Help Me Refinish My TC Hawken Stock

[Splitear]

I am going to embark on stripping and refinishing the stock on my TC Hawken. I really don’t like how orange it is, and would prefer it to be darker, and lower gloss. It’s got “character” (dings and dents) and I want to keep those.
Can anyone recommend products and processes for stripping and refinishing to achieve what I’m looking for.

 

[TDM]

Take all the metal off to a bare stock. Then get some Stripeaze or the Citrus stripper and apply as directed. Wash the stock with a damp cloth and let it throughly dry. Lightly sand with 400 grit and fine steel wool or scotchbrite. If you want it dark buy some DGW antique stain and apply. Then 3 or 4 coats of your favorite oil varnish.

 

[Phil Coffins]

This would be a good opportunity for some reshaping as well. There’s a couple of threads on this.

 

[WolfPack]

I just did this to a renegade. Willfish4fud led me to a series of YouTube videos by Cyclops Joe Rhea on stock refinishing. I used his method and am happy with the results. Basically just strip it down, sand it from 80 to 600, and begin adding Minwax antique oil finish with wet sanding it in to finish. I did all this plus a few coats of satin polyurethane and a good rub down with 0000 steel wool to knock off the shine. It turned out better than I had hoped. Good luck.

 

[ETipp]

Strip it down with whatever you want to use. I use regular paint stripper.

Then, depending on the particular stock, I will either add some stain color to it or just use Birchwood Casey Tru Oil gun stock finish. I prefer to use 00 steel wool between each coat to fill in all the grain. been doing this for years on many different firearms for many people.

 

[Ghost23]

If you read a lot of instruction on finishes, it says sand to 220. The wood needs a very fine bite to hold the first few coats of finish. I sand stocks and guitars to 220 and flood the wood with a mix of naphtha and oil so that it soaks in. You can sand while it's wet to fill the grain. Then finish with blo, tung, teak, tru oil, shellac, whatever you want. I sand with 220 between every couple of coats. Let oil dry a few days then I use wipe on satin poly. Let dry a day and sand with 320. Apply a final coat of satin wipe poly. Let dry and finish with stock wax.

 

[ETipp]

Indeed. I always sand the stocks first, mostly due to the fact that there's most always some dings and scratches that need to be worked out.

 

[tenngun]

If you read a lot of instruction on finishes, it says sand to 220. The wood needs a very fine bite to hold the first few coats of finish. I sand stocks and guitars to 220 and flood the wood with a mix of naphtha and oil so that it soaks in. You can sand while it's wet to fill the grain. Then finish with blo, tung, teak, tru oil, shellac, whatever you want. I sand with 220 between every couple of coats. Let oil dry a few days then I use wipe on satin poly. Let dry a day and sand with 320. Apply a final coat of satin wipe poly. Let dry and finish with stock wax.

All what he said but after sanding be sure to feather the stock. Wet with a damp rag then let dry, sand with fine paper, repeat till the stock is smooth after wetting
The stirper will leave the dings you want to keep, and 220 grit won’t sand enough to remove them

 

[Dale Allen Raby]

Any commercial chemical stripper works fine. I usually go with boiled linseed oil and have never stained one. Got a T/C Seneca that is going to get a crack repaired and thought it might look good with an ebony stain. Can't afford an actual ebony stock blank.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I have used Kleenstrip and Critrisstrip to remove he finish on several TC stocks, both worked well, it takes two applications to get all of the finish off.

I highly recommend you remove the dents, no sense in refinishing a stock and leaving them in. A steam iron and a damp washcloth with get all the ones out except those with missing wood.

 

[ETipp]

I have used Kleenstrip and Critrisstrip to remove he finish on several TC stocks, both worked well, it takes two applications to get all of the finish off.

View attachment 198815

View attachment 198817

I highly recommend you remove the dents, no sense in refinishing a stock and leaving them in. A steam iron and a damp washcloth with get all the ones out except those with missing wood.

View attachment 198818

Great idea with the iron! I'll be remembering that one...........well, if I don't forget.

 

[Eric Krewson]

The stock in my pictures was really rough, I got out every dent with my $2 thrift store steam iron except one that had a chunk of wood torn out in the middle of the dent.

I decided to fill the hole and try to make it look like a knot; I used superglue which left a black outline on the stock so the patch job is just OK, not great.

I used a gouge to cut the patch and the same gouge to cut a hole in the stock.

I should have used a different glue; the black line is very obvious. As the walnut has darkened over time the patch is just about invisible now. I did pull some of the grain lines on the stock through the patch with leather dye and fine artists brush after I took this picture.

 

[centershot]

Eric, that's an awesome job of repairing that stock! I never would have thought of it but I'll tuck that little trick away for future use!

 

[Splitear]

Where I’m at currently. Finish is stripped. I sanded it down after removing with citrus stripper. Did a light “dark walnut” stain. Sanded again. Did a few coats of tung oil, and will continue for the next 3-4 days before doing a coat of beeswax paste. It’s looking exactly like what I had in mind, and I’m very happy. Next I’ll enhance the patina on the brass and brown the tang.

Thanks for the advice everyone!