So I bought a WASR a few months ago... a pretty good one too. (The rifle at least... one of the mags was jacked up and a clip on the mag pouch is missing).
The wood looked alright but was pretty rough, so I sanded it with 400 then 600 grit sandpaper and it was incredibly smooth. I had planned on doing something to seal and protect it, but hadn't really considered trying to make it pretty. I bought some spray on satin polyurethane, but then I started looking at pictures on this and other forums and it made me think I may as well try to make the rifle look like it's worth what I paid for it. I looked up several different methods of staining and talked to several people about their processes, as well as looking at hundreds of pictures of real Russian AKM's to try to figure out the color I wanted.
To make a long story short, here is my first attempt at refinishing/staining wood in my life. What do you think?
BEFORE:
AFTER
I obviously also got some more mags, as well as the bakelite pistol grip. I do want to replace this pistol grip with one that more closely matches the wood.
Should I repaint all the metal on the rifle black or should I just leave the worn finish?
The wood has a satin finish right now... do you think I should make it gloss?
I'm also planning on putting a red dot on it to test the accuracy.
The wood looked alright but was pretty rough, so I sanded it with 400 then 600 grit sandpaper and it was incredibly smooth. I had planned on doing something to seal and protect it, but hadn't really considered trying to make it pretty. I bought some spray on satin polyurethane, but then I started looking at pictures on this and other forums and it made me think I may as well try to make the rifle look like it's worth what I paid for it. I looked up several different methods of staining and talked to several people about their processes, as well as looking at hundreds of pictures of real Russian AKM's to try to figure out the color I wanted.
To make a long story short, here is my first attempt at refinishing/staining wood in my life. What do you think?
BEFORE:
AFTER
I obviously also got some more mags, as well as the bakelite pistol grip. I do want to replace this pistol grip with one that more closely matches the wood.
Should I repaint all the metal on the rifle black or should I just leave the worn finish?
The wood has a satin finish right now... do you think I should make it gloss?
I'm also planning on putting a red dot on it to test the accuracy.