Let me start the post by stating that I am in no way saying any of the above posts are wrong – I am just passing on my findings and experience.
I never use a paint stripper as I find the residues work their way into the grain and stay there and when a new finish is applied may often start to react with it and over time cause blebs and blisters.
I still use all sorts of finishes on gun and rifle stocks –Oils and lacquers, polishes and waxes, Some bought and some home concocted but I have developed one particular method over the years and using that I can now refinish a stock in a day ready to use the next day. The results are fairly hardwearing and the looks are similar to a buffed oil finish. The only proviso is that you need a spraying kit - nothing elaborate – one of those off Ebay for £35 would suffice but as with most things the more you spend the better the kit and the easier the job.
I strip the old finish with a selection of Stanley blades held between finger and thumb at about 45 degrees and drawn across the wood towards me. I use both small and large blades, straight edged and curved for ease of scrapping the contours of the stock. When the greater part of the finish is removed I start sanding. I only use ‘Production’ paper for 40, 60 and 80 grit and ‘Wet & Dry’ paper for the other grit sizes. These papers do not allow the grit to fall from the backing and so you will not get any unwanted score marks as you most certainly will with sandpaper.
Look around locally for the car body refinisher suppliers. Try Yelow Pages. Packets are 25 sheets and cost about £6 if you haggle. Try crumpling a sheet before yopu buy lots as some makes crack whilst other makes flex and crumple. You must have paper that does not crack as that scores easilly. It should crumple up into a ball and still be useable when smoothed out again.
Generally I start with 180 or 240 grit after finishing scrapping and work with the grain through 360 and 500grit or even 600 if I want a better finish on a harder piece of walnut.
For stain I use a spirit based stain. Originally ‘Colron’ now ‘Chestnut’ they offer a small sample selection of all their dyes in finger sized bottles and this is an excellent buy as all the stains are mixable and you will then have an infinite variety of colours at your disposal. One small bottle would easily do a stock and forend.
I use kitchen roll folded to a 2” thick square to add the stain – rubbing it across the stock with differing pressure to add more or less according to the stock colour requirement. Whilst the stain is still wet on the surface you may use a felt tipped marker to add some highlights to the stock and after each addition smear the stain across the top with varying firmness to blend the lines you have added into the background. (A finger is also a very useful tool). With a little practice it is surprisingly easy to make a £100 stock look like a £500 exhibition item. Ensure your additions follow the grain and the original highlights in your stock for best effect.
Now for the ‘Trade’ secret - I use car body finish for my stocks.
Pop into you local car body paint shop and get a tin of Cellulose ‘Blending Clear’. ½ litre will cost about £10. It’s the base material that they add the colour to to get the paint that matches your car colour. I spray the wood with a 90% thinner mix twice until quite wet. There is no need to worry about overruns or trickles as the finish is so thin they all but disappear when dry. This leaves tentacles in the pores of the wood and gives a surface for the top coats to bind to.
Using masking tape cover up the checkering. Run your thumb nail around the outside lines and then follow that groove with a Stanley blade to remove the excess and leave a perfect panel. Do the same around the cutouts for action and trigger guard but here just run the blade along the edge of the wood and then push the tape into the cutout and peel off the excess.
Tie a piece of string in a loop through the stock at some point or insert small ‘eye’ like we used to use for net curtain wire somewhere where it will not affect the finish.
Now spray 2 -3 coats of lacquer at 1/2 hour intervals mixed 60% lacquer 40% thinner all over. Spray in lines the length of the stock, round and round at a distance so that it leaves minute pimples all over the stock. After a couple of circuits the stock will ‘wet’ and now you need to spend a few moments turning it to avoid any runs until it has just ‘gone off’. Hang now and leave to dry on your string loop.
Respray to ensure full coverage and the ability to sand back any blemishes without cutting through. BUT do not build up excessively as the thicker the coat the more it will suffer when knocked latter in life. A thin layer moves with the everyday knocks and dents and will not peel whereas a thick layer may look super especially if buffed to a car body high gloss finish but it is a devil to keep in that condition.
Generally the longer you leave the finish to dry the further it will shrink into the grain so often I use it like it is for a while (its pretty hard within 3-4 hours at room temperature) and actually polish after a couple of weeks. This way you only do the job once.
I sand the stock all over with 800 grit paper until matt. Then with 00000 (5 nought) wire wool (Wilkinson Sword make a 4 and 5 nought wire wool) burnish lightly the finish from end to end as far as possible with the grain until it is starting to shine. Now add a little 3 in 1 oil and do it again – lightly though. You are trying to achieve an oiled finish look. When you get to that point stop. A good hard wax finishes the process. Now remove the masking tape carefully as it will have been coated with the finish and may just lift the edge off the stock. If necessary cut around the edge with a Stanley blade and pull the tape right back on itself ie 180 degrees NOT at 90 degrees to the wood.
A good wax can easily and quickly be made from a tin of the appropriate colored shoe polish and a similar amount of beeswax melted together with a sniff of Liquid Paraffin added for mobility.
The resultant finish is comparatively resistant to knocks and dents and pretty hard wearing.
I have now used aerosol cans of lacquer and am amazed at the results - as good as spraying.
buy from
Hycote Clear Lacquer Spray Paint 400Ml (Pack Of 12) Xuk0232 McCormick Tools
but 12 tins = 10 stocks and fore-ends so find a friend or two to share.