Gunstock Restoration and Refinishing: Tips from a Specialist

I am amazed at the poor condition of the gunstocks on most sporting firearms that come into my shop for restoration and refinishing. Typical damage includes cracked and split buttstocks and forends, deep scratches and dents, missing sections of wood, sling swivels installed off center, poorly fitted recoil pads, and various amateur attempts at refinishing. Repair and finishing materials are cheap, but time is expensive. So too is replacement of a stock with new wood—sometimes more than a firearm is worth.

Ignorance can also be expensive, so to keep costs under control, I’d like to share some thoughts and techniques that have proven to be practical and have satisfied my customers. Wood Finishes We’ve all heard of "in-the-wood" and "on-top-of-the-wood" finishes. Oils are "in" the wood. Spray finishes such as lacquer or urethane are "on top" of the surface. There are also two-part and epoxy-type finishes like you find on some Browning shotguns. This type of finish is better left to the manufacturer to restore.

Some of these finishes are very difficult to strip and require special spray booth and drying setups to achieve good results. If the wood is perfect and has good figure, oil finishes are very nice. They also make minor repair of small scratches somewhat easier. However, an oil finish will highlight old pressure dents and defects, so you should have really good wood to start with. Wood fillers and other "tricks" will not be hidden by an oil finish.

Sometimes I have to glue a broken stock back together or inlay missing sections of walnut and try to match the grain. Occasionally, I have to disguise a deep dent as a knothole in the wood. There are also cases where glass-bedding material will show at barrel channels and action inlet corners. In these cases, I recommend a darker walnut stain and a multi-coat varnish or urethane finish.

I believe that some reasonable degree of sealing against moisture is important for protection of the wood, and varnishes and urethanes do this best. When I apply an exterior finish, I usually compound it out very much like an automobile body shop would The author uses a paint stripper and steel wool and/or metal scrapers. After all the old finish has been removed, the wood is cleaned with detergent. finish the paint job on a fine car. This tends to add gloss to urethane and varnish finishes.

Although high-gloss finishes are harder to maintain, as they tend to show minor defects in reflected light, a high-gloss finish does look correct on some firearms. Some customers do not like a highgloss finish, so the final coat can be flattened with fine pumice and water to produce a lower luster. I feel the finish chosen should be appropriate for the style or period of the firearm. The Project Let’s take a typical restoration job through from start to finish.

A customer comes in with a beat-up shotgun or rifle: "Can you fix this?" And, of course, he adds: "I don’t want to spend too much money." (I use Brownells suggested gunsmith pricing guides, found in their catalogs, when quoting jobs.) First, always check the chamber and magazine. Every now and than alive round will show up. I go over the job with the customer and explain his options. I discuss things like new butt pads or recoil pads, length of pull

adjustments, and accessories. I discuss a complete restoration including replacement of missing or damaged parts, polishing of metal parts, and complete refinishing with new black oxide or bluing, glass bedding of rifle barrels, perhaps gold plating triggers or parts on fine guns, and stripping and re-anodizing aluminum parts. I try to get a good feel for what type of finish, color, and tones the customer might prefer. Completed sample projects that I can show him really help here.

I don’t want any surprises when the customer comes in to pick up the completed firearm, and neither does he. (When I hand it to him, I really enjoy it when his eyes get big and his face breaks into a big smile and he says: "Man, is this my gun?") I advise him of time frames to complete the work, the average being three to six weeks. I also tell him I will call if I run into unforeseen problems or need additional information to complete the project.

For this article, however, I’ll stick with the stock work and wood-refinishing part of a typical restoration. The Procedure Always know what you are doing when you disassemble a firearm. If I have not done it before, I always look up the particular model in a shop manual and review the procedure. Do it correctly. Use the proper tools, stock-bolt wrenches, and gunsmith screwdrivers. Make a few notes, if necessary, or even take a close-up digital photo.

Tag or mark parts as required, bag them, and store parts safely; it will beawhile before reassembly. To remove old wood finishes, I use a commercial stripper. This can melt acrylic parts like grip caps and inlays that cannot be removed. These areas must be tightly masked off and edges that will be sanded will have to be buffed and polished and than masked off again prior to applying some stock finishes. Take this into consideration and plan carefully.

