# Refinishing Rifle Stocks...



## Johnbaz

Hi all

Here's a few stocks that i've redone for my own guns and other peoples..

This was made by someone else but it was very low quality shuttering plywood and as such couldn't be clear laquered or oiled, paint was the only option..










First off I gave it a couple of coats of grey primer to show up and holes (Cheapo plywood was full of them







)









I kept rubbing back then a coat more, then refilling, painting etc until the finish was fairly even..

Ready for the topcoat then the new adjustable butt pad..









This is a Brocock Hunter Precharged rifle with a glassfibre stock (horrible thing!), it was described as 'Tactical' yet it was painted with high gloss black car paint over grey primer, the paint was so thin that the primer could be seen through it









I rubbed it back with fine wet and dry abrasive paper to 'key it up' so that the new paint would have something to grip then gave it two thick coats of satin black paint stippled on with a brush..









All done and drying in the sunshine!









Here's a shotgun stock that I did for a chap on a hunting forum, I agreed to re do it for £40 but I had problems with Arthritis in my hands so it took longer than expected, I decided not to charge him, I just asked for the tenner it cost me to post it back to him, he never sent the money so it cost me ten pounds to refinish his stock for him!!

I used an oil finish and all the chequering made the job harder as I didn't want to rub it away more than it had already been at some previous time so I soaked them in Oxalic acid for a few hours to remove all traces of the old dried oil finish then gave them several soaks in strong bleach to try and get a uniformal base colour..

I didn't take a 'before' pic


























Here's a HW85 stock that I refinished for a friend, it had already been redone using spirit stain (nasty stuff for sucking in to end grain and making a blotchy finish)










It's not much better after I did it but at least some of the light/dark patches had evened out a little


























Cheers, John


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## Jim Williams

Nicely done John


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## Johnbaz

Here's a few more..

This was a mates at work, it's an Investarm 20g shotgun stock which was an awful light brown colour and looked like toffee!!!

He wanted it doing very dark so I used the water based walnut stain, the more applications made, the darker it becomes..

Sorry, again, I forgot to take 'before pics'..









Another friend had the same toffee coloured gun in 410, wanted his similar after he saw it!!









This is an Original mod45 and typically back in the 70's/80's everything was spray finished in an acky yellow colour that showed no grain so I had a go..

It's actually a Jubilee model and should have panels depicting the factory at Rastatt in Germany but someone removed them so I made a couple of walnut panels and gled them in!!









This is a BSA Magnum 240 pistol that the previous owner converted to Anatomical grips using car body filler, the gaps were so small that I couldn't hold the pistol so I removed the filler and black paint though it left a gap where the trigger guard enters the grip, I may make a new grip for it as I have plenty of nice timber..









Finished along with a polish for the ally frame..









This is a Webley mk3 (early model with fluted stock), I bought another stock very cheaply that was scratched/ dented and very black with age so I started rubbingthe scratches away and steaming out the dents and couldn't believe the amount of grain/tiger striping that was under all the crud!!!

I wasn't sure whether to stain this darker but I thought it may have hidden that beautiful grain so I just gave it a few coats of Alkanet oil...


















Cheers, John


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## Johnbaz

Jim Williams said:


> Nicely done John


Thanks Jim









Cheers, John


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## lightgeoduck

Excellent work, and looked fun to do

LGD


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## ruthiexxxx

Lovely work. Very professional !


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## Whiteleather

Airguns are awesome! What are you using for inletting the stocks? Router, knee mill, hand tools?

I have gotten excellent results with teak oil on black walnut. It comes out a deep red similar to Kimber rifle stocks. Here is the final result of a BEAT Stevens 58 16 gauge. The shotgun had been wrapped in a plastic garbage bag, stored in a wet outdoor shed for 10-12 years.:

I took the metal down to the white. Outside was pitted pretty badly. The deepest pits remain:

http://i401.photobuc...ga/100_4007.jpg

The stock was swollen, flaky, and punky. Steamed out dents, scraped off the finish, degreased with acetone, used wood hardener on the punky spots, glued split back together. Lots of gentle sanding with medium wet dry paper and teak oil let me fill in the grain a bit. About 6-8 coats of teak oil with light sanding between coats gave really nice results:

http://i401.photobuc...ga/100_3922.jpg

http://i401.photobuc...ga/100_3921.jpg

http://i401.photobuc...ga/100_3923.jpg

Used a cold blacking process with mediocre results. Will take metal back to white and start again with Oxpho blue. If that doesn't work I may look at rust bluing techniques. Its nice to practice on a gun that was a total loss when I stated.

http://i401.photobuc...ga/100_4028.jpg

http://i401.photobuc...ga/100_4032.jpg

http://i401.photobuc...ga/100_4039.jpg

The gun shoots fine, but the soldered adjustable choke means I can't use slugs. Kinda limiting.


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## Johnbaz

Whiteleather said:


> Airguns are awesome! What are you using for inletting the stocks? Router, knee mill, hand tools?
> 
> I have gotten excellent results with teak oil on black walnut. It comes out a deep red similar to Kimber rifle stocks. Here is the final result of a BEAT Stevens 58 16 gauge. The shotgun had been wrapped in a plastic garbage bag, stored in a wet outdoor shed for 10-12 years.:
> 
> I took the metal down to the white. Outside was pitted pretty badly. The deepest pits remain:
> 
> http://i401.photobuc...ga/100_4007.jpg
> 
> The stock was swollen, flaky, and punky. Steamed out dents, scraped off the finish, degreased with acetone, used wood hardener on the punky spots, glued split back together. Lots of gentle sanding with medium wet dry paper and teak oil let me fill in the grain a bit. About 6-8 coats of teak oil with light sanding between coats gave really nice results:
> 
> http://i401.photobuc...ga/100_3922.jpg
> 
> http://i401.photobuc...ga/100_3921.jpg
> 
> http://i401.photobuc...ga/100_3923.jpg
> 
> Used a cold blacking process with mediocre results. Will take metal back to white and start again with Oxpho blue. If that doesn't work I may look at rust bluing techniques. Its nice to practice on a gun that was a total loss when I stated.
> 
> http://i401.photobuc...ga/100_4028.jpg
> 
> http://i401.photobuc...ga/100_4032.jpg
> 
> http://i401.photobuc...ga/100_4039.jpg
> 
> The gun shoots fine, but the soldered adjustable choke means I can't use slugs. Kinda limiting.


Hmmm

I missed this reply, it's a shame the pics have gone :iono:

Here's the Beretta that I bought..



















I had to make the brass bit that screws up to the cartridge on my lathe as the threads were kaput on the original, the lad I bought it from hacksawed the bad threads off but then it wasn't long enough to reach the cart!!










The 2240 never arrived, the seller never answered any of my PM's or numerous texts so I tried phoning him but it was an answering service..

He phoned me back after about ten minutes later and said that he'd been so busy that he'd forgotten about it though my cheque was presented and cleared quicksharp!!

If he's true to his word then it should arrive this week- not holding my breath though :banghead:

*EDIT- WHiteleather, I don't actually make the stocks, I just refinished them  *

*I've only ever made one, I used Birch plywood for that, the gun I made it for had a broken stock...*

Cheers, John :wave:


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## Johnbaz

Doh!!

I posted the above in the wrong thread!! :banghead:

John :wave:


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