Cannon and Lancer, refinishing a stock is not hard work at all, but time consuming. The pay off is one heck of a good looking finish, that you also now know how to repair when you have an "oops".Simply grab the Zip Strip or Citrus Strip and place a gooper of this stuff on a steel wool pad and smear it all over the finish. Now I know you already have the gun stripped of all metal and are wearing good rubber gloves and eye protection! You will see the old finish start to wrinkle, and then take it off with the steel wool. Some areas will remove faster than others, so you may need to work on those areas a little more than other areas. Once all the old finish is removed, scrub the wood with baking soda and follow that with LOTS of water. Now that the wood is wet, take this time to use a damp cloth and a clothes iron to raise the dents. Some guys like to use a solder gun to raise the dents. What we are doing here is trying to use steam generated by the heat, to expand the crushed wood fibers. Just make sure you have enough water on the injured wood and watch how it goes and you should not have any problems, burning the wood. You probably won't get the dents all the way out but at least reduce them quite a bit. After a week of drying, gently sand with the grain with 400 grit paper. Since the stock has already been finished once before, you shouldn't have much sanding to do. It is best to get those sanding pads if possible, so that you can keep a good line and not gouge the wood in any way.Try to stay away from areas that have sharp edges like the butt plate area, around the lock area, etc. We do not want to round these edges. Just make sure you go with the grain!!!!
After the sanding, take the stock outside and blow it off with compressed air. You are now ready to build a finish. Everyone has a favorite and a reason why, but I am fond of tung-oil or Tru-Oil.You need to fill the grain with what ever type you are useing, so rub the oil you have, well into the wood. Do this several times to build up coats. After a drying time of a day carefully sand on the finish to knock it down. This will help us fill the grain.Now you will do it all over again. Build up several coats and carfully sand it back. You will see as you do it, when you can stop and start building coats again. To speed drying time, I pour about a teaspoon of finish in a ash tray and add about 4-5 drops of "Japan" dryer. This will speed the drying time up allot! Once all the pores of the wood have disappeared, you are headed toward the finish line. I like thinning my finishing oil now about 50% with turpentine and I still will place 4-5 drops of "Japan" dryer to a teaspoon of finish. This allows me to either leave the finish slightly "wet" looking if I am after high gloss, or I can carfully drag the finish right when I apply the last amount of that coat on, for a satin finish. Sanding the stock will make or break a good finish. Be so so carful sanding and always sand with the grain. Now roll up your sleeves and tell me what worked best for you. :relax:
. A .32 cal CVA youth squirrel rifle and the best thing of all it was free :thumbsup:! She is just tickled to death and can't wait to shoot but first I need to clean it up a bit. The barrel looks to be in pretty good shape and 0000 steel wool ought to help that. The stock is pretty dark and seems to have a lot of old varnish on it and I would like to refinish it. Can anyone recommend a good way to go about this? It looks like I can take everything off so I should only be left with the wood. Any help on this would be appreciated.
