Refinishing Uberti Stocks

[Coal Creek Griff]

I mentioned under the 1876 board that I refinished the stock on my NWMP carbine.  Well, I actually ended up refinishing all of my Uberti rifle stocks and two revolvers.  Once I got started, I kind of lost control.  As a matter of fact, I also refinished the stocks on my Rossi 1892 and my Miroku 1886.  Here are a couple of photos to illustrate.  I like some better than others, but I like them ALL better than the original Uberti look.

For each, I stripped the old finish with Citristrip.  Some, like the Henry, I left alone, but others I used varying amounts of Fiebings dark brown leather dye.  I then finished with Tru-oil.

CC Griff

[Baltimore Ed]

Nice work, like the satin finshes. I removed the ugly red stuff off of my donor Uberti src's buttstock and found this rather nice piece of wood. I can't bring myself to inlet the rear sling swivel in this pretty carbine stock so now I've got to inlet and finish a straight grain, plain semi finished stock to match my full length forend. It's a shame that it's a carbine stock, all that nice figure would look great on a rifle stock.

[OD#3]

I like what you did there!  Who knew there was some decent wood under that Uberti coating?  That's really inspiring, and I wonder how long it took you?  I've a friend who's a workaholic and gets bored at night.  So he offered to strip and refinish my Miroku '86 stock for free, He did complete the work, but he said that he never wanted to do that again, as their shiny finish was the toughest stuff he'd ever worked on.  The wood ended up a tad shy around the tang, but I couldn't complain, seeing as how the job was free, and it looked better than it had under that plasticote or whatever they use.  Still, it can't hold a candle to your stocks.  Really first rate work!

[Coal Creek Griff]

The stripping took varying times and effort.  I've attached photos of my Miroku '86 and my Rossi '92.  The Rossi had some very (VERY) dark stain on it, making the stock look black.  Close examination revealed that the stock was made out of wood, but any grain was barely discernible.  The finish pretty much wiped off after letting the Citristrip do its job.  I didn't stain the wood, but simply applied Tru-Oil after stripping the finish.

The Miroku and most of the Ubertis took a great deal more effort.  As noted, the plastic coating is very durable and likely a good way to protect the wood. It didn't even look too bad, but it did feel like you were handling a piece of plastic.  Also, it I did dent it, the plastic finish got air under it and turned white in those spots.  I had to do a number of coats of Citristrip and used a rather sharp metal putty knife to (carefully) scrape away the finish.  I scraped with the grain and was careful not to gouge the wood.  Fortunately, the wood was pretty hard and didn't gouge easily.  Each scraping took more of the finish off, then I'd apply another coat of Citristrip, let it work for a couple of hours, then scrape some more.  Again, I didn't stain the '86 stock--the wood looked fine, where some of the Uberti stocks were of some very light wood and I darkened them with the leather dye.

I didn't sand either of these stocks.  I certainly didn't want to affect the wood-to-metal fit.  (I did sand a couple of rough spots on other stocks where it appeared that the gunmaker decided that additional coats of plastic finish was easier and cheaper than smoothing the wood, but I avoided all areas where it would contact the metal.)

In all, I'm happy with how these stocks turned out, although it consumed my mind and time for a couple of weeks.  I started seeing the world in terms of things that needed refinishing.  I got a glassy stare and found the words "Citristrip" and "Tru-Oil" entering my normal conversation over dinner.  I'm glad to have these five rifles and two (no, wait, three) revolvers done.

In spite of the trouble, it was worth it and I'd recommend the process to anyone who is tired of the Uberti red wood and plastic coating.

CC Griff

PS, I mentioned elsewhere that I think that I got the dye on the NWMP carbine a little too dark.  When it was stripped, the wood was very light, so I started adding coats of dye a little at a time.  It looked about right in my shop, but I should have quit a coat or two earlier.  It looks OK, and certainly better than the Uberiti red, but I particularly like the way the 1873 rifle came out.  On the other hand, I didn't dye the Henry stock at all and I think it looks good too.  They're all a little different, which has its own attraction.

Griff

[Baltimore Ed]

Griff, I like the way that the stock on the carbine in the lower picture turned out with it being darker at the wrist. Where it would normally darken due to age, oil and handling. Did you do this on purpose or was the wood darker there to start with?

[Coal Creek Griff]

I had to pull the gun out of the safe to make sure.  The color is more even than that; it is just a factor of the lighting in the photo. I've attached another one in different lighting conditions.  The phone/camera focused on the ground rather than the stock, but it gives a better view of the coloring.  You're right, though, it does look kind of cool...

CC Griff