stock refinishing

crotchtrout said:

I just finished stripping and bleaching my rommy furniture and had a few questions.

1. whats the best way to apply a finish on the inside of the butstock?

2. is there any special sanding requirements when going across grain on laminated stocks?

3. what the purpose of the spring in the buttstock?

thanks,

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1. What do you meant "inside" why would you want to finish the inside...do you mean the little hole that holds the cleaning equiptment? If not then...I would apply a thin layer of mineral spirit to really clean the surface of any oil or contaminate. 2. Then I use boiled linsen seed oil to refinish it. I would apply light coat and let it dry to the touch then use the fine steel wool to buff the surface lightly to bring out the grains. Repeat step 2 for about 5 coats. Then I would go buy the semi-gloss finishing coating and apply two coat and let it dry. Waala you will have one fine looking set.


2. Nope just use the fine steel wool for buffing to bring out the grains.

3.Spring in the buttstock is to hold the cleaning tube thingy...becareful don't get your finger caught in there..I know many folks done that before.

Did you leave the spring in when you bleached it?
If you did pull it out, clean it and soak it in oil for a little, the bleach will cause it to rust in a very short time.

thanks for the fast replies.

I do mean were the cleaning supplies are stored in the butstock. do i have to put a finish in there? i dont want it to absorb any moisture in there.

i did remember pull the the the spring out thanks to this detailed post. i would not of done it if i didnt read this.
http://www.gunco.net/forums/f53/diy-stock-hg-stripping-34108/

crotchtrout said:

thanks for the fast replies.

I do mean were the cleaning supplies are stored in the butstock. do i have to put a finish in there? i dont want it to absorb any moisture in there.

i did remember pull the the the spring out thanks to this detailed post. i would not of done it if i didnt read this.
http://www.gunco.net/forums/f53/diy-stock-hg-stripping-34108/

Click to expand...

i have never put any finish in the buttstock cavity but i suppose you could if you wanted to. IIRC the hole is quite rough and could prove a challenge to get complete coverage unless you just poured a bunch of poly or whatever in there and let it drip out.

IMO it's overkill.

Yeah I never did the inside either, but I guess you could do like Broondag said and just slop some stuff in there just to put some kind of a seal on it.

And why are you afraid of the stock absorbing a little moisture? Wood breathes naturally.

partsman is right though we're spoiled with how nice and dry our area is (western nebraska eastern wyoming/colorado) but if you're worried i would just swab the inside part with whatever oil you use for the outside and call it good. though i doubt it's really needed to oil the inside, last i remember when seeing the inside of stocks i don't remember them having a finish and like earlier said they are rough so if they've lasted as long as they have unfinished inside during their years of military service (or rack duty) then they will probably last just fine for us. just my thoughts