yankytrash
Member
Decided to tear down and detail my L1 in anticipation of a new spring set forthcoming. Also decided it was time to refinish that old wooden Aussie stock set.
Agonized for weeks on whether I'd sand it down, raise the dents and get it new-looking, or leave the dents and bruises and just put summore tung oil on it.
Finally decided I like the beat-up look of the stockset, and I'd just clean it with paint thinner and put a couple 7 or 8 coats of tung oil on it.
Glad I did. On the first coat of tung oil, hidden stampings and writing appeared. Apparently years of greezey fingerprints, dirt and gunk covered them. Didn't show up in the cleaning either, but they're plain as day with a coat of tung oil.
Now, they're not spectacular cartouches with long-dead royalty autographs or nothin, but a little piece of history was almost lost to a hastely-wielded piece of sandpaper. Makes me wonder how many stocks out there have lost their personality to a desire to "make it shine"....
For those curious, on the bottom front of the buttstock it's stamped "MA69" with a bigger "N" at the end. Then, written across it with the remnants of a white paint pen is carefully handwritten "59". The handwritten part is almost white where it wouldn't take any finish (looks original, like it's been there since new). Indeterminable if the old paint pen mark is original, but I like the looks of it, so I'm leaving it.
There's also the remnants of a stamp on the forend pieces that say "SLA" - somethin, somethin. It's near the front where there's alot of wear, so it's hard to read and understandably worn off.
Agonized for weeks on whether I'd sand it down, raise the dents and get it new-looking, or leave the dents and bruises and just put summore tung oil on it.
Finally decided I like the beat-up look of the stockset, and I'd just clean it with paint thinner and put a couple 7 or 8 coats of tung oil on it.
Glad I did. On the first coat of tung oil, hidden stampings and writing appeared. Apparently years of greezey fingerprints, dirt and gunk covered them. Didn't show up in the cleaning either, but they're plain as day with a coat of tung oil.
Now, they're not spectacular cartouches with long-dead royalty autographs or nothin, but a little piece of history was almost lost to a hastely-wielded piece of sandpaper. Makes me wonder how many stocks out there have lost their personality to a desire to "make it shine"....
For those curious, on the bottom front of the buttstock it's stamped "MA69" with a bigger "N" at the end. Then, written across it with the remnants of a white paint pen is carefully handwritten "59". The handwritten part is almost white where it wouldn't take any finish (looks original, like it's been there since new). Indeterminable if the old paint pen mark is original, but I like the looks of it, so I'm leaving it.
There's also the remnants of a stamp on the forend pieces that say "SLA" - somethin, somethin. It's near the front where there's alot of wear, so it's hard to read and understandably worn off.
