Parallax
02-13-2010, 05:57 PM
I know it's not an airgun, but I figure it's all the same as far as stock refinishing goes. In the past year, I re-acquired my old .22 rimfire that I bought when I was 12 years old with LOTS of neighborhood yardmowing money. This was the first firearm I ever owned and served me well all throughout my teens on various hunts and long range plinking sessions. My first 2 guns ever were a Daisy Redrider at the age of 8 and then a Daisy Powerline 880 at 10, so I guess technically, this .22 rimfire was my 3rd actual gun, hehe.
I really put that old rimfire through its paces throughout my teenage years, so as you could imagine, the stock was pretty dinged up. It had been at my parents home since I left home for the Army at 18 years of age and stayed there after I finished my tour because I immediately went on to college and spent 10 years over 4 degrees and had no time nor place to shoot a rifle, so I basically did without shooting for a long time. Even after I finished all my school and training, I spent the next 3-4 years getting established in business, etc.. and it wasn't until 2 years ago, I bought my farm out in the country and could finally get back into shooting and hence, collecting airguns!
When I picked up my old rimmie at my folks place, it was scarred up even worse than I had left it at 18 years of age. The metal all covered in rust inside and out, the stock dinged and scratched up even more over the years as my parents moved themselves and my brother and others would pick the rifle up and take it out on a hunt or shooting session. The exciting part in addition to getting it back, was the fact that I had never done a refinishing job on a rifle and was dying to do so in order to gain the skills necessary to be able to do it on any future rifles, so I was hesitant and nervous to get started, but excited to jump in and go after it at the same time! Here's what it looked like when I finally got it back in my hands recently:
http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp198/drscottdupont/PB070002.jpg
http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp198/drscottdupont/PB070008.jpg
As you can probably make out from the pictures, the stock is walnut, but the company (Armscorp), just painted on some paint/stain that gave it a cheap look and added a ton of lacquer type finish that also looked cheap and was easy to scratch and ding. I took everything apart completely, began soaking and scrubbing the action and barrel in denatured alcohol to remove any dirt, corrosion and gunk, then cleaned it all with Flitz and papertowels which worked wonders to remove rust, then bathed it for a while in Ballistol, which helped to deep lubricate everything really well, remove the rest of the rust and give it a nice shine. Later, I went back and re-cleaned everything with denatured alcohol again to remove the oil and once it dried, I used Birchwood Casey's Perma Blue gun blue to touch up any worn or scratched off bluing. It turned out pretty good actually!
Then on to the stock. I started sanding it by hand with 180 grit to remove the bulk of the finish and painted on stain, just being very careful around edges and taking my time around the checkering. Then I just moved on to 250 grit and eventually on up to 300. After removing all the old finish and most of the surface scratches, I used the old iron and a damp cloth to iron out the dents. It worked like a charm. It was really neat to see the stock now stripped of all the cheap finish and all scratches, dings, dents and other damages completely gone and what shocked me was how beautiful the wood grain on this piece of walnut actually as underneath all that paint, lol.
I decided to go ahead and stick with Birchwood Casey products for the stock finish as well just to get an overall idea on how well the brand would do from start to finish on an overall rifle refinish job and I was pleasantly surprised how well it all came out. For the stock, I simply used Birchwood Casey's True Oil. I cleaned the stock really, just wiping it down good with a damp cloth and allowing it to dry before hand-rubbing the first coat of True Oil in. It was a very nice and pleasant experience, just hand rubbing the oil into the wood and once the first coat was on nice and even, I set the rifle up to dry overnight. The next day, I rubbed it down all over with 0000 steel wool to smoothen the finish out a little bit, then applied the second coat and let it sit overnight once again. I basically just repeated this process over 5 coats and stopped at that because I didn't want an ultra glossy finish. I just wanted enough finish to protect the wood and really make the grain 'pop' out at you.
