[leicanthrope]

I've got an FN1922 with wooden grips that have been refinished with something, and over time that finish has worn off in a few spots. Ideally I'd like to strip off that finish and get back to a more traditional wartime grip look, but I'm not entirely sure what the best approach would be. Any advice as to how to determine what sort of finish I'm dealing with, and how best to attack this?

 

[tomj]

Looks like some type of shellac, I’m not an fn1922 expert so once someone verifies that this is a bubba finish I would recommend stripping with citristrip which is gentle and very effective at removing shellac finishes

 

[abrakadabra]

+1 on the citristrip. The original finish on these is a either no oil or super light oiling from what I've seen.

 

[Essex]

If it is shellac it will come off with just solvent alcohol. Just soak it and use a tooth brush.

 

[leicanthrope]

If it is shellac it will come off with just solvent alcohol. Just soak it and use a tooth brush.

I swabbed a bit of alcohol onto the back of it, and it doesn't appear to pick up any of the color. Should that have, if it were shellac?

 

[Essex]

A swab should have picked up some color and perhaps made the finish sticky. If not whip out the citristrip.

 

[leicanthrope]

Just by way of an update, the Citristrip seems to have done the trick. They're at present still drying out, but it looks like it got all of the shiny coating off without much fuss.

 

[Navy87Guy]

“After” pictures will definitely be required! 😀