I use a large piece of cardboard with the edges folded up about 3 inches. I place this on my bench, and put a small pan of stripper and the stock in this box. I get out my apron, heavy-duty rubber gloves, and some eye protection. I include some medium-grade steel wool and a small strip of sheet metal to be used as a scraper. I lay the stripper on thick, inside and out with a brush, and let it do its thing. Give it time. I gently scrape or steel wool off as much old raised finish as I can.

Than I give it a second coat of stripper and repeat the scraping as required. Get into the corners, but don’t cut into the wood with scrapers. Next I put about an ounce of a strong, general-purpose detergent into a laundry tray and fill it with warm (not hot) water. In goes the wood, one piece at a time. I use a nylon brush to remove and neutralize any remaining stripper. It is important to get the wood in and out of the bath in minimum time. Don’t let it soak.

The warm water will start to raise a few dents and may also degrade checkering if left to soak to long. I then dry the wood with an old towel and blow compressed air into every bore channel and screw hole. Almost all of the old finish will be gone at this point. Any minor spots that remain can easily be scraped or sanded off. I then get right into the dent-removal routine. I heat up a medium-sized soldering iron, and use a 2-inch double-folded square of cotton cloth, soaking wet.

I cover this with a small piece of aluminum foil. Place this stack over the dent, and move the iron around over the top. I use small patches so I can see what I am doing and get right over the dents. The idea is to make steam, and the foil keeps the steam next to the wood. Keep the cloth wet and move from one dent to another. Keep at it; most dents and some scratches can be lifted up at least to some extent.

Hang the stock sections on a wire in a warm ventilated area and let them dry for at least a day. (You can’t sand wet wood properly.) The next step involves inlaying or replacing missing wood, like toe sections, and gluing broken stocks or split wood back together. I use a quality, waterproof wood glue available from woodworker’s supply stores. If pieces of new walnut need to be added on, the actual joint must be a line-toline fit. You’ll need to carefully rasp, plane, and sand surfaces to achieve this.

You’ll also have to try to match figure and grain direction. A good glue joint depends on the surface-to-surface contact of the

pieces. You must clamp the joint to force the glue into the wood fibers to achieve good bond strength. I use rubber tubing, twisted wire, weights, tape, and various types of clamps. The tighter the clamping, the better the joint. I do a dry setup to be sure I can handle the final clamp up after the glue is applied. Pry open splits and work glue into all areas. Wipe off any excess with a wet cloth. Stock pins or hardwood dowels will sometimes be required.

Match all broken pieces as closely as possible when repositioning them. At least 24 hours of cure time is required before unclamping glue joints. If anew recoil pad is going to be used, I drill out and plug the old screw holes with hardwood dowels. Glue them in place. Have good control and a solid setup when drilling into the end grain of stocks. Drills tend to "hog in," so be sure the drill doesn’t break out someplace where it shouldn’t. Caution: Don’t split stocks by forcing dowels in too tightly.

This is the time to adjust pitch and length of pull, if a thicker recoil pad is going to be installed, or perhaps anew forend tip on a rifle will be used. It is important to have the back or front of the stock flat and perpendicular to the center plane of the stock. Don’t slap a stock onto a band-saw table and just lop it off. Rough cuts only. Use a protractor, and get equal angles on both sides of the stock.

Of course, butt stock pitch cuts and forend tip angles will not always be perpendicular to the stock centerline based on style, but we do not want recoil pads or tips installed at an angle to the center plane of the stock. (That is, more rubber recoil pad showing on one side than the other after final sanding and fit up.) Use a small rasp and sandpaper block, working toward the middle. No chipped edges. I want a perfectly flat surface between the pad and butt stock or forend tip and stock.

Straight-line sand the new pad on a ground steel plate to get it flat. Some pads and plastic butt plates will soften and allow some bending or reshaping, if placed in very hot or boiling water. This would apply when it becomes necessary to fit pads to curved butts on contoured stocks on older-style rifles. Fish them out while wearing leather gloves and have at it. Go easy. This takes some practice. Do not try to bend a pad cold; it will probably break.

I belt sand excess pad rubber using one of the fixtures that is intended for fitting new pads to finished gunstocks. I then install the pad or butt plate to the stock, following the manufacturer’s instructions. I hand sand it with the stock for a perfect fit. Carry stock contours right into the recoil pad all around. If I am going to rework metal parts, I can sometimes file and sand these with the wood—parts like trigger guards, tang legs on receivers, or related metal components.

