Refinishing a finished gun stock…

[Compressorguy]

Here’s a pic of the sanded stock in the “white”. I think one of the most crucial steps to refinishing mine was to burnish the surface several times throughout the refinish process to remove the whiskers and harden the surface to resist dents. This walnut seems to be pretty soft. I used a pencil length 3/8” dowel rod with a rounded end for this. You can see how it affects and smoothes the surface.

 

[robertwnbrg]

“White” the stock.
Get “whiting” aka powdered chalk at Brownells($$$) or pottery supply($) source and mix some with denatured alcohol to the consistency of pancake batter.
Slather it on and allow to dry completely.
Repeat as needed.
It will pull the BLO out of the stock without sanding.
It works

“White” the stock.
Get “whiting” aka powdered chalk at Brownells($$$) or pottery supply($) source and mix some with denatured alcohol to the consistency of pancake batter.
Slather it on and allow to dry completely.
Repeat as needed.
It will pull the BLO out of the stock without sanding.
It works

Google

French Chalk, calcium carbonate, whiting​

 

[Cavalry Joe]

To avoid sanding, I use steel scrapers for as much as possible

 

[reddogge]

Like Cavalry Joe I used cabinet scrapers to remove the stain and BLO finish from a rifle my dad started and didn't finish. It was a real clean method of doing the work without chemicals. I had to do a very minimum amount of sanding but it was an easy task.


After scraping.

 

[Maddog Avraham]

That Orange stripper stuff works pretty well for me; need gloves, outdoors, don't soak a stock in water it swells the wood. Use moist towels or cloths sparingly to wipe down; more that one shot usually needed.

I have a T/C Hawken that was built in the 70's. I had to sand the finish off because I think they used polyurethane as a finish. To get the old stain out I applied six applications of chlorine bleach with a cheap paint brush rinsing between applications with water. It removed all traces of the old walnut finish and I stained it cherry.