Mosin Nagant stock refinish
I bought that true oil kit with walnut finish and oil how do i go about taking the old varnish off. Once its off should i restain from there or steam out dents and sand lightly.
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I would think any commercial paint stripper would work, butI would be careful not to get it on the blueing. It might damage it, I don't know.
As far as the dents go I guess that depends on how pretty you want your gun to be. Steam would certainly work, although there are limits to what size dent it's effective on.
On the other hand, a few dents and scratches might look good on an old workhorse such as the Mosin, kinda like how mud looks good on a Jeep.
I guess it all comes down to preference.
GH1[:)]0 -
Use Easy-Off Oven Cleaner to strip the old finish. It works great. Spray it on, let it soak, then wipe off with fine steel wool. Then wipe off excess with a damp rag. Wear gloves and work outside if possible. Best to disassemble as much metal from wood as you can, but I refinished 2 Enfields and my buddy did a Nagant, and they came out quite nicely.
Good luck.
Mike0 -
I always use Acetone and medium to fine steel wool to remove these old finishes. Dip the steel wool in the Acetone and scrub a small area. Then wipe off the dissolved finish with a paper towel or rag. Work fast as the Acetone evaporates quickly. It won't take you long to get the old finish off. Wear good quality rubber gloves as the Acetone is hard on them. Some of the dents you can steam out by placing a wet cloth over the dent and supplying heat with an electric iron or soldering iron. Dents where the grain is broken will probably not come out. Be sure that you take all the metal off of the stock. I refinish all the military arms with linseed oil, but the Russians used varnish or shellac. It's a fun job, I think. The advantage of using Acetone is that it draws most of the old oils out of the wood making for a better refinish.
Tom[:)]0 -
Thanks I just bought another mosin and I'm thinking about doing a plain oil finish 0 -
It's not probably not varnish, its shellac, comes off easy with denatured alcohol. If it's just the finish that's messed up, you can carefully use a cotton ball dampened with the alcohol to move the shellac around, and restore what's already there.
If it is varnish, use lacquer thinner and 000 steel wool to scrub the finish off, it works on shellac as well. Use like Manyguns said, Keep the wool soaked, and keep changing spots on the wool pad so it doesn't load up with the finish.
Any dents to be steamed out, need to have "all" the finish scrubbed out of them for the steam to penetrate. Use a folded up damp paper towel and the tip of a steam iron, or soldering iron to pinpoint the steam to the just the dent for the best results.
Sanding should be done lightly, taking care not to round off square edges. Pay attention to any stock cartouches, no steam, and no sanding on them.
Band spring retainers can be tapped out from the opposite side. There will be a small hole where the retainer spring pin goes through the stock. If your stock has sling slot guides, they can be tapped out from the opposite side, but they are easy to trash in the process, best to work around them if you can.0 -
I had very good luck cleaning up a Russian capture K98 using lacquer thinner and 0000 steel wool. As with the Nagant, it was heavily shellacked. Used 1/3 mix of linseed oil, turpentine and beeswax as a finish. Turned out good. 0 -
Here is a M44 I refinished. I used a cheap paint stripper from Lowes and it took the old red finish right off. You apply the stripper and let it sit a few minutes, then use a scotchbrite pad and it comes right off.
I sanded out the dings and left it "blonde". I top coated it with a marine grade spar varnish.
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I have refinshed an AK and SKS same wood. Strip it with whatever you wish, laquer thinner, paint thinner etc.
Then let it dry.
i have always used birchwood caseys, but you could probably use anything else. Stain to how you want it done, I usually have always done one light coat of walnet and turns out good. Then get the finish and I used birchwood casey and used my fingers. Put on two coats after that get 00 steel wool and sand lightly and knock down anything. Then do coat after coat till you get the sheen you like, in between knock down with steel wool. Chances are you will probably need about 6-7 coats. The first 2-3 it will look like crap till it starts absorbing.
Depends on how good you want it. Dont get me wrong mine are not museum pieces but for the average joe they are pretty good. Once you get the stock stripped start at something somewhat agressive on the sand paper and work your way down to like 3-400 grit, when you think you are done sand again, still think you are done sand again.0 -
Be very careful of the stripper you use. The last stock I did I went to Home Depot and found some spray on stuff. I will admit the warning on the can said wear gloves and a mask. I did the but a little managed to run off the stock and onto my foot, and side. I was blistered for over a week and there is still a mark on top of my foot. Don't know why I used that except a guy working there said it was good stuff. Before I used finish remover you painted on and let it set before scraping it off. 0 -
Looks rightly bubba'd, with great pimpshine.
quote:Originally posted by DONDALINGER
Here is a M44 I refinished. I used a cheap paint stripper from Lowes and it took the old red finish right off. You apply the stripper and let it sit a few minutes, then use a scotchbrite pad and it comes right off. I sanded out the dings and left it "blonde". I top coated it with a marine grade spar varnish.0
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