Of course, all of these parts will have to be final sanded and polished prior to black oxide, bluing, blackening, or plating. This is also the time to correct improperly installed sling swivels on rifles. Move holes over to the centerline where they should have been drilled in the first place. There is nothing that looks as crude as improperly installed swivels. Sometimes I have to enlarge a hole and machine and install a steel insert in the stock to get things where they belong.

When I drill holes for sling swivels I carefully locate them on the centerline of the stock and start with small pilot holes and perhaps install small-diameter gauge pins so I can check alignment and make corrections if required before the final hole diameter is drilled. Locations and distances of swivels from the butt or forend tip are very important. Sometimes a stock can be set up in a vertical mill, but be careful. The cheap angled drill jigs that are available have not helped me much with swivel installations.

I think a good eye is most important here. Next, I try to correct any stock contour problems, such as barrel channels with more wood on one side than the other, pistol-grip areas, comb heights, or obvious areas that are not correct. On rifles, this is about the time to start glass bedding, which is a whole other subject. Now you’re ready to start sanding. I use from 100 grit down to 320, and down to 400 grit or even finer if an oil finish will be used. Use all the grits in between, or sanding scratches will show.

I use small rubber blocks, rubber erasers, small wood blocks, and just my fingers. Sand with the grain whenever possible. Don’t get carried away with the coarser papers. You want to remove the minimum

amount of wood, and you don’t want to dig a hole trying to remove a dent. Sometimes a filler will have to be used. I add sanding dust to fillers. Fillers will probably show. This is unacceptable if an oil finish will be used. Sometimes a deep dent can be made into a knothole in the walnut with darker filler. Cuts with a fine, sharp blade can sometimes be put through filled areas and filled with black ink to appear as natural wood grain. This takes artistic experience. Practice on scrap wood.

Sand carefully around checkering to avoid damaging it. You will probably need to clean out boarderlines and sharpen up some diamonds later. As I move to finer grit paper, I will damp mop the wood with water and "de-whisker" the stock over a gas flame. (Don’t set it on fire.) To detect sanding scratches, I use mineral spirits on a tack rag to dampen the wood. This will help to find sanding flaws. They will stand out better when viewed outdoors in daylight.

Remove all attachments, butt pads or recoil pads and set them aside. I will rework checkering as required at this time. I use a single line tool. I will not get into this area too far but It will not, however, stand up to much abuse—every little scratch will show. diamonds should be sharp pointed; use light pressure, get right into the corners of the pattern, and place your thumb ahead of the tool, no slips allowed. Hopefully you will be following the original pattern. We are just trying to clean things up here.

When you think you have it right, and you have taken careful measurements all over and checked contours with a steel rule or straight edge, and the stock is so smooth that you can hardly hold on to it and you can’t find a single sanding scratch, you’re ready to stain the wood. Staining I use penetrating-type stains; the thin kind with no fillers. I feel that stains with fillers hide color and figure. I use a toothbrush to brush the stain out of checkering.

I apply stain with a rag, work it in well across the grain, and wipe it off thoroughly. If a few minor sanding scratches show up at this point, it’s possible to wet sand small areas with stain to remove them. Stain must dry for 24 to 48 hours. Don’t start finishing before the stain is completely dry. Carefully mask off all checkering, carving or laser-cut detail in the wood. We will complete this later. Finishing For a varnish finish, I like semi-gloss interior/exterior polyurethane.

It’s tough, clear, rubs out fairly well, and it can be repaired. I have used spar varnishes, but they tend to be a little on the soft side. Oil varnishes are harder to apply by hand and require thinning. Satin varnishes contain too much flattener and do not produce the degree of luster that I prefer. Fresh, new varnish works better, so get rid of the old degraded stuff.

The most important thing I have learned about varnishing is that a clean work area, thin coats, and following the manufacturer’s instructions are very important. I have applied varnishes in various manners—brushes, rags, fingers, spray cans, and a few other ways on interior bores. Always apply fast, thin coats. This will minimize runs, orange peel, streaking, and bubbles. If small imperfections appear, just leave them alone and deal with them when that coat dries.

I very lightly scuff sand between coats with fine sandpaper to remove minor defects. I don’t like steel wool. I have occasionally used #0000, but look out for wool fibers stuck in the finish and remember to wipe down with naphtha before recoating. Keep the edges of masking tape tight. Sometimes strips have to be replaced between coats and scuff sanding. I get finish into all interior areas of the stock with the first few coats.

