[brockj]

My build is complete, so now I am looking to add the finishing touches. I was planning on sanding down the wood and bring out the laminated beauty, as well as cold bluing the metal.

Just curios what you guys do to make them look nice once they are built? Also, what type of finish would you recommend on the wood?

 

[Guest]

Try mahogany stain with tru oil stock finish on top .The tru oil resembles the shiny thick stuf thats originaly on the rifle . The mahogany has just enough red to make the laminate stand out . I own a bead blast cabinet and air compressor .So I blast the whole rifle and use 1500 degree header paint for the finish . Bake it in Mommas oven . Stinks like all hell .So dont do it when she is home ....LOL

 

[uechiguy]

strip the old finish off and then soak them for a hour or so in a mix of water and bleach. This will lighten and clean the wood. When dry then light sand to disired smoothness.

Here is a set I did compaerd to one as received.

+1 on the tru oil. Easy on and looks great.

 

[Major]

I like using dyes with a tung oil finish.

 

[Guest]

I like using dyes with a tung oil finish.

I love the finger grooves ! How cool ! Did you do those yourself .I would love to have a set done.

 

[wandering_ronin]

I've got a couple of sets to do. Can you elaborate on the use of dyes?

 

[curiorelic]

Stock stripping?

I also have a set of Romanian wood to refinish. What is the best method for stripping the old finish off of these stock sets?

Thanks!

 

[my-rifle]

I also have a set of Romanian wood to refinish. What is the best method for stripping the old finish off of these stock sets?

Thanks!

Sanding only takes about an hour and a half to do even if you go over it three times. It's really pretty easy. Do it first with an orbital sander and 60 grit paper, then hand-sand with 100-grit, and end up with 200-grit for a really smooth finish. Alternately I've heard that denatured alcohol gets it off pretty well.

 

[uechiguy]

I use a natural stripper called Citra strip IIRC. It's a paste that you let sit overnight and everything scrapes right off with a putty knife.

 

[Major]

I love the finger grooves ! How cool ! Did you do those yourself .I would love to have a set done.

I did those myself. Pretty easy, took about 1 hr for the first and 40 minutes after. Get a comfortable grip on the forend, use a pencil and mark the top and bottom of each finger. Using the large sanding barrel from my dremel sanded in almost 1/4" then left and right to just short of each pencil mark and just a little front and back. Finished with 220 grit or finer hand sand.
Originally I was going to cut the forend grip off, so, I felt that if I messed up no big deal. If you are unsure of trying this I would recomend trying it on a piece of wood with similar demensions first.

wandering_ronin
I've got a couple of sets to do. Can you elaborate on the use of dyes?

I'm not a professional wood worker, but I have found that using dyes give me better control of the color or evenness of color. Sratches don't show up as dark streaks. Dents stand out less. If it looks to dark I can easily remove some with a alcohol rag or apply more within a few minutes of application.

Dyes can either be water base or alcohol base. You can use wood dyes, leather dyes or mix your own from Rit Dye. The pics I posted was using Behlen's Solar-lux mahogany red, 1 teaspoon of dye, 1 teaspoon of denatured alcohol, applied two coats with a cotton ball. Dry in 15 minutes.
Below is a pic to show difference in color using the same dye-medium brown fiebing's leather.
Far left sar1, light color. 2nd left birch heavy application. The other two are different colors of dye.

 

[brockj]

Ok, how about the metal, what all did you guys do to finish the metal?

 

[Tantal]

I did parkerizing on all of mine, used phoshield which turns out as a very nice black color that also matches the original finish pretty well. I've had a couple of kits that were so nice I just refinished the receiver after riveting the trunnions in place and then pressed the barrel, etc., no one knows the difference as the original finish on the other parts was nice enough that it blends right in with the new finish on the receiver.

I also took a little bit of white paint and carefully picked out the lettering/numbers on the front trunnion and top cover as this was how they were originally. Not really necessary but a nice touch of authenticity if you're overly anal like me