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Refinishing a Pedersoli stock?

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Own several Pedersolis - one a pistol.
Love them all. Metal work and fit/finish are all great as is stock fit. Great guns but...
My only peeve is the weird Italian plastic varnish they use on the stock wood as it looks like...plastic varnish. Having rebuilt and refinished stocks on “modern” guns I know how nice oiled wood can be - and in this case historical per my reading. Kicking around using the pistol as a test.

Anyone ever take factory finish off and redo a Pedersoli stock? Were you happy with the results? Any horror stories or pitfalls?
 
yeah. got a Mortimer via USPS with tire tracks across the wooden crate. stock broken across the wrist,
repaired it and slipped and fell with it and broke the wrist 1 inch in front of the first break.
repaired it with steel rods full length of the wrist and then because the checkering of the wrist was so buggered up i sanded it off and scraped the entire stock with a piece of broken wine bottle, sanded and stained, finished with BLO. looks ok but pedersoli used sap wood for this particular stock. the wood was white. not satisfied with the stock as is so am carving another from curly maple plank.
 
I have done one, it was an Euroarms import, Kentucky style. The wood was quite light under the varnish. Betty liked it light so it remains so, but with a sealer and finger rubbed true oil. Looks good. Dale Edit: See picture below. Dale
 
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Oooo. Guess I thought I read “European walnut” was used on the stocks which kind of made me wonder why they would cover it up. Guess I’d better take a look at the lock cut out closer. Looked like okay wood just slightly rough and stained.
 
I'm getting ready to refinish a Pedersoli Brown Bess. I once did a Euroarms P1853 that had heavy polyurethane coating. I used Citristrip. It did a good job of not only taking off the polyurethane but also pulling out a lot of the stain. I then followed up with rags and acetone and this pulled out the remaining stain.
 
I have done one, it was an Euroarms import, Kentucky style. The wood was quite light under the varnish. Betty liked it light so it remains so, but with a sealer and finger rubbed true oil. Looks good. Dale
Thanks. Guess I’d better see what kind of wood I’m dealing with. FWIW mine are all Pedersoli Napoleonic repros.

EDIT: Pedersoli doesn’t say specifically for my guns but, when wood type is mentioned, its mainly walnut with some maple. American vendors say walnut for mine. So I think I’ll give it a go. Thanks all for the info.
 
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Just found a picture of my Pedersoli/Euroarms refinish [see above] so here 'tis. Dale
Dale's pedersoli kentucky (2).JPG
 
Own several Pedersolis - one a pistol.
Love them all. Metal work and fit/finish are all great as is stock fit. Great guns but...
My only peeve is the weird Italian plastic varnish they use on the stock wood as it looks like...plastic varnish. Having rebuilt and refinished stocks on “modern” guns I know how nice oiled wood can be - and in this case historical per my reading. Kicking around using the pistol as a test.

Anyone ever take factory finish off and redo a Pedersoli stock? Were you happy with the results? Any horror stories or pitfalls?
I've used the Orange spray- can remover, outside, hanging the stock up on a wire above lots of newspapers; spray, let sit, wipe down, repeat until all is off. You may have to wear goggles, don't want spray in eyes. Plastic gloves or such, too. Don't soak a stock it will cause swelling. Just wipe and repeat until all finish is off. I've done at least 4 like this. Can't recall name of the spray, they advertise it's usable indoors and smells "orangy". Of course you'll need to go into detail small corners with a tool to remove odds-n-ends. The green cleaning pads help, too. Then I've stained and finished to liking. Good luck, sure to be other guys chiming in!
 
I also find their stock finish to be pretty awful...like it was dipped in melted milk chocolate. I've entertained pulling the barrel, machine out the %$^&*! patent breech, salvage parts, maybe the lock and restock the whole thing. The curved comb nails my cheekbone no matter how I hold it. Otherwise, it's plenty accurate. Too many options, too little time!
 
Not sure why it posted the picture twice but I stripped the metal off it and had some stuff called “Strypeez” that really went to town very quickly on the polyurethane. You can see it “bubbling” up.
 
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Anyway beautiful wood and woodgrain underneath. Not done but looking like this little project will be good. Near the butt you can see a spot I missed somehow. It’s like a semi-clear plastic coating.
 

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i finished my Pedersoli antique oil finish by min-wax. I buffer between coats and ended up with a fine finish.
 
Based on my one experience with “real grits” it may even taste better!
:)
Come on now, you must be a Yankee ;). I probably have at least 50 lbs vacuum sealed in 1/2 gallon Mason jars in the event of a Biden collapse. Of course, I have a couple of cases of Luzianne Red Bag with Chicory to satisfy my coffee needs. I love the scene in the John Wayne movie "The Undefeated" where during the fight scene, Dub Taylor (Yankee) is hiding beneath the picnic table during the fight, and reaches above thinking he is going to grab a hand full of fried chicken, but it is a bowl of grits, "damn grits".
 
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