Refinishing Remington 870 Stock

[azsixshooter]

I was thinking about refinishing the stock of my 870. I've had it for many years and done a lot of hunting with it and it's worn about the pump and the grip. Can anybody point me in the right direction as to what the best way to do this would be? I was thinking that minwax made something for stripping the old finish, but I don't have any idea what to use to refinish with.

Thanks for any help.

[Superhouse 15]

If you're in the Minwax aisle at the local hardware store, any of their stain will work to refinish the wood. Just pick a color you like. They have a dark Ebony stain out now that will cover a lot of old damage. The more careful you are with the prep work, the better it will come out. To finish it off, a polyurethane finish is fine. Satin if you don't want it shiny for hunting, a gloss if you want that deep deep clear exterior. Again, the more detailed the prep work the better it will look. If you want it to be more "natural", I've had good luck with an orange oil and beeswax stuff I found in the furniture aisle, can't remember the name. Good matte finish but it takes a few coats and a lot of hand rubbing. Makes nice knife handle finish with the softer woods.

[Scorch]

Although I am sure it will work fine as a finish, I would avoid MinWax for firearms refinishing. It is not very resistant to solvents and will closud if you let any solvent sit on it. TruOil, LinSpeed, or any finish specifically designed for firearms would last longer. Look on Midway or Brownells wen sites for ideas.

[azsixshooter]

I would avoid MinWax for firearms refinishing. It is not very resistant to solvents and will closud if you let any solvent sit on it.

But he said to finish it with a polyurethane finish, wouldn't that perfectly protect the underlying minwax layer? I was under the impression that polyurethane is extremely tough and durable.

I like the idea of the orange oil/beeswax matte finish except for one thing. We have africanized honey bees here in AZ and I don't want any fruity/waxy stuff on me when I'm out in the desert. I have had a swarm of thousands of bees fly overhead once while I was out about 10 miles from Bartlett Reservoir and it was pretty scary. I don't know if they were africanized or not, but it was freaky having so many bees fly overhead for what seemed like several minutes. It was really loud, they must have been moving their hive or something. Another time I was rabbit hunting and all these bees kept bothering me. I couldn't figure out why until sometime later when I read that bee-keepers use lemon-scented pledge to attract the bees to their hives...the same stuff I had used previously on my stock

So that's the only reason I'd like to avoid any fruity/waxy polishes or finishes. I will check out the finishes at Brownells and Midway, thanks for the suggestions.