MN M44 Shellac Refinished - I'm happy!

[vette97]

I decided to redo my M44's stock. I learned that in order to strip the shellac, you only need to apply Denatured Alcohol which is readily available at Walmart, Home Depot, etc. I decided that I wanted to get it looking original with a shellac finish, the way the Russians did. So, I went looking to find out what color shellac I needed and found this posted on TaurusArmed.net.

"First you need to actually determine the composition of the current finish. If it's shellac, denatured alcohol will dissolve it.

If there is flaking, or you want to level out the existing finish, carefully brush it down with fresh denatured alcohol. Overbrushing will only give it brush marks, and excess alcohol will make it run, so be careful.

If you need to refinish after stripping off an improper finish, stick to the original shellac finish. Garnet flake has come to be regarded as the nearest match & mixing it thick will duplicate the Russian stuff. Many other countries used linseed and other varnishing oils as wood finish, but it was not in the Russian budget for these rifles. Same with stain, the original or authentic wood color is what you find in the particular piece of wood & depending on the characteristics of your particular piece, you can make it look like a recently stained stock, or you can leave it as-is and simply use the right shellac.

Remember, you're refinishing a Russian rifle and the stopwatch is running. The shellac can be applied rapidly, and with little to no time allocated to hand touch up. A couple of clean, even applications of shellac should be all that is needed after prepping down to bare wood. This isn't a piano, so oil/shellac blends, shellac French Polish and other sophisticated labor and time intensive procedures and materials are inappropriate. Sanding between shellac applications is out of the question. If you've slopped it up so badly that you need to sand it out, simply strip it off with denatured alcohol, mop the floor wipe down the walls & keep the cat outta the shop while you apply your shellac. This way the dust, hair & junk won't flaw your finish enough to make it necessary for a redo. Although it's minimal, a level of skill is needed to do it right. Work on it like you're supposed to get 50 done before your next vodka break, and you'll be on the right track to a proper refinish.

Don't try to make the rifle something it's not. If it's light wood, leave it light, since that is the way it was originally made. They took no time to stain or add time and resource intensive resources to the work."

So, I went to Woodcraft in Towson and they had Garnet Flake Shellac.

So, I brought the Garnet Flake Shellac home, mixed it with the correct portion of Denatured Alcohol last night to create a 2 pound cut (which is not very thin) and let it sit overnight in an old Tostitos jar. This morning, I shook it up and stirred it and then applied it with a natural bristle brush very quickly, so I wouldn't miss my Vodka break. I put a coat on and it started to dry in about 30 seconds, so I had to brush it on quickly. I had some Vodka while I waited 20 minutes in between coats and got 3 coats on it. It's hard to tell from the pictures but if you look at the handguard pre-strip and the finished stock, it's pretty much the same color. Yay, it worked! It looks pretty much original, brush marks and all.

So, what I learned is that I mixed WAY too much shellac. The total refinish job used up about 2oz. of mixed shellac, total. I bought a 1 pound bag of shellac flakes. I honestly could have gotten by with 1 oz. (weight) of flakes, and 4 oz. (volume) of denatured alcohol and refinished 2 stocks with it.

If anyone wants to try this method of refinishing and wants some Garnet Flake Shellac, send me a PM. You can get the Denatured Alcohol to strip the old finish and only need 1 oz. (weight) of Shellac and 4 oz. (volume) of alcohol to make enough shellac to re-do a rifle. I could package up 1 oz. and mail it out for $5 flat.

When I get the rifle back together tomorrow afternoon, I'll post another pic. I'm letting it cure overnight.

 

[Russ D]

Depending on how the finish on my M38 is when it comes in, I might take you up on getting some of that shellac. You really did an outstanding job of keeping it original.

 

[vette97]

Thanks Russ! I wish I would have taken the original pic in the garage with the same lighting, but didn't, and it really looked redder than it did in the original pic. It was a concern of mine whether or not that Garnet would actually redden the stock. It was such a surprise to see the stock turn out the way it did, not having any other pics on the web to prove to me that this was the correct way to do it. Let me know if you need some flakes.

Shellac is SO easy to work with and very forgiving. I'm now spotting shellac finishes on guitars and pianos on TV. Ha!

 

[Garand1957]

Nice job !
I have a Russian SKS with only about 65-70% of the original shellac finish left.
Near as I can tell the Russians used the same color shellac finish on the SKS as the Mosin rifles.
I have been thinking of trying to refinish the stock with the same garnet color flake shellac.
Do you think I could thin out the mix and use an air brush to get a smoother more uniform finish ?
Or do you think it would look "too good" for a Russian military stock finish ?
In any case I would be happy to buy some of your left over shellac flakes.

