Stock finish and white line spacers

[BBBBill]

Picked up a bolt gun stock and plan to do some mild reshaping and refinish. Currently finished with a sloppy job of Tru-Oil. I am not happy with the look of the Tru-Oil over the white line spacers in the fore end and grip cap. Looks yellow and needs to be bright white. Note that I do like Tru-Oil and have used it many times before, but never with any white line spacers. It may just be because of the sloppy job applying, but something has to be done about it. My question for the experience - Is it the Tru-Oil itself that's the problem or just the poor application? If it is the Tru-Oil, what other finish do you recommend instead.

 

[troy fairweather]

It could be the true oil I've seen where finishes cracked off the spacers. Normally the yellow is just on the surface, since I'm want to remove trueoil I would use furniture stripper then refinish the wood, fill the grain. I like to use boiled linseed oil.

 

[boom boom]

Picked up a bolt gun stock and plan to do some mild reshaping and refinish. Currently finished with a sloppy job of Tru-Oil. I am not happy with the look of the Tru-Oil over the white line spacers in the fore end and grip cap. Looks yellow and needs to be bright white. Note that I do like Tru-Oil and have used it many times before, but never with any white line spacers. It may just be because of the sloppy job applying, but something has to be done about it. My question for the experience - Is it the Tru-Oil itself that's the problem or just the poor application? If it is the Tru-Oil, what other finish do you recommend instead.

Some plastics are more porous than others and will stain (especially white). Given that Tru-Oil is designed to penetrate gaps in wood fibers, I suspect that it has penetrated the relatively porous plastic surface and given that both have petroleum derivatives (non-polar)--it might have acted as a mild solvent in roughing up the spacer surface. You might or might not have to resurface the spacers by abrasion/solvents or replace to get rid of the "yellowing." From the nearest that I can figure out, a common plastic used for spacers is white polystyrene so you might be able to use that as a search term with bleaching/removing stain etc.

 

[BBBBill]

You might or might not have to resurface the spacers by abrasion/solvents or replace to get rid of the "yellowing."

Yeah, figured that would be required. I am removing some wood in the reshaping process. Just want the next finish to have no negative effect on the spacers.

 

[boom boom]

Yeah, figured that would be required. I am removing some wood in the reshaping process. Just want the next finish to have no negative effect on the spacers.

Try covering the spacers with wax (removable) or clear poly (not so much removable) before applying finish to the wood to seal the pores of the plastic. Polystyrene from my vague remembrances of organic chem has a pretty open celled structure susceptible to stains. Polypropylene is one of those plastics that is extremely resistant to external staining which is why outdoor carpets are made of the stuff.

 

[jmr40]

Either toss the white spacer, that is what I'd do. Or remove the spacer, clean the edges gently with some very fine abrasive to get it back white. Place the buttplate on while re-finishing the stock so you don't round off the corners. After everything is done remove the butt plate and replace the cleaned up spacer.

If the spacer is too far gone you may be able to buy new ones. Or simply make a new one from an old white plastic container.

 

[BBBBill]

Either toss the white spacer, that is what I'd do. Or remove the spacer…

In this case removal is not really an option unless I wanted to make a new ebony or rosewood fore end. It is sandwiched between the wood pieces which are most likely dowelled and glued. I don't really want to get into it that far. I will be perfectly happy to clean up what is there as I clean up the stock contours and make it a little smaller. Right now it is a flat bottom with small radiused edges more suitable for shooting off a bench. I want something more carry friendly for the woods. Bottom line - I am more concerned with final appearance as dictated by the choice of finish to be applied.

 

[Jackrabbit1957]

You could use pin stripe tape to cover the spacer during applications of finish. It may leave a small ridge when the tape is removed but one should be able to blend it in.