How would you refinish this classic

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bushmaster1313

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This 1934 Remington Model 31 factory riot needs to have the wood refinished because the finish at the comb has flaked off.

What would the Forum suggest?
Tru-Oil will bring out the excellent quartersawn grain.
But this is a working gun and a dull dark varnish is how it left the factory

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Middle of these three:

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Why not sand it and use a dark walnut stain? You can then seal it up with several hand rubbed coats of tru oil. I did this to a couple of my dads old shotguns, and it turned out great
 
No experience
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nonsense! easy as pie, use a rag wipe it on, then wipe it off. start off light if you have doubts about how light or dark you want it. you can't go lighter with out sanding. And make sure you use an OIL Stain. Oil soaks in to the wood nice, water base stuff is blah can look good but is a trying to be oil. If it says "water clean up" its not "real" oil stain, no matter what a salesman or product rep. tells you.
 
I wouldn't use stain at all; it's already dark walnut, right?

Consult with a gunsmith about what original finish was used. If you still decide to strip the old finish, Tru-Oil or tung oil (my favorite, because it doesn't leave white marks when scratched and can be refreshed easily) should be suitable replacements.
 
honestly theres no need to restain the wood, it just looks like the top coat is flaking a bit....

i would take the stock off and lightly wet sand it with 180-200 grit sand paper until smooth , once dry i would hit it with a few coats of polyurethane...
 
No sandpaper, please. Find a solvent that will remove the old finish (MEK or perhaps acetone), pull the buttplate and stock, wipe down the stock with solvent until all the old finish is gone. After it's dry, rub it down with TruOil, using 0000 steel wool between coats (it'll take several). After the final coat rub it down with rottenstone for a satin finish. No sandpaper.
 
No sandpaper, please. Find a solvent that will remove the old finish (MEK or perhaps acetone), pull the buttplate and stock, wipe down the stock with solvent until all the old finish is gone. After it's dry, rub it down with TruOil, using 0000 steel wool between coats (it'll take several). After the final coat rub it down with rottenstone for a satin finish. No sandpaper.
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that seems completely unnecessary to strip it to bare wood and refinish the entire stock seeing as only the top coat is what needs to be repaired......the wood and and the stain are perfectly fine.
 
I vote tung oil as well. It will really bring out any character in the wood, without ruining it's natural color, and will be easy to reapply as well.

Swing by a Woodcraft store, of maybe a local cabinet shop and they might be able to help you out.
 
Arrow Wood Finish Oil and some 400 grit sandpaper would do the trick.
 
others are right doesnt look like it needs stain. What happens next is all about how much of a project you want. throwing some clear coat on it of some kind will protect it. if you want it to come out really nice you will want to remove old clear coat I.E. top coat. If you put some thing on it with out removing old you will see the different levels of clear coat/top coat. Start small put something just on top and see what it looks like. You can always strip old finish completetly at anytime. if its a gun you use and enjoy enjoy this project have fun with it, and take your time.
 
Ugh. Guns stocks and stains. So much harm done.

The wood's got great color already due to being a) walnut and b) old. Stains are a lot trickier to get RIGHT than almost anyone (especially on gun forums) seems to believe, and an average stain job looks like (I am sorry, but) crap to anyone used to high quality woodworking.

(Stains tend to concentrate in the more open grain areas and not absorb in the denser areas, making for a zebra effect which is unnatural and UGLY. Further, the pigments overload the grain making it look muddy and blotchy, taking all the fire and shimmer out of the natural figure of the wood. Much better to go with a completely natural/neutral finish and let the wood darken on its own over the next decade than to muck it up with an amateur stain job.)

The top coat looks rough. As others said, there are solvents that might remove it pretty easily without doing anything nasty to the wood.

I'd second keeping the sandpaper off the gun. It does have a place, especially if you keep to the grits above 220, but it can also do harm very easily. Of course, sanding off edges is bad, but almost worse is cutting through the natural patina (that beautiful rich color) that the gun has spent eighty years developing).

