Refinish a wood stock?

I want to cut down a stock to get a short LOP. I need a black stock. Synthetics pose a challenge when shortened. How hard would it be to refinish a wood stock? I found ebony wood stain. Is it just a matter of sanding and refinishing? I'm a metal guy, don't know much about wood work.
How about the recoil pad? Are there shorter ones available? I don't want it to look all cut up and jaked.

If you want black why not just paint it?

My (inexperienced) theory is that stain would hold up better and not look like a crappy chipped up paint job in a year. Plus I think it would look pretty slick seeing the wood grain in black.
A little bit county, a little bit rock and roll.

Sand it, seal it, and Duracoat it if you just want a solid color. If you want some grain, the ebony stain should look good, I usually wipe a couple coats of stain on with a rag till I get the color I want, then wipe 2 coats of polyurethane on, with whatever gloss/flat finish I think will look good. If the butt of the stock is flat, you can simply measure the LOP you want, and cut off the end , then drill the holes for the butt pad, mark the edges, and if it a solid butt pad, use a belt sander to shape the edges to fit the shortened stock, or get a cut-to-fit limbsaver pad.

refinishing for dummies...
1) strip it: there are a variety of strippers out there(yes, yes k31...i know) with many of them using methylene chloride but there are other less harsh chemicals out there. back when i refinished furnature for about 2 years we had 5 gallon drums of really thick gel that would burn you pretty bad in 10 seconds, we'd have competitions by throwin some on our arms and seeing who the pansy was that wiped it off first in the nuetralizer...keep in mind we spent a large portion of the day with our heads in a huge tank full of chemical, scrubbing various pieces of furnature. after you throw some on the stock and let the chemicals sit to do their work, you can pretty much wipe off the paint/finish with a brillo pad. after it's stripped down to the bare wood, hose it off using a clean brillo pad to make sure you get it all...any you leave behind is extra sanding
2) sand it: uniformity and detail is key. as you sand you'll lighten up the wood if it's stained and you didn't use wood bleach or other chemicals before sanding. a light even touch all over is what you need being sure to move the grit lengthwise with the wood grain to keep from swirlmarks showing up later on. be careful around metal inserts in the wood...i usually tape over them to protect them from the sandpaper if i get a little careless. start heavy with 100 grit or so and work towards 150-200 and so on. when switching between grits wipe it with a damp cloth to pull out the old sawdust and "raise the grain" for ultimate in smoothness....finish with a nice 00 or 000 steel wool if you're anal like me(shutup k31...)
3 wood conditioner: i always used to put some wood conditioner on furnature i'd stain later on. it will show you if you have any scratches from the sanding and give you a first general look at what the stock will look like finished. it also preps the wood for the stain later on
4 stain: depending on what you've got, you can either spray it on uniformly and thin with an air gun, wipe it on with a cloth, or paint it on with a good brush...make sure to take a tack cloth all over the wood first to get any particles off. depending on the finish you want, wipe the stain off gently after it's sat for a little bit aiming for uniformity again. repeat for darker colors until it's dark enough for your liking. wiping it off between coats should make the grain show up nicely.
5 finish: whatever finish you want, gloss or satin poly or laquer is up to you. just again look for uniform coats and usually the more the better. i prefer the look when i rub in some nice satin poly so that's what i went with. i tossed a whole heap of coats into mine and it turned out pretty nice lookin. on top of that you can always throw on some wood wax for that extra touch. ....hope this helps.

mosin was a quick job and i got impatient and skipped stripping and just sanded it down so it doesnt look as good as it could've if i took my time more. also didn't tape off metal parts cause again...i was in a hurry to get it done before the ammo arrived

Thanks guys! Very helpful. Now I can just find a cheap take off stock and get to work.

smokey0118 said:

View attachment 9435
mosin was a quick job and i got impatient and skipped stripping and just sanded it down so it doesnt look as good as it could've if i took my time more. also didn't tape off metal parts cause again...i was in a hurry to get it done before the ammo arrived

Click to expand...

Did you pull out all the metal bits to do that?

Srbenda said:

Did you pull out all the metal bits to do that?

Click to expand...

i removed the butt plate and took the reciever and barrel and magazine and all out of the stock but left the sling inserts in and got a little clumsy..which is why you can see some of the black sanded off on the rear sling insert.

I've resurrected this old thread, and will post the same thing under the gunsmithing topic as well.

I am (attempting) to refinish this old 40X stock. I am not good with wood.

Two questions to wood guys:

1) I have used a small orbital sander and have removed the deep grime, surface staining and many of the scratches and dents. I've gone down to 240 grit. I plan to use a light colored oil based stain, followed by a clear coat. It will be a week or so before the 400 grit sandpaper arrives, but the stock seems amazingly smooth as it is now. Do I need to go to a much finer grit before staining?



2) I would like this stock to show some grain, but still be quite light in color. Although it looks very light when sanded, if I wet the stock with water, it goes quite dark. Would "Golden Oak" color stain be a good choice for this?

If it were me, I think I would go for a light walnut stain and apply it on with a rag, a little bit at a time rubbing it in. You Tube is your friend and you could look at any wood finishing vid for ideas. Another thing you could do is apply clear Duracoat after staining it. Duracoat would add a nice protective layer. I have used Duracoat before and really like it. I think it's a epoxy based paint / coating. There are a bunch of options for you; I will be curious to see what others say.

Seems like you knocked it down pretty well with a Da sander but I would still use a flat block to remove any remaining DA marks. ANy wood stock you work, flat lines should be maintained to keep them crisp and straight. Pay particu;ar attention to the end grain at the front of the stock nose, face of the pistol grip etc. Thats where you'll get the grain to raise on a seasoned wood stock which will give the fuzzies or flattened appearance when it's sealed.
Min wax will give a nice medium to dark brown, maybe a little darker than the rifle just up-thread.
Remember to use a flat block-different shapes, files covered in paper anything that you can do to keep the surfaces flat and crisp. So much more important than stains dyes and wood coloring. It can be any color you want but rounded edges says amateur or quickie job all over it. Sand witht he grain now to keep from ripping and tearing the wood fibers.

KRC said:

I've resurrected this old thread, and will post the same thing under the gunsmithing topic as well.

I am (attempting) to refinish this old 40X stock. I am not good with wood.

Two questions to wood guys:

1) I have used a small orbital sander and have removed the deep grime, surface staining and many of the scratches and dents. I've gone down to 240 grit. I plan to use a light colored oil based stain, followed by a clear coat. It will be a week or so before the 400 grit sandpaper arrives, but the stock seems amazingly smooth as it is now. Do I need to go to a much finer grit before staining?

2) I would like this stock to show some grain, but still be quite light in color. Although it looks very light when sanded, if I wet the stock with water, it goes quite dark. Would "Golden Oak" color stain be a good choice for this?

Click to expand...

If you are at 240 currently hang loose. Throw on a Pre-Stain with a rag and let it dry for a couple minutes (each pre-stain will probably have their own time per the manufacturer of your choice) then hit it with the 400 or whichever paper you desire. Wipe with a soft, debris free cloth to remove dust. Then apply stain / dye / shellac /etc. How blonde is the blonde you're after? Plain Jane amber shellac give about as blonde as you can get. Shellac is some cool stuff and because of it being alcohol based, it dissolves each subsequent layer and further enriches the finish which can aid in grain reveal. However, it's a lot more finicky to apply than a standard stain, and brush strokes can be visible if you're not careful.

That at least is what I do in regards to any wood finishing, firearm, or otherwise. Some other more pro-types might have better methods. I'm just a dabbler but have achieved good results (YouTube teaches all)!