1st Stock Refinishing - Advice/Tips Would Be Appreciated

[GunnyUSMC]

The stock looks good.
If you wish to knock the shine down some there are two ways.
#1 Use 0000 steel wood and BLO to lightly scrub the stock. You will need to keep the wool wet and scrub with the grain.
After you scrub the stock you will need to wipe it dry. Wait 24 hours before waxing.

#2 Do a wax buff. Using past wax and 0000 steel wool, scrub the stock in the same way. Once you are done, buff with a soft cloth.

 

[Sam1911]

Yes! Look at the difference from where you started! There are things you could have done to get more of the old finish off before you started, and bleaching techiquest as we've discussed, but many of us who do old military stuff won't get into those except in special cases.

You've brought out some nice figure and it does look to me like the finish has a bit of visual "depth" to it. I'd say job well done.

You can reduce the gloss if you don't like it, as the Gunny says. I probably would, but that's my tastes.

 

[TMiller556]

thanks guys.. next time ill work on removing the finish a little bit more and i think iam going to get rid of some of the gloss. right now im still trying to blend the spot in with the rest of the stock using the stain.. i cant tell if it working yet. its still drying aboit 5 hrs and counting..

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Your stain is not working.
Go pick up a bottle of boot leather dye. Don't get that cheap spong on stuff from Walmart. Check with a boot store. Get med. brown.
You can apply it with a q-tip. Apply a light coat over the mark. it should dry pretty fast.

 

[TMiller556]

Thanks Ill pick up some later. if im able to get alcohol based dye for staining wood would that be better than leather dye? why doesnt the stock take the stain after being coated with tung oil? is it because the tung oil seals the wood and prevents the minwax from penetrating the wood?

 

[Sam1911]

why doesnt the stock take the stain after being coated with tung oil? is it because the tung oil seals the wood and prevents the minwax from penetrating the wood?

Yup, that's it. Repeated applications of stain over the finish can impart a tint, but it takes a lot of coats. When stain can soak in, all that pigment is going into the wood fibers. When those fibers are sealed, that doesn't happen.

The dye will be able to actually stain the finish itself with some of the color you want.

 

[BrocLuno]

Stain has to go on bare wood. Same with dyes. The tung oil has sealed the wood and nothing will penetrate from here on out. The boot dye will act as thin paint and it will "dye" the tung oil some, so it may help blend the bad spot away?

Another choice is to lightly sand/wool the discolored area pretty close to the wood, or maybe back to wood. You can use 10mil plumbers tape on either side of the bad spot so you don't sand the whole thing again. Then get some artists oil paint colors that are close to your wood finish (usually slightly darker). Put some on the edge of an old saucer with some tung oil in the middle and using a brush dab and mix until you get close to the color you want and then paint that on and feather it out toward the rest of the stock. It'll take 48 hours to dry, before you can wool it again. Look it over, if good, top coat as you normally would. If not there yet, wool it back a little and do another blended color treatment and carry the "shading" out a little further onto the rest of the stock. Soon, it will be gone/buried under tint. You over coat as normal and then "de-glaze" as you want

 

[TMiller556]

Thanks for the reply Broc. I think I'm just going to forget about the spot on the butt and just add one more coat of tung oil and then use some wax and steel wool to get rid of some of the shine and then just move on to the next stock. The spot is not as noticable as it was before so it's not a big deal and I also didn't epoxy the gouges in the wood which I should have done but I didn't want to because I figured since it was my first stock, that it was way above my current skill level (I should have at least tried). I'll keep in mind for the future that dye will stain over tung oil, but next time I'll make sure I stain before I finish. I didn't want to stain at first, that's why I didn't do it before the finish. After I take off some of the gloss by buffing with wax, if I want to add some wax afterwards for protection, such as beeswax, will that make the stock glossy again? Can I keep on wax buffing until I get the gloss I want?

 

[GunnyUSMC]

If you use a wax like Tom's 1/3 Mix, you will not get the gloss from buffing. There are many different types of wax out there. The harder the was the more gloss you will get.

Also remember that you are not using real Tung Oil.

This post will cover the topic of applying dye over oil to get the look of an aged finish.
http://www.surplusrifleforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=137&t=73332

And here is one on a PTO Finish (Pure Tung Oil)
http://www.surplusrifleforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=137&t=61650&p=434931#p434931

 

[BrocLuno]

OK, you did that one and it came out pretty nice for the first attempt. Now I'd strip it right back down to bare wood and re-do it with a different scheme. It's just a piece of wood. It's as good as a black board to use over and over.

I'd take it down to bare wood with stripper, then stream the gain again to get all the little nicks and even the gouges up as much as possible. Epoxy the left over holes and gouges and file flat to the surface, stain (experiment on both sides), then try another finish treatment like satin polyurethane or something. Again, you might surprise yourself

Id visit all the old men in your neighborhood and offer to refinish their old wood tool handles. Most of this will be hickory, but some will be birch and or bass wood, box wood, etc. All good to learn on. Easy to do small projects. They will be happy to get their tools back with nice smooth handles and a nice finish. You'll learn about gluing cracks and more about finishing.

I learn a lot about products I have not tried before on tool handles - wear and toughness, chipping resistance, color retention, etc. AND, if they decide to lay up their old tools, they may call you and offer them to you. Old tools are GOOD in this business.

On all these practice stocks, I suggest doing two colors (left & right) as way of looking directly at what does what on that kind of wood

 

[GunnyUSMC]

try another finish treatment like satin polyurethane or something

 

[TMiller556]

Thanks Broc and the reason I wanted move onto another stock is because the other stocks I have need different types of repair such as fixing cracked foreends, filling deep gouges, splicing repairs, etc. And that's a good idea. Actually, since my uncle knows about my interest in refinishing, he told me that she will save left over wood after he cleans out his garage. I think most of it might be furniture. I know that the m14 stocks I have are milsurp, but since I'm not selling them, I'm going to try out different types of looks, methods, finishes, etc. Gunny, I bought Minwax Paste Wax but it says that it's for light wood on the top of the can. I didn't open it yet, so should I return it or will it work? What's the difference in paste wax for light wood and dark wood? When I use steel wool to rub in the wax to remove some of the gloss off the stock, I just wait until it dries and wipe it off with a cloth right? And that's it?

 

[GunnyUSMC]

The wax you have will work fine. And your right, about 20 min after buffing the stock, buff it with a soft cloth.