Wood Stripping & Re-Finishing

Hereford

Well-Known Member
Morning chaps - I'm just about to collect a mint s/h G1 Miroku 20g MK60 for my son - the wood and checkering is in excellent condition and the engraving / scene is lovely for a grade 1 gun. Being that grade though it has a varnish finish which doesn't do the gun justice, so, my question is....

I want to remove the varnish finish and re-oil and finish etc - what is your best advice / solution to use to carefully lift the varnish out of the checkering on the pistol grip and fore end? As I mentioned, the checkering is excellent so I don't want to mess this up or end up with a half and half finish.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts! :thumb:
 
I've always used Nitromors to good effect on a varnished stock. I hate varnish too, so I've done a couple :thumb:
 
The varnish on these is hard as nails modern nitromors won't shift it you need something stronger I use a comercial grade stripper.
 
I always used Nitromors, the old stuff would shift almost anything, the latest offering is rubbish. It's a shame as you could really strip all the varnish off easily, now it's hard going.
 
I used a piece of broken glass to scrape the varnish off my Anschutz. It worked a treat.
 
I stripped the hard finish off a Miruko Grade 1 using about 4/5 coats of Nitromors and the back of a knife for the bulk of wood but used a brass suede brush to pick the finish out of the chequering. Then, using a Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil kit I sanded and filled as per instructions. The filling with sanded wood slurry is perhaps the most important to obtain a glass-smooth finish with every last vestige of grain filled. Stained it down and thereafter it was a case of patient application of extremely sparse, finger applied coat after coat of finish (10 coats in all) one per day. Once finishe it was outstanding but, for my taste a little too shiny so I flatted it off with very fine steel wool soaked in the finish liquid, wiped it down and once fully dried gave a couple of coats of boiled linseed oil. Now, at the end of each season, or as needed I give a quick, light finger application of boiled oil. Hope this helps.
 
I used a couple of pieces of wet and dry to remove a varnish finish from my old HW95. Works pretty well if you start gently with a fairly coarse piece and finish up around 800. You will need to use nitromors or similar on the checkering though, unless you are willing to refinish it afterwards. I can also recommend the CCL traditional english gunstock finishing kit. I used one on my Beretta and I am very pleased with the results. You can go as shiny as you like, but I prefer a semi-matte finish so rubbed it over as per pinkfoots method above. I think it had around 10 coats after the process described with the kit and it has brought the character of the wood out superbly. Shouldn't need much more maintenance beyond a quick application of linseed once a season now. Bear in mind that it will darken the wood slightly though, so perhaps not ideal if yours is already very dark.
Alistair
Here is the stuff; CCL Oil Finishing Kit | BushWear I bought mine at my local gun shop though, and I think it was cheaper there as well.
 
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