A ? for you woodworkers or 'smiths who refinish stocks!

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Greetings!

I just used some Zip Strip on the stock of my (Uberti) 1866 Winchester.  The red stain covered by a plastic-like covering was well done, but not authentic.  As per the directions, when all the old finish was stripped, I went over it with steel wool liberally "soaked" in water to stop the Zip Strip action.

My question is this:  since the wood was wet, how long should I let it dry before doing my final sanding and staining, etc.?  It's been about 20 hrs. so far. (17:30 hrs. the next day)

Any words of advice will be greatly appreciated.

[Ozark Tracker]

Any wood I wet  down, i let it dry for at least 48 hrs,  I may be a little cautious but I always feel better.  after you do your initial sanding if you will slightly wet it one more time and let it dry  and sand again you' get a lot more of the wiskers that will try to stand up when you finish it. after you put your first coat of finish and it drys work it over good with a fine grade steel wool and it should look real good.

Are you using any stain?

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Howdy Ozark Tracker!

I have some Minwax "special walnut."  It's pretty dark, but I have a few other colors - I just don't remember any of them except the oak "flavor".  I'll follow with either Tung oil or one of the 2 different Linseed oils.  (I have plain & boiled)

Thanks for the reply

[Ozark Tracker]

If the grain on your stock is pretty tight (hardwood) it won't absorb the stain as fast as a softer wood. you should be able to wipe on a little and wipe it right off and control your color,  if's soft and absorbs fast you may want to use a lighter color and repeat to get the color you want.

anytime you wet the wood with stain or anything be sure when it drys to rub it over lightly with steel wool,  each time a piece of wood gets moisture in it a few of the whiskers will raise up, knock them off each time before finishing will help your final finish,

for that final finish I've used warm tung oil (absorsb deeper)  put your tung oil in an old pot and get some water heating up in another and use the water as a double broiler for the tung oil, just be careful (HOT OIL)  don't need to be too hot just warm. wipe on,  let dry,  then steel wool,  wipe on again.  if there are wiskers steel wool, it will sooner or later almost stop whiskering.  depends on the wood.

Had to make a call I think the linseed oil would be more period correct and you want to use the boiled oil usless you want several days for it to dry.
put it on the same way as the tung. it should age as you use the gun  giving it more of an antique look.

Hope this has helped

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Thanks again, O.T.!

The stock and forend are some sort of walnut, but probably not American Black Walnut.  The stock in its natural unfinished state is a fair bit lighter than the forend, so your tip about rubbing it and controling the color is welcomed.  Perhaps 2 coats for the stock, but only 1 for the forend will do the trick.

Mucho grassy-a$$!

[jiminy criquet]

I would stay away from the liquid/chemical strippers if at all possible.  Not only does it mess with the moisture content of the wood, but the chemicals affect how the wood will retake a stain or finish after the fact.  The best way to strip wood is still the old fashioned way....with sandpaper.

[Silver Creek Slim]

This is great info. I am thinking of refinishing a stock or two with boiled linseed oil.

Steel Horse Bailey,
Post pics when yer done, please.

Slim

[Derby Younger]

A quick suggestion. There is a wood to metal consideration, be very careful with sandpaper.

Having done stock making and refinishing, it's real hard to not add a whole bunch of additional info to this post.

[jiminy criquet]

Here's one of my 'fun' stories regarding chemical stripers.

Some years back I was working for a company doing the finish carpentry on a series of luxury homes being built.  On one of the homes, the ceiling in the formal living room was vaulted with huge exposed rough hewn douglas fir beams with exposed T&G (tongue & groove) douglas fir planking above them.  The painter was supposed to give the beams some sort of a light color 'glaze' or other, and he ended up getting it wrong, so it fell on myself (and the other carpenters on the finish crew) to get up on scaffolding and scrub every square inch of those beams by hand with chemical stripper.  (We couldn't use a sander because it would have completely removed the rough texture of the beams and still not got it all off, and although there was talk of sandblasting them clean, that apparently wasn't popular ...or ever approved... by management.)
Anyways, the end result was that the chemical strippers (we tried/used more than one) had a tendency to turn sections of the beams a bluish color, depending on the grain, which we then had to attempt to bleach back to a light color again so the painter could have another crack at it.  What a nightmare....I spent a week up on that stupid scaffolding scrubbing those idiotic beams with that smelly garbage.

