wasr 10 wood refinish does not match, please help

[ineedmoney]

about 2 months ago, i bought a wasr 10/63 new, and ive been trying to refinish the wood on it but the stock and hand gaurds will not match,im using minwax/ polyshades (honey pine) first i worked on the lower hangaurd and i really liked they way it looked when i got done with it. i want all the wood to look like the lower handgaurd it is a blondish color but when i try to stain the but stock it is wayyy darker than the hand gaurd, does anyone kno how i can get them to match? and the upper hand gaurd is like a redish color,(i think it is the kind of wood it is ?) it just does not seem to me it is possible to get it all to match the way they look after i sand them. really when i bought it none of them matched either other than the black stuff all over it. ive been messing around with the wood for 2 weeks and i getting frustrated :banghead:

 

[briansmithwins]

I wouldn't sweat it too much.

Wood finish on an AK is pretty much there to protect the wood from being damaged, not for show. Lots of those stocks were soaked in oil for years if not decades and try to get them to match can be pretty much impossible.

Just shoot the rifle and enjoy. BSW

 

[dfariswheel]

That's always a problem when dealing with different woods and especially wood that's been soaked with oil, as the Romanian rifles are.

You might try thinning the stain that's used on the stock to get a lighter shade and use it full strength on the handguards.

 

[bullturkey]

I have worked with wood for years and have learned the following= The tighter the grain the less stain the wood will take. If the handguard is the right color sand the other wood with 120gr till it is raw again, then 180, 220 try a small spot and see if it is lighter. If not = dilute your stain with miniral spirits or water, whatever the base is made of, this will thin your color and try a small spot again. If this does not work the problem may be a mixture of 2 types of wood. That can be remedied by going darker = again you will have to play with different strength stain and possibly adding a different color to make one piece of wood look like the other. Making 2 diffirent types of wood match can take time. Min Wax will only go so dark. if you have a Sherwin Williams paint store near you they can color match with their wiping stain. If you go this route give the stain a minimum 48hrs to dry before applying your finish, rush it and you will have to do it over again. Trust me on that one.

 

[ineedmoney]

thanks for the help

 

[theotherwaldo]

I'm considering using bedliner on mine. Looks like two completely different kinds of wood were used - maybe three!

Not that I care. This is a gun to shoot, not look at.

 

[ineedmoney]

oh im going to shoot it!! but if you seen the way it looked right now you would be doing something about it to, i thought it would be easy to refinish it, but i was wrong, if i would have known it was going to be like this i would have just left it like it was.

im happy to say though ive shot it about 100 times with no problems. its pretty accurate to i can hit a 4" x 3" peice of steel while standing free armed from 100 feet every time with wolf ammo, i got some brown bear ammo im going to shoot long range when it gets a little colder(to many ticks in my fields). i was kinda worried b/c alot of people was talking about wasr's saying they are junk, they was right about the crappy finish tho, it was well worth $600

 

[ineedmoney]

i resanded the buttstock again and put another coat on, it looks like it is lighter this time but still not light enough, i wonder if i put one more coat on the butt stock and 2 or 3 more on the lower handgaurd would it match, or be atleast a little closer? or do i just need to keep sanding. it seems like im takeing wood off when i sand now. wouldnt the stock get smaller? i really dont know ive never worked on wood before.

 

[ineedmoney]

is it ok to put minwax polyshades on with a t shirt instead of a brush.

 

[essayons21]

You need to get ALL of the oil, cosmoline, and other gunk out of the wood, don't skimp on the sanding, make sure you go over it with a tack-cloth to get it nice a clean. I use a rag and rub in the wood stain, doing about 3 coats. A semi-gloss or satin polyeurathane sealant helps protect the wood from discoloring from oil and sweat and looks nice too.

Refinished my WASR


Darker stains are easier to get to look uniform. You may need to mix darker or lighter stains if the wood that different.

on the other hand

AK stock sets are dirt cheap, if you don't have any luck with the one you are working with, it may be easier to buy a "new" stock set that has matching wood.

 

[wally]

Black polymer solves a lot of AK wood problems

--wally.

 

[dfariswheel]

You need to back off on the sanding.
You can sand so much that the stock will be undersized, and no amount of sanding is going to remove much excess oil.
As you sand, the oil just soaks deeper.
I'd suggest first trying more coats on the handguards to see if they'll darken to match the stock.

If not, leave the stain on the butt for less time than the handguards. The longer its left, the darker it is.
After staining, use a Scotchbrite synthetic polishing pad (the green pads from the grocery store used to scrub pots) or 0000 steel wool to remove some of the stain from the butt. just rub until the surface is lighter. This will lighten the wood slightly and make a better match with the lighter handguards..

If that doesn't work, buy a furniture stripper like Formby's and use it to clean the wood. This will remove more of the oil and leave the wood clean and ready for stain.
Again, thin the stain used on the butt, and full strength on the handguards.
But again, wood is a natural substance, and two pieces of wood often will not be a perfect match.

You can use cloth to apply the stain, but make sure it doesn't leave streaks.