AK & SKS Stock Refinishing Question

[Huntzman]

Hi all, looking for advice from other members who have done stock refinsihes on either a Romanian Ak or Yugo SKS. I'm taking them both down to bare wood and would like to finish the furniture to a more "blonde" appearence. This is a 1st for me, so any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Andrew

 

[Lonestar.45]

I got a brand new WASR a while back, and finished the wood. I basically just removed everything, sanded it smooth with increasingly finer sandpaper. Then, I put about 9 coats of Formby's low gloss tung oil finish on it over about a two week period, one thin coat per day or two. No stain or anything. It turned out much better than expected. I'll try to find the pics and post them.

Here's a link to removing the wood if you don't know how:

http://www.gunsnet.net/Linx310/furnitureremoval.htm

As for my SKS, after cosmo removal, I just rubbed in several coats of 1/3 beeswax, 1/3 turpentine, 1/3 BLO. It turned out nice. It was a dark stock to begin with, so it didn't change the color at all.

Good luck.

 

[DMK]

I've done a Romanian AK, a Norinco SKS and a Yugo SKS.

The Yugo has an oil finish. The hardest part is getting all the cosmoline out. Just degrease really well with mineral spirits. Do a search for Cosmoline on this forum, you'll find some other ideas.

The Romanian AK and the Norinco SKS have a varnish coat. It keeps the oil out though. Remove the finish with a chemical stripper (I used BIX) and steel wool pads. Then clean with mineral spirits.

Smooth the finish with different grades of sandpaper course to fine. I like using different grade Scotchbrite pads to do this.

On the AK and Norinco, I used Tung Oil Finish which is a combination of different things. It's thin, easy to apply and dries quick. If you use many coats, it gives a shiny finish.

On the Yugo, I used pure Tung Oil to give a more flat and military looking finish. You rub it in with your bare hands and I used a Scotchbrite pad. Pure Tung takes a long time to dry though.

Here's a good page off the site Lonestar recommended:

http://www.gunsnet.net/Linx310/furn_refinish.htm

 

[g56]

I stripped this one with a chemical stripper, stained it and then used Tung Oil finish, it's really nice looking, but it came out a bit darker than I would have preferred. I've heard you can bleach the wood chemically and then finish, that might be what you want to do.

 

[Lonestar.45]

I didn't strip my WASR stocks. They were in unfinished condition when I bought them, or so it seemed. Still had sawdust on them. I simply sanded down, and 9 coats of tung oil finish later, had some great looking wood. Mine turned out much much lighter than g56's, a blonde color I'd say.

 

[Huntzman]

AK Stock

I didn't strip my WASR stocks. They were in unfinished condition when I bought them,...

Actually, thats the state of mine as well. Just a rough wood finish. I'm going to sand it down smooth and I want to keep it a light color as well.

Have been scouring the boards and the problem is, everyone has an opnion as to what to do, like Cosmo removal. So I was hoping to isolate it to just the members who have gone blonde on their furniture and find out how they achieved it. This is my first forary into doing any type of refinishing. One person mentioned using a tung oil product cut with mineral spirits and just apply several coats.

 

[Huntzman]

Yugo Refinished - SKS Board Thread

This was from a thread on the SKS Board. The gun is beautiful and exactly what I am hoping to achieve.

The thread author said that he used Birchwood Casey on it. As a newbie, I want to gleen as much information as I can before I dive in.

http://sksboards.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4493

 

[Lonestar.45]

For your SKS, you pretty much have to start out with blonde wood to get a blonde finish. It's hard to lighten up wood that is naturally dark. Hopefully your is blond now, pre-finish.

For the WASR, your wood will be like mine, probably light and looks like plywood.

I'd get some Formby's low gloss tung oil finish, sand the stocks smooth (maybe not so much on the SKS-you don't want to sand off the numbering or anything probably), and rub in about 8 - 10 coats. One coat per day max. You can cut the first few coats w/mineral spirits, then go straight on the last 5 or 6 coats. Don't overdo it, lots of thinner coats is way better than fewer thick coats.

Tru-oil will give you the same effect. Just remember to go easy and use thin coats, and let it dry between coats.

 

[Chipperman]

Before:







After:






I tried chemical stripping initially, but it wasn't even touching the cast-iron lacquer finish that was on it. So I got tough and used 60 grit sand paper. I did take off some wood, but it saved me a lot of headache. I got it much smoother, also. I finished stripping with Citristrip. After fine sanding, I applied Minwax antique maple gel stain. I put on three coats, buffing between each. I then applied 3 coats of Tung Oil, alllowing 24 hours of dry time between each and a gentle buffing.
If you look closely at the places where the wood joins metal, you can see that some wood was taken away. Everything still fits tightly though. I am much happier taking it to the range than when I first got it.

 

[Huntzman]

Thanks

I appreciate all the information & advice. Now that the holidays are over and the kids are back in school, I'll hopefully have some free time to devote to cleaning them up and refinishing them. I'll post picks of the restoration as I do them.