Never did get them back to the way they looked before they were mispainted in the first place, and the painter had a hell of a time getting even results the second time around.


On the other hand, I have used some of the 'environmentally friendly' chemical strippers to remove the old layers of paint from old cabinets, and that turned out OK, although it required the use of a sander after the fact to get everything evened out in the end prior to the application of the finish.

Moral of the story:  Chemical strippers are nasty, although some are nastier than others.  You never can tell how it will turn out.....different woods, different results.  Keep your fingers crossed.

[Derby Younger]

J.C:

This isn't intended to start an argument.

I'll address only gun stocks not furniture. The best stripper I've found is a product called Certistrip. More than a few years ago, I had a long conversation with Brownell's. That was their recommendation and I've used it on every refinish job I've done since then. From Rugers and Remingtons through Uberti's, Brownings and Kreighoffs.

If you've ever stripped a Browning factory finish, you'll understand the term "hard". If folks want to use something else - fine. If folks want to sand off a finish - fine. Do some research, do some reading, be careful, go for it.

Oh! Y'all I'm not looking for work. The last one I did was for an active duty guy for less than cost. That job was a complete redo of shape and finish that somebody butchered.

 

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Well pards, the deed is done.  I had already used the ZIP Strip before I wrote the original post.  Jiminy, yer right about the harsh chemicals.  I couldn't find my rubber work gloves, so I went ahead bare handed.  Boy, that stuff burned about 1/2 of my fingerprints off!   It DID take off that red plastic-looking finish just fine.  I then started finish sanding with 280 grit, then 400, then 600 and rubbed it all with steel wool and crocus cloth.  I used an OLD can of Minwax Red Mahogany, that is a darker, prettier color that a new can I have.  After it dried, I steel wooled it again then liberally applied some warmed boiled Linseed oil.  It's lookin' mighty handsome, if I say so myself.  There was some pretty nicely figured European walnut hiding under the red stain and polyurethane (sp?) finish.

OC Bill was telling me how to post pictures on these posts so I'll try when it's complete.

Here's where you can help, pards:  since the wood is all prettied up, should I break out the Brasso and shine up all the brass (reciever, end cap and crescent butt plate)?  Inquring mind wants to know!

[Camille Eonich]

Just a note for future reference....There's a product called Peel Away number 7 that is great for stripping wood that is going to be finished and not painted.  It's very mild but is tough on finishes and doesn't raise the grain at all.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Thanks, Pards and Pardette!

[Delmonico]

I no longer buy wood stains or at least any in the Hardware stores.  all of them I find are water based and I hate water based stain.  I know you can get mineral spirit based stain from Brownell's and others, but I just use or mix to my preferance Fleiberlings Leather dyes.  I've used a lot of stains over the years, but I have found none I like better than this.

For most period rifles, plain old fashioned varnish was the finish, linseed oil finishes were done on fancier grade guns.  But I like linseed oil finishes and do the full old time fill all the pores route of the high grade guns.  If it gets damaged it is easy to fix.

I do this on both guns and the knives I make or the ones I put new handles on.  The blood that I get on them does not get into the wood.

[Silver Creek Slim]

Steel Horse Bailey,
I've been shooting my Henry for about a year now (with BP of course). I have not touched the reciever or buttplate with anything but  Ballistol. They have alot of "character" to them. I like it that way, but yer mileage may vary. 

Slim

[jiminy criquet]

Glad to hear it turned out OK....can't wait to see some pictures.  And yes, I've also found that letting those cans of minwax stain sit in the garage for several years seems to concentrate the color.  It probably has something to do with the evaporation of some of the carrier solvents, leaving the pigments concentrated.

By the way, the majority of minwax stains are still oil based (the stuff in the little yellow cans).
http://www.minwax.com/products/woodstain/woodfinish.cfm

The minwax water based stains come in the newfangled colored containers.
http://www.minwax.com/products/woodstain/waterbased.cfm