My refinished WASR-10... what do you think?

[Strakele]

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 Deer Hunter]

The wood looks much better.

As for the paint, just leave it be. If you want to paint it, use Duracoat. Most spray paints will chip very easily.

 

[Dunkelheit]

You did a good job on the wood, i think you should do the same to the metal. The worn finish will come back in time.

Overall great Rifle.

 

[Holloman]

Nice.

 

[FiveFiveSixFan]

It looks good! What did you end up using to get it like that? Did you use the poly at the end?

There was an interesting thread on another forum awhile back where they were using mixtures of different colors of RIT dyes with some interesting results. It's amazing how many different ways there are to tackle a project like this.

 

[Strakele]

It was a very long, thoroughly frustrating process.

After sanding, I stained the wood a few times with Cabot "Sangria" color stain. After this, my intent was to finish it with amber tinted shellac. I couldn't find any spray on in amber so I had to buy a small bucket of it. Man that stuff is nasty. It's alcohol based so it starts drying instantly and you can't go back over an area at all without streaking. Also destroys brushes unless you clean them immediately with some hardcore ammonia or alcohol stuff. I ended up stripping all the shellac off the wood no fewer than three times when it got too thick or streaked. When I got it almost all right in one stroke, it looked fantastic. Good depth and high gloss shine. However, I'm kind of a perfectionist and almost perfect wasn't good enough. I thought I was done once I let the stuff dry then sanded it to a nice uniform shine. I let it sit for 72 hours or so, then put back in the case. Wouldn't you know it... the texture of the foam in my case came off in the finish! So I sanded it down and then decided to spray on the more durable polyurethane.

That's how it is now. It looks really good and feels smooth and everything but I'm almost scared to put it back in the case now lol.

So in short:

Sand wood
Stain with Cabot "Sangria"
2 coats of amber shellac
Sand to uniform smoothness, removing brush strokes
3 coats of satin polyurethane

 

[briansmithwins]

I did mine with tung oil, rubbing with steel wool between each coat. Prep consisted of washing with dishwaher soap.

Much easier.







and at a local match

 

[Strakele]

Pretty similar color to mine. I like it! Yours definitely seems like a more more time efficient process.

I've seen your 'action' shots posted in other topics before. Very cool pics! I need to take someone along to get some pictures of mine in action.

 

[FiveFiveSixFan]

The tung oil finish looks good too. So you just washed the original wood finish with dish soap and after it dried, started using the tung oil? No sanding or staining first? That would save some time.

I've never used tung oil on anything bigger than handgun grips. How long did you have to let it dry in between coats?

 

[briansmithwins]

The tung oil finish looks good too. So you just washed the original wood finish with dish soap and after it dried, started using the tung oil? No sanding or staining first? That would save some time.

I've never used tung oil on anything bigger than handgun grips. How long did you have to let it dry in between coats?

I did the wood refinish during the summer, temps were high 80's or so.

I washed the dry wood off with lots of dishwasher soap and green scotchbrite. Wear gloves as dishwasher soap will eat skin.

I let it dry outside and then hit it with coarse steel wool. No stain or sanding paper. Then I started with the tung oil. Another nice thing about tung oil is you don't need brushes, just smear it on with your gloved hands.

Let the tung oil soak in for about 15 minutes, reapplying any places where the wood sucks all the oil in. Wipe off with dry rags and let sit for a day. Before the next coat I rubbed the wood with finer steel wool.

I did about 6 coats. After coat number 5 or so the wood was pretty well saturated with tung oil.

Tung oil is a drying oil that actually polymerizes when it contacts air. It's not as much of a fire hazard as boiled linseed oil but it can cause spontaneous combustion, so take precautions. BSW

 

[FiveFiveSixFan]

Thanks, BSW. I may give that a try when the outside temps get above 65 or so.

 

[Strakele]

Anyone else who has refinished thier AK's feel free to post as well.

 

[Wesson Smith]

Both of you guys did a very nice job. Kudos.

 

[Ohio Gun Guy]

Looks good & a lot better.

I would leave the metal alone. try rubbing oil on it, I use Mobile 1 synthetic.

 

[possum]

it looks good, but there isn't an ak that i didn't think looked good, they are all awesome in thier own right.

 

[FMJMIKE]

I love it !!! Good job..............

 

[Strakele]

Thanks. The more I think about it, I think I'll just leave the metal the way it is.

 

[Moose458]

Real nice job, looks great. I'd leave the metal alone. I don't think painting it would make it look any nicer, but if you do, as stated earlier use Duracote or Gunkote.

 

[Prince Yamato]

Leave the metal alone. Part of the charm of the Romanian rifles is the "worn in" look the metal will get. Romanian guns have thin parkerization. Look at any picture of Romanian military AKs, they always have finish wear.