Hi:
I have accumulated two complete barreled actions and two complete vz 52 rifles. The two barreled actions are to be fodder for rebarreling to 7.62x39mm and/or 6.5 Grendel, custom stocking and otherwise having my way with them (please be gentile with me...they are pretty rough and are not readily restorable given they lack any wood or other furniture).
Tne first rifle was originally one of those truck-bed liner-painted Century guns. Not sure what I intend to do with that one. Its complete but not particularly collectable afer first being slathered in black goo and then stripped and refinished, reveaing some prominant old arsenal repairs. Meh. I may keep it original or not. Whatever.
The second rifle (the real topic of this post), OTOH, seems to be a non-import marked, all orignial gun with decent metal finish and, most significantly, no cracks or other serious structural issues in the stock, which is relatively rare. It also has what appears to be an original heavy shellac-y looking finish that has darkened and has all manner of minor dings and scratches in it. The handguard has a prominant crack running the full length of the wood, but the stock appears very solid and to have some really nice looking wood under the icky finish.
The questing being, how to handle the stock finish? There is lot to be said for leaving it all original, but then, it will look massivly fugly when I photograph it for resale. My first thought is to chemically strip the old finish, apply steam to the dings and apply oil but NOT sand or otherwise mess with the wood proper, and fill and repair the crack in the handguard.
I am looking for suggestions on the best way to proceed. I am not that much of a collector but recognise the tragedy in butchering up a nice representative example of something and would like to pass this one on to a more loving home.
TIA
>>>BULLET>>>
I have accumulated two complete barreled actions and two complete vz 52 rifles. The two barreled actions are to be fodder for rebarreling to 7.62x39mm and/or 6.5 Grendel, custom stocking and otherwise having my way with them (please be gentile with me...they are pretty rough and are not readily restorable given they lack any wood or other furniture).
Tne first rifle was originally one of those truck-bed liner-painted Century guns. Not sure what I intend to do with that one. Its complete but not particularly collectable afer first being slathered in black goo and then stripped and refinished, reveaing some prominant old arsenal repairs. Meh. I may keep it original or not. Whatever.
The second rifle (the real topic of this post), OTOH, seems to be a non-import marked, all orignial gun with decent metal finish and, most significantly, no cracks or other serious structural issues in the stock, which is relatively rare. It also has what appears to be an original heavy shellac-y looking finish that has darkened and has all manner of minor dings and scratches in it. The handguard has a prominant crack running the full length of the wood, but the stock appears very solid and to have some really nice looking wood under the icky finish.
The questing being, how to handle the stock finish? There is lot to be said for leaving it all original, but then, it will look massivly fugly when I photograph it for resale. My first thought is to chemically strip the old finish, apply steam to the dings and apply oil but NOT sand or otherwise mess with the wood proper, and fill and repair the crack in the handguard.
I am looking for suggestions on the best way to proceed. I am not that much of a collector but recognise the tragedy in butchering up a nice representative example of something and would like to pass this one on to a more loving home.
TIA
>>>BULLET>>>