The objective is to build up a fairly heavy even thickness of finish on the exterior surfaces. A lot of it will be rubbed down, and if you break through the surface, it’s back to the varnish can. I will try for at least six good coats. Let it dry and harden, as it will be easier to rub out after a few days of curing. I will then lightly wet sand with 600-grit wet-or-dry paper, followed up with a fine pumice rubdown using a damp cloth. Again, go easy here; don’t cut through the finish. Next is the compounding.

Automotive rubbing and finishing compounds seem to work, but, once again, do not be too aggressive. I use a slightly damp soft cloth and Meguiars #9 Swirl Remover (available in most auto-supply stores or from auto body shops). I polish and final buff by hand with a very soft flannel cloth. Compounding also works well on plastic parts. If the finish shows too

much gloss, a very fine, damp pumice rub will tone this down. I then remove the masking tape from the protected areas. A minor clean up with the checkering file on borders will be required if some finish got under the tape. Do not let that tool slip out of borderlines. For checkered areas, I use a single coat of thinned finish, and perhaps a few drops of linseed oil with a drop of Japan drier (available at woodworkers’ stores), brushed into the pattern with a toothbrush. I then quickly wipe off any excess finish.

You don’t want a buildup of finish in checkered, or carved areas. Let everything dry before reassembly. Lacquer finishes should be sprayed on. Recoat times are critical, and between-coat sanding will probably not be required. Having the correct equipment for the job is critical for spray painting. I have used varnish in spray cans with some success. It takes a little practice. I have made temporary spray booths by encircling an area with polyethylene sheet like a large shower stall.

Usually, a single stock project requires such a small amount of finish that using powered spray equipment involves more work to clean everything up than I feel it is worth, especially if time between coats is required. Oil Finishes Oil finishes are easy to apply. Linseed oil by itself offers very little protection, and Danish oils are way too thin for gunstock finishes. Pure tung oil will work, as will a few commercial stock finishes. But we can still do better.

In a very small paper cup, I mix a teaspoon of boiled linseed oil, a teaspoon of natural tung oil, 1/2 teaspoon of turpentine, 1/2 teaspoon of oil varnish (not polyurethane), and three or four drops of Japan drier. Stir this up, and with your fingers or a small lint-free cloth rub it into that perfectly, super-smooth-sanded, final-checkered, stained, and thoroughly dry stock. The first coat can go into the stock bores and the checkering, but when applying additional coats, stay out of checkering.

Rub it in until it disappears in the wood. Brush out all checkered areas. Then throw the remainder in your metal disposal can. You must mix anew, small amount for each coat. As the Japan drier will oxidize the oils, this mixture should not be used after a couple hours. Let each coat cure for at least 14 hours. Early coats go on easily. The third and forth coats get more difficult. You must cut back on the oil varnish and dry times must be longer. Wood pores will quickly fill up and a gloss or luster will develop.

You can’t get into too much trouble with this stuff if you let it cure or dry between coats. Defect areas or streaks can be cut back with very fine sandpaper and recoated. Also if any sanding scratches appear, it is possible to wet sand with oil to remove them. Cure times can be 48 hours or longer. Don’t recoat if fairly heavy pressure with your fingers will not allow them to slip easily over the finish. If you let this finish cure for a week, it can be rubbed out a little with fine pumice.

This finishing process should stop as soon as all wood pores are filled. If you build finish up above the wood surface, it can get a little gummy looking. The small amount of oil varnish will seal the wood better than pure oil. Remind your customer that oilrich finishes require a little upkeep once or twice a year. Don’t use oil varnish in the maintenance coats— just a little boiled linseed and tung oil, a drop of mineral spirits, and a drop of Japan drier.

Very thin coats can usually be rubbed in by hand without disassembly of the firearm. Stay out of checkering and away from rubber recoil pads. Wipe off any excess oil from metal parts, and let the firearm stand in a safe corner to dry overnight. Never use wax over an oil finish. Conclusions There are a great many wood finishes on the market. Many of the so-called "wonder" wood finishes and stains are just advertising hype and contain lots of high-priced thinner.

They may be all right for your wood-cased wall clock, but they may not make a good gunstock finish. I believe we have to continue to do research and to try new products, but my procedure is to test all finishes first on scrap wood. The most important piece of advice I can give on the subject is: Don’t try to cut corners or rush through the job if you want a quality finish. ■