 

[BusDriver]

That's pretty nice .

 

[Tootall]

that looks great. I'd like to see it all back together and then this may be my next project!

 

[sinzitu]

Looks great! Post a pic when you get it re-assembled.

 

[vette97]

OK, here's the finished product. I used a white crayon on the metal parts to highlight the serial numbers, etc.

I think I put one too many coats on it because it feels, to the touch, to be thicker than original. 2 coats would have been fine. I actually had to spread the barrel bands in order to get them to slide over the stick in order to prevent them from scratching the finish. I can thin it out with more alcohol at any time, but I'll leave it like this for now.

Depending on the light, this thing either looks brown, reddish, yellowish or a combination. The first photos in my garage are with a halogen light. The last pic is in my kitchen under fluorescent lights.

---

Garand - Yes you can thin the shellac and spray on. The bullseye clear shellac you can get at Home Depot is a 1 lb. cut. I learned that in order to convert a 2-lb. cut to a 1-lb. cut, add 2/3 of 1 part alcohol to a 1 part existing 2-lb.-cut shellac solution. That means 1 oz. weight of shellac should be mixed with 6.66 oz. volume of alcohol.

Everyone - Thanks for all the kind comments! Drop me a PM if you want some shellac and I'll reply with my contact info. If you're going to be in the Eldersburg area, you can stop by. Otherwise, $5 and an address will get 1 oz. to you.

 

[sinzitu]

Sweet pics. I stand by my last comment:


Looks great!

 

[aquaman]

that looks awesome man, great job

 

[WatTyler]

Beautiful job! The great thing about shellac is that, if you're unhappy with it or have a change of heart, you can always take it down and start over again. I like what you did with the garnet flake better than the Bullseye amber that I've been using. Now you got me thinking.
Is Mosin! Is good! Is shoot! Now, vodka drink for all!

 

[vette97]

Beautiful job! The great thing about shellac is that, if you're unhappy with it or have a change of heart, you can always take it down and start over again. I like what you did with the garnet flake better than the Bullseye amber that I've been using. Now you got me thinking.
Is Mosin! Is good! Is shoot! Now, vodka drink for all!

Thanks! You might be able to shellac this over top of the bullseye. The bullseye is waxed, from what I read, so I'm not sure how that would impact the Garnet Flake, which is unwaxed. It might not bind too well unless you dissolved the old stuff with alcohol.

 

[LostSoul]

Looks great! I refinished mine with boiled linseed oil. I'm happy with it, but yours definately looks more correct!

 

[Russ D]

Looks great! I refinished mine with boiled linseed oil. I'm happy with it, but yours definately looks more correct!

Yeah I did my Ex-dragoon with Tung based on the word of a well known collector. This Mosin being a much newer rifle mst likely came form the factory with Shellac where the oldest of Mosins prbably didn't.

 

[vette97]

Russ, I thought the same thing before redoing mine. I saw yours in Tung Oil and thought that definitely would be the correct finish for them and was considering redoing mine like yours but found this, and decided to go with the Shellac. No matter how it's finished, we still love 'em!

Q. What is the original finish on Russian/Soviet stocks?
A. Shellac was used from the earliest production to the latest, probably because it is inexpensive and simple to use although it is not as durable as some finishes. Mosin Nagant stocks that appear to have an "oil" finish have just had the shellac worn off.

http://7.62x54r.net/MosinID/MosinFAQ.htm

 

[Russ D]

Yeah I've been on that board for awhile now. I understand what they are saying but from what I can tell most of the earliest Mosins are found wihtout shellac. Meaning it was put on very very thin and worn off. It's impossible to duplicate that kind of finish, and to me the nasty coat of shellac they do on a refurb isn't really correct either for the older rifles. The reason I chose to just rub it with Tung oil is I always have the option to Shellac it later with no additional work. Now that you have the correct shellac that may be sooner than later. I'm thinking one thin coat would be very close to original. The important thing is not to remove any of the history.

 

[ke3gk]

Nice job !

 

[vette97]

The important thing is not to remove any of the history.

 

[Gfacter]

Nice job.

Now I have to have another Mosin now.

 

[Tootall]

got my shellac. Going out to shoot the MN saturday. hopefully it will have a fresh coat sunday. Thanks again vette