Gunsmithing Stock refinish order of steps

[BamaAl]

Sorry to ask this question that I'm sure has been talked to death on here. But I've read all the posts about wood stock refinishing I can find during the last year and I'm still confused.

I'm refinishing a factory ruger 10/22 birch stock for my step-son and have never done wood finishing before. This is what I think the steps are but can someone let me know if I'm on the right track before I honk this up?

1) Remove factory finish.
2) Sand with 320 grit lightly to smooth wood after stripping.
3) Multiple coats of stain. Use coarse steel wool between coats.
4). Several coats of tongue oil or boiled linseed oil. Use coarse steel wool between coats again. Question, why one over the other?

Is that about it or have I left a step out?

 

[marksmatter]

Re: Stock refinish order of steps

Sounds good to me. I did not care for the stock finish at all - my stock was in perfect condition when I started. I used BLO as a finish as that is what I had on hand. I like the feel and smell of it. My 10/22 birch stock did not take stain that well. With every coat of BLO, I got more stain off. I did not have any patchiness though.

PS - no need to go too coarse on the steel wool. Been a while so cannot recall what I used. Be sure each coat of oil is dry before applying the next one.

 

[sawman556]

Re: Stock refinish order of steps

I got brand new take off stock from a 10/22 carbine. All you need to do is swap them out. Be a lot easier and possibly cheaper. PM me if interested.

 

[Willys46]

Re: Stock refinish order of steps

My suggestions,
Use a chemical stripper to begin with to take off the old finish.
Start with 220 to get the majority of the sanding done then mover to 320 and finish with 400.

If you have dents to remove you can steam them out with a Iron and wet towel.

Do all your sanding with a sanding block to keep the surface smooth. Makes the finial finish look much better.

I would suggest Ture Oil or a Water Lox high gloss finish. A true hand rubbed oil finish will take forever to get right. The true oil has solid in it that help build up a hard finish much faster.

Depending on how pours the grain is, you may need to fill the pours, and that can be accomplished by sanding with 400 grit paper and ture oil and making a slurry of wood dust, wipe it off accros the grain to fill the pours. let dry completely then sand with 400 and start applying final coats.

Sanding between coats. 00 steel wool or I prefer a synthetic steel wool. the regular steel wool has metal dust that can get into the finish.

5 coats should work well. As for stain, good luck, never had that good of luck staining.

(cool trick to spice up a boring wood stock, Take some long leather boat laces and soak them in a stain a little darker and wrap it around the wood stock and let dry with them on there. Pull them off and from a distance it can give it a fiddle back look. If done correctly, it looks pretty good.)

 

[BamaAl]

Re: Stock refinish order of steps

Thanks for the advice guys. We'll see how it turns out. Worst case, i have to buy a stock.