I'd clean off that top coat and then do a few applications of TruOil, Tung Oil, Watco (my favorite), or linseed oil. No stain. Maybe a very light pass with fine abrasives in between coats. The gun will look incredible.
 
Before I did ANYTHING else, I'd try hand rubbing (that means with a bare hand and enough pressure to cause heat from friction) several coats of Johnson's paste floor wax into the stock as it sits - no stripping, no sanding, no anything. I wouldn't even remove the stock from the shotgun.

The first coat should be fairly light, applied with a soft clean rag, as a 'cleaning' coat that is allowed to dry and then buffed off. Following coats should be somewhat heavier and rubbed into the wood until it begins to shine, subsequent coats should be done the same way and allowed to build without buffing with a cloth until finished.

YMMV of course - but remember - "First, do no harm."

BTW, Johnson's is great for blued finishes too.

http://www.whatsinsidescjohnson.com/en-us/products-by-brand/sc-johnson/sc-johnson-paste-wax.aspx

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Before you get too deep, it looks like maybe a righteous riot gun - dose it have any stock markings at all?

In any case, put the sand paper down, sir - just step away from the sandpaper!
 
Stains tend to concentrate in the more open grain areas and not absorb in the denser areas
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there are tricks to avoid this one simple one is to rub the wood with a wet/damp cloth, then apply the oil stain the water helps make a nice even stain job. try it out if you are ever staining a a bench or a door makes a big difference. But as noted doesnt look like it applies here.

several coats of Johnson's paste floor wax into the stock
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I wouldnt do that if you are planning on doing anything else to it. the wax won't allow any other products to adhere to the wood. Leaving you with a job of removing the wax.
 
Well, yes, that's so.

I've never tried using water, but I do like using some form of pre-stain or at least a couple coats of neutral oil finish before applying any stain color. That bugs some folks because the wood will appear to almost not take the stain at all, and they want it to go instant-dark. But several applications of a stain after the grain has been sealed is by far the better way to go.
 
To refinish

Get the stock down to bare wood. If you use some type of stripper you will also need to sand anyway. Depending on the type of original finish, sometimes I use a scraper, as in finish carpenter type, to scrape the old finish off. Depending on the density of the wood, you may need to sand to 220 or finer. Sand with the grain until you can't see any sanding marks. I leave the plastic butt plate on and sand it too. That insures the butt plate to wood fit is about perfect.

I've heard tru oil works fine. I have used it some in the past. The first time on a beat up Rem 600 and that was in 1965. For a nice oil finish I use Tung oil now. Boiled linseed oil is about as good but I have had better results with Tung oil. Just make sure it is in fact pure Tung oil. Anything that says, "Tung Oil Finish" probably isn't pure Tung oil.

Hand rub on a light coat, let stand for 10-15 minutes and gently wipe off any excess with a soft "tee shirt" type rag. Let dry over night. Sand gently if necessary and repeat. Quit when you think it looks good. Make sure it is set up and dry before another coat is applied.

The photo is of an old Parker 16 ga shotgun that I refinished for a customer in this described manner last year.

One advantage of this finish is when it gets a little banged up usually a light rub with very fine steel wool and a dab of Tung oil will bring everything back to normal.

I don’t remember if I used a coat of wax as the final coat on this gunstock. I usually do and I use a wax that is very high in Carnuba. Tree wax is good, but “The Real Milk Co.” Carnuba wax is better.


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I stripped the wood with a strong stripper.
Had to do it a second time to get some finish that remained.
Then I wiped with mineral spirits.

The wood has some dings and oil stains, but I left those alone and applied one thin coat of Tru-oil last night.

Picture tonight.

Will gently buff with steel wool and apply at least one more coat, with buffing in between each coat.

After final coat I will buff with 0000 steel wool for a matt finish.

So far:

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