A fina rub down with 0000 steel wool and 'Viola', all finished! It was a really wonderful experience and I believe I learned a lot that I can take over onto future projects. Here's the final result:
http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp198/drscottdupont/P1150007.jpg
http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp198/drscottdupont/P1310010.jpg
Shortly after this project, I got to work on my Dad's old Marlin 30-30!
I really put that old rimfire through its paces throughout my teenage years, so as you could imagine, the stock was pretty dinged up. It had been at my parents home since I left home for the Army at 18 years of age and stayed there after I finished my tour because I immediately went on to college and spent 10 years over 4 degrees and had no time nor place to shoot a rifle, so I basically did without shooting for a long time. Even after I finished all my school and training, I spent the next 3-4 years getting established in business, etc.. and it wasn't until 2 years ago, I bought my farm out in the country and could finally get back into shooting and hence, collecting airguns!
When I picked up my old rimmie at my folks place, it was scarred up even worse than I had left it at 18 years of age. The metal all covered in rust inside and out, the stock dinged and scratched up even more over the years as my parents moved themselves and my brother and others would pick the rifle up and take it out on a hunt or shooting session. The exciting part in addition to getting it back, was the fact that I had never done a refinishing job on a rifle and was dying to do so in order to gain the skills necessary to be able to do it on any future rifles, so I was hesitant and nervous to get started, but excited to jump in and go after it at the same time! Here's what it looked like when I finally got it back in my hands recently:
http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp198/drscottdupont/PB070002.jpg
http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp198/drscottdupont/PB070008.jpg
As you can probably make out from the pictures, the stock is walnut, but the company (Armscorp), just painted on some paint/stain that gave it a cheap look and added a ton of lacquer type finish that also looked cheap and was easy to scratch and ding. I took everything apart completely, began soaking and scrubbing the action and barrel in denatured alcohol to remove any dirt, corrosion and gunk, then cleaned it all with Flitz and papertowels which worked wonders to remove rust, then bathed it for a while in Ballistol, which helped to deep lubricate everything really well, remove the rest of the rust and give it a nice shine. Later, I went back and re-cleaned everything with denatured alcohol again to remove the oil and once it dried, I used Birchwood Casey's Perma Blue gun blue to touch up any worn or scratched off bluing. It turned out pretty good actually!
Then on to the stock. I started sanding it by hand with 180 grit to remove the bulk of the finish and painted on stain, just being very careful around edges and taking my time around the checkering. Then I just moved on to 250 grit and eventually on up to 300. After removing all the old finish and most of the surface scratches, I used the old iron and a damp cloth to iron out the dents. It worked like a charm. It was really neat to see the stock now stripped of all the cheap finish and all scratches, dings, dents and other damages completely gone and what shocked me was how beautiful the wood grain on this piece of walnut actually as underneath all that paint, lol.
I decided to go ahead and stick with Birchwood Casey products for the stock finish as well just to get an overall idea on how well the brand would do from start to finish on an overall rifle refinish job and I was pleasantly surprised how well it all came out. For the stock, I simply used Birchwood Casey's True Oil. I cleaned the stock really, just wiping it down good with a damp cloth and allowing it to dry before hand-rubbing the first coat of True Oil in. It was a very nice and pleasant experience, just hand rubbing the oil into the wood and once the first coat was on nice and even, I set the rifle up to dry overnight. The next day, I rubbed it down all over with 0000 steel wool to smoothen the finish out a little bit, then applied the second coat and let it sit overnight once again. I basically just repeated this process over 5 coats and stopped at that because I didn't want an ultra glossy finish. I just wanted enough finish to protect the wood and really make the grain 'pop' out at you.
A fina rub down with 0000 steel wool and 'Viola', all finished! It was a really wonderful experience and I believe I learned a lot that I can take over onto future projects. Here's the final result:
http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp198/drscottdupont/P1150007.jpg
http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp198/drscottdupont/P1310010.jpg
Shortly after this project, I got to work on my Dad's old Marlin 30-30!