Who Has Refinished Stocks?

[Kirk Freeman]

Playing safes tonight, preparing for Indy1500, when I stumbled across a pawn shop rescue Ruger Security Six with Herrett RSS stocks in the back of one of the shelves. The revolver is "fair" and worthy of reblueing but the stocks . . . have lead a rough life.

The stocks, this is a rescue gun, do look like an angry Shibu Inu has gotten them. Scratches, sweat and wear marks, etc.

Herret website says that these should be walnut. Anyone refinished stocks before?

How to? Recommendations?

 

[Jeremiah]

How do you go about refinishing handgun grips?

I have some steel wool and linseed oil, and am at purdue but wouldn't have time till Monday to help.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

Very kind of you but I know you are busy.

Thanks for the link.

 

[Shoots4Fun]

I know there is a lot of debate of whether to refinish or not. Some say not to because it can lower the value. I had picked up this old derringer which really wasn't worth much and wanted to redo it just to see what I could do with it.

I refinished the wood grips by sanding them and then using Tung Oil with steel wool in between coats.

Before:

After:

 

[Jeremiah]

Tung oil and linseed oil are both available at homedepot

 

[Loc n load]

Refinsihing stocks

I have, and if you are going to sell the gun, I would simply find some inexpensive stocks and slap on it. I am unfamiliar with the particular grips you are referring to, are they checkered? If yes - then they will require more labor than otherwise.....do you want a gloss finish or a more natural finish?
I have used a lot of Birchwood CAsey products over the years.....Brownells used to carry them, I am sure they still do. Refinishing stocks, especially rifle stocks, is time intensive. If it is something you are going to keep and pass on, then it may be worth the effort and time.....but if it something I was going to sell, then I wouldn't invest the time or effort.

 

[pmorriso]

Birchwood Casey Tru-oil. It's amazing what that and some time will help accomplish. They also make a sealer that you could use without the finish if you want a satin look. Good thing is if you ever scratch your finish or get any kind of wear you can just add more.

 

[500 mag]

I have used Minwax polyurethane wipe on finish on several stocks before and its come out looking really nice. A few that i showed didn't realize that it wasn't original finish.

 

[meyer4589]

I've done a set of K-frame grips following these steps:

How to- Grip / Stocks Refinishing with photos! FINISHED!

 

[ghuns]

I have done many rifle stocks with Deft satin polyurethane. Mine has always been in a blue and white can so I don't know if the link is for the exact product that I use. Stinks like hell, dries very fast. Any orange peel or runs can be easily rubbed out with fine steel wool and re-sprayed.

 

[gregkl]

I have done many rifle stocks with Deft satin polyurethane. Mine has always been in a blue and white can so I don't know if the link is for the exact product that I use. Stinks like hell, dries very fast. Any orange peel or runs can be easily rubbed out with fine steel wool and re-sprayed.

This is great stuff! But it sure does have an obnoxious odor!

One thing I would add: if it has any checkering, you may want to use a toothbrush and some stripper to clean the old finish off.

Purists use oil finishes, but finish technology has advanced since those days. Modern finishes, life Deft work really well and hold up for a long time. You can also make the satin finish more "matte" like by rubbing with 0000 steel wool if you want it duller.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

New stocks on re-blued revolver and painted front sight. Sanded checkering off, walnut colored stain and 3 coats of poly.

Looks fairly sharp for a $200 rescue revolver.

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

Actually, I think the preparation is more key than which finish to use (although I'm a big Birchwood Casey fan).

It's always a shame to see a re-finished stock that has a great finish, but has all the edges rounded off around the metal, or that so much was taken off that fit doesn't look right. But the most common thing I've seen is not progressing properly with sandpaper grit, leaving scratch marks on the wood.

It's hard to mess up a well-prepared piece of wood with the wrong finish, and there's no finish that will hide a poorly prepared piece of wood.

 

[88E30M50]

Nice work Kirk. I've always been a fan of Tung oil, but you cannot argue with your results.

 

[Jarhead77]

Nice job.

 

[hrearden]

I have, and if you are going to sell the gun, I would simply find some inexpensive stocks and slap on it. I am unfamiliar with the particular grips you are referring to, are they checkered? If yes - then they will require more labor than otherwise.....do you want a gloss finish or a more natural finish?
I have used a lot of Birchwood CAsey products over the years.....Brownells used to carry them, I am sure they still do. Refinishing stocks, especially rifle stocks, is time intensive. If it is something you are going to keep and pass on, then it may be worth the effort and time.....but if it something I was going to sell, then I wouldn't invest the time or effort.

+1 on Birchwood Casey

 

[hrearden]

Birchwood Casey Tru-oil. It's amazing what that and some time will help accomplish. They also make a sealer that you could use without the finish if you want a satin look. Good thing is if you ever scratch your finish or get any kind of wear you can just add more.

Thats all I use.

 

[Bounty Hunter]

Nice Job!!

Preperation is key. I just finished a Winchester 30-30 I bought for almost nothing. It had been in a barn for the last twenty years. I know the collectors are crying, but this gun was in terrible shape. The bore was like a mirror but the barrel and receiver were complete rust. Looks pretty sweet now. I was going to use it for a four wheeler/truck gun, but it turned out so well, that is not an option.

Kind of fun bringing life back to them. Again, nice job.

Ruger has the origional grips on there web sight for $20.00 I think it is. If I heard right they found a huge stash of them from when those were made.

Watco oil finish really puts the life into the wood.