Finishing Laminate Stock

[lycanthrope]

I have a heck of a nice Desert Sunset laminate from Richard's Microfit for my Remington 700 and it's almost ready for final finishing.

I've done a lot of searching on using tung oil, poly's, etc, but I've yet to find really good pics on what a good gloss finish looks like using either of these... Most of the nice oil works tend to be matte or satin.

So...what is the easiest way to get a high gloss finish that will last and not yellow? Will Tru Oil or other products give me a DEEP shine?

 

[porterdog]

I can't give you an answer, but refinishing laminated stocks seems to be very popular at RimfireCentral.com these days. Have a look in the 'Stock' section

Luck!
Robert

 

[lycanthrope]

Yes, thanks.

I've posted there and 3 other forums and yours is only the second response!

Lots of bare laminates out there I guess.

 

[kimbernut]

Tru-oil

A Lot Of Folks Don't Care For Tru-oil. I Am Not One Of Them.i Believe Most Try To Apply It Too Thick. If Applied Properly In Very Thin Layers And Buffing Out Any Imperfections Between Coats It Will Give An Extremely Nice High Gloss Finish.

 

[redneck]

How many layers is the laminate? Does it seem to be impregnated with epoxy or anything?
I've worked with laminated wood/materials for knife handles and generally you don't really have to put anything on them. Just sand with increasingly finer grits, and then buff if you want to. The adhesive used to laminate/stabilize them pretty much seals them up on its own, once you start smoothing them out. Might try working your way up towards 400 grit (use wet dry paper) on a small spot, and see what kind of results it brings.
Now if its more like a plywood, or has a low layer count, the adhesive probably didn't penetrate enough to do that, and you will have to put some sort of finish on. I would guess that an oil finish would give similar results as you'd get on a solid peice of whatever the wood is. Danish oil can give you a fairly good shine if you take your time with it, but I don't know about a high gloss.
I would definitely stick with some sort of oil based finish. Something like tru-oil or danish oil that will penetrate the wood, but has additive to help fill the grain and build a finish. Finishes like laquer and varnish tend to chip off too easily for things like a gunstock, from my experience.

 

[Deles136]

TruOil works great if you apply thin coats and use very fine steel wool between coats. I have used it on laminated and regular stocks with great success.

 

[madmike]

Holy Thread Resurrection, Batman!

If you have a buffing wheel, brown tripoli compound will seal and polish laminated wood in seconds. It's also easy to touch up.