Refinish stock: remove sling mounts and buttpad?

[eldon519]

I would like to refinish one of my rifle's stocks with an oil finish as an old leather cheekpad discolored the wood beneath it. Is it necessary/desirable to remove the sling swivel mounts to do so? I think they just screw in and I feel like the more you take screws in and out if wood, the more it wears out the hole. What about the buttpad? It is a factory Pachmayr pad. I can find the tiny holes where the screws went in and can feel them probing with an allen wrench but I cannot see them to determine their size or the screw head type? Any suggestion on how to proceed?

 

[Sam1911]

I'd absolutely remove everything that isn't wood.

How are you planning to refinish it? Has the discoloration affected the wood itself, or just a top coat?


The screws are probably phillips and that's a fine place to start. Press the screwdriver tip in and turn it firmly but slowly. It should find the screw head and self-center. If that doesn't work with a very little bit of effort, try a flat blade the same way. (It will just take a little more wiggling to get it to catch.)

Taking the screws out 50 times would loosen up the holes. Taking the screws out and putting them back in once or twice is no problem.

 

[edwardware]

Dishsoap on the smoothest shanked Phillips screwdriver you have will ease the screws out of the pad. No square shanked screwdrivers allowed!

Bettet if you can back the pad off while unscrewing and avoid backing the screw heads through the pad face.

 

[eldon519]

I'm pretty sure it is just the surface finish that is discolored, but I suppose I will find out. It is a CZ and I contacted the factory long ago when I realized it wasn't fully free-floated (supposed to be) and was just making contact on one side if the stock. They said it is just a sprayed on varnish finish. When I opened up the channel, it did not appear to have penetrated into the wood really. I figure I'll see if I can't just remove it chemically with some denatured alcohol or paint stripper of some sort. If not I think some fine sandpaper or steel wool would do the trick. It's a beautiful piece of wood (birch or maple I think, it's not the standard walnut) so I think some tung oil would really bring out the figure without significantly darkening it.

 

[Sam1911]

If you can strip it chemically, that might be fine, but it's probably worth starting out with the gentlest stuff and working up to harsher chemicals. None of them are really good for the wood and they can be hard to get out of the wood and/or neutralize completely which can mess up the new finish you'd like to apply. I doubt you'll touch it with denatured alcohol, but if you can avoid having to go to the heavy duty stuff (methylene chloride, and such) that's a good thing.

Either way, you'll end up doing some sanding to smooth things out, get the last of the crud off, and take care of any raised grain. Be very careful around any edges, especially around the butt. If you take off wood you'll end up having to re-shape the butt pad to fit or it will look sloppy.

Good luck!

 

[eldon519]

Thanks Sam, one thing I am curious about is how best to approach the checkering on the wrist. Any ideas?

 

[rcmodel]

Clean the checkering with a bronze bore brush and acetone.

Then hand rub the new oil finish, as many coats as it takes, avoiding the checkering until the last coat.

Then apply the one coat of oil to the checkering with an old toothbrush.
And keep rubbing it out until it is soaked in / dry so you don't fill the checkering with finish.

rc

 

[CaptTripps]

Soap or wax on the screwdriver shaft will help prevent tearing up the rubber.

Use a firm sanding pad, I prefer cork, I have several cork blocks roughly 2.5"x4"x1". Keep your edges straight. Read the sticky at the top of the gunsmithing sub-forum, How to do the worlds best oil finish.

 

[meanmrmustard]

Patience is also a virtue.

Having refinished many stocks for myself, friends, family, do not rush the job. Properly finishing a stock and getting a proper depth and sheen can take weeks.