a mess. The good news is that (within reason) mistakes and foul ups can usually be rectified without spoiling the wood.

Later on if you get interested in gunstock finishing I have some good links somewhere (....Somewhere!.....) with loads of good info.

 

[Mike]

Westward, Do you not find that using wet and dry makes the wood after finishing with boiled linseed too smooth. I did the wood on my Blaser using worn out wet and dry, to acheive a really smooth finish.

It was like glass to the touch but it made the gun difficult to grip as the chequering was not deep enough to give a good grip. I know other guns have deeper chequering so it might not be a problem.

I found that using a hair dryer was good for speeding things up.

 

[Westward]

Okay well... To begin with I don't use boiled linseed and it didn't occur to me to point out that the chequering should be left alone and certainly not touched by any abrasives. Fuzzy is going to use Tru-Oil which is not actually "true" oil but a blend of oil and spar varnish with added agents to speed up drying time. Essential in a gun that has to remain available every weekend for shooting.

If time is not critical, I use pure linseed for the sludge stage and artists grade, part polymerized linseed for dressing the stock. I'm exceedingly fussy about wood stains and will only use dye based rather than pigment stain. The whole process takes the woodwork out of commission for 4-6 weeks.

I've only ever owned guns with standard stocks and without adjustable combs so it's been relatively easy to find a better grade stock on fleaBay or whatever and do it up at my leisure.

It's like gardening in that you never stop learning but the 1st lesson is that impatient people should find a different hobby......

 

[Mike]

I honestly think the best finish for a "competition" gun is varnish or something similair, as long as you don't scratch it it's so easy to look after.

 

[Fuzrat]

I honestly think the best finish for a "competition" gun is varnish or something similair, as long as you don't scratch it it's so easy to look after.

Totally agree Mike, would keep mine laquered but unfortunately the new forend is oiled and doesnt match

Going to have a play with my test piece and my old forend and see what kind of finish I can get then possibly leave doing the actual stock til the winter if its going to take a month to do properly

 

[Westward]

I honestly think the best finish for a "competition" gun is varnish or something similair, as long as you don't scratch it it's so easy to look after.

With respect, I completely disagree. Poly finishes do scratch fairly easily and the marks are all but impossible remove whereas with an oil finish a simple re-dressing can work wonders. Also the oil finish has a lovely silky feel to it which no synthetic finish can come close to. But oil has real advantages for extreme weather conditions. My poly finished Miroku was positively dangerous when wet; it was so slippery it might as well have been made of soap, yet in hot weather with sweaty hands it was hard to control. After stripping and refinishing I could happily use it in the rain & even hit some targets and in hot sunshine it didn't get greasy like poly.

All those best guns being turned out for 200 years have been supplied with oiled woodwork for a reason: It's better.

 

[philpot]

With respect, I completely disagree. Poly finishes do scratch fairly easily and the marks are all but impossible remove whereas with an oil finish a simple re-dressing can work wonders. Also the oil finish has a lovely silky feel to it which no synthetic finish can come close to. But oil has real advantages for extreme weather conditions. My poly finished Miroku was positively dangerous when wet; it was so slippery it might as well have been made of soap, yet in hot weather with sweaty hands it was hard to control. After stripping and refinishing I could happily use it in the rain & even hit some targets and in hot sunshine it didn't get greasy like poly.

All those best guns being turned out for 200 years have been supplied with oiled woodwork for a reason: It's better.

100% agree. I did a low grade gun some years ago and although the stock was not much to look at, the oil treatment made it look 10x better. One tip I was given was to apply the oil with a cloth then work it in with the palm of your hand which applied heat from your hand movement. This really did work but it was tiring but the finish was superb with a lovely sheen.

Phil