what stain for my mosin

Does home depot carry stains that make a gun look like this? http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m268/katalyst902/mosin_2.jpg

And if so what is the name of it? I see like names of wood on some of the stains such as colonial pine and stuff. Also should i use semi gloss or gloss varnish on the gun i am working on. Are there any pictures that have both looks side by side?

I used an ebony stain on my 91/30 and it came out like the picture below I sealed it with a semi-gloss polyurethane coating. Some of the old mil-surps will not take stain well because the wood is so soaked with oil and cosmoline.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v369/timc/Nagantsniperrefinished.jpg?t=1188353257
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v369/timc/NagantsniperSleepwellmyfriend.jpg?t=1188353727

esmith,

That looks like it has some 'red' in it. That could be some variation of cherry.

For a stain, I've always liked Minwax stains.

However, you might want to look at some of the 'Danish Oil' finishes.

Whatever you use, you're going to have to get most of the old oil and dirt/grit out of the stock

To finish off the stock, I can't recommend a varnish or polyurethane.
I'd seriously consider the Danish Oil finish and IF you must put a top coat on the stock, I'd suggest Johnson's Paste Wax.
(The Danish Oil has to cure for about 10 days before you wax it, though!)

The closest match that I have seen to the original finish for the russain rifles is just amber schellac

Red Mahogany

Seven hand rubbed layers of Tung oil, with a wet sand between the 5th and 6th coat


http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa33/stallhorn/Lock.jpg

Made this myself, not a kit

Actually, the original finish doesn't have stain applied. From what I'm told the original color and finish are both provided by boiled Linseed Oil. Go to any hobby shop that has oil paints (used for paintings done on canvas) and they will have Linseed Oil. When you boil Linseed Oil it changes color and that color will provide what you need when applied to the wood used to manufacture the stock on a Mosin Nagant. Use a lint free cloth to rub the oil in. Give it as many coats as it need to achieve the color you are looking for. After a few days of drying buff it out and you will have what you are looking for. I haven't done this but I was shown a 91/30 that I was told was done this way and it looked original.

I did my son's M44 with Tung Oil. I sanded the stocks but I left the dents and dings so it didn't look too new. I didn't add any stain so it looks lighter than the originals. I added several coats of Tung Oil over the course of a few days and I think it came out good. You can judge for yourself from the pictures below.

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o26/ArchAngelCD/DSCN1985.jpg

http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o26/ArchAngelCD/DSCN1981.jpg

To tell ya the truth I like all the old dings and scratches in my Mosin carbines. I like to think they came from rough handling as my gun was carried boldly through the battleof Stalingrad :neener:. JK, its impossible for one and unlikely for the other. Use whatever TIMC used, it looks gorgeous.

Yeah, I can't imagine sanding one smooth.
I used BLO on mine. Not a big fan of shiney poly finishes on surplus rifles.

HAving used almost every Minwax stain (refinishing antique furniture as well as gunstocks)....

That LOOKS like a Cherry (reddish) stain of some sort....However your results will vary depending on the color of the underlying wood. Most Mosins (once cleaned of ALL Cosmoline and oil) are a very light colored wood. So you want a "dark" stain to achieve that color.

NOTE: before you try and stain make SURE you get all Cosmoline and oil out of the wood (I use Easy-off oven cleaner). Other wise you'll have a mess.

I prefer Tung-Oil as a final finish, but if you want more durable use polyurethane NOT varnish. (Unless your are a true purist, in which case Varnish is the correct finish.)


P.S> One of my favourite Minwax stains is called "Natural"---It brings out the grian, and darkenes the wood, but not too much. However, it will not give you that reddish cast in the picture.

Iodine and shellac

The Russians used it quite a bit, there used to be a thread about it on gunboards.com in the collector forum, the stuff on most of em as shipped is amber shellac applied by the Bulgarians who rearsenaled these guns in the 1960s and 70s, ya can smooth out and reblend the shellac with denatured alcohol if ya just want to smooth out the finish thats already on it but its not really the original finish technically the original finish was iodine which created a very dark orange/brown finish followed by shellac the bulgarians took a shortcut by useing amber shellac then just painted it on with brushes, this is also when most of the blued metal end caps etc.. got painted black there is perfectly good blueing under most that have black paint on em, rearsenaling the guns was a "make work" program so alota stuff got redone that didn't need any attention in the first place

Alright so boiled linseed oil will make it look like it used to. How long should i boil it?

The closest match that I have seen to the original finish for the russain rifles is just amber schellac

There you go. No stain should be used if you want an original appearance. The Finns used some sort of darkening agent, probably a pine tar preservative. But the Soviets did not.

If you can't get the shellac, hand rubbed BLO is an alternative though it's not at all original to Soviet weapons. We used BLO, they used shellac. Shellac will hold up somewhat better than BLO, but BLO arguably looks nicer.

ya don't actually BOIL linseed oil the term is reffering to Chemically processed linseed oil the process is reffered to as "boiling" ya buy it already "boiled" at home depot etc...

I started laughin when I read a post above about someone actually boiling the linseed oil,

heres a lil info

http://www.jouster.com/Bulletin/TUNG.htm