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Old April 27, 2009, 01:09 PM   #1
Coomba
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Dropped the stock during refinishing, now what?

I was poking around theboxotruth.com and decided I'd refinish my Chinese SKS.

On the site, they talked about using oven cleaner to strip the original varnish. Did that, don't think I screwed that up. I sanded the stock lightly with 100 grit sandpaper, then 150, then 220. So far so good.

One of the methods on Box O' Truth is using a mix of 50/50 mineral spirits with polyurethane before adding layers of 100% poly. I liked how that came out, so I went ahead and tried this method.

I applied 3 light coats of the 50/50 mix. Stood the stock up on its butt. Watch helplessly as it fell over on the concrete. Now it's got dings on one side of it. They are numerous and very small, but noticeable in sun light as the color of the dings are of the wood below the 50/50 coats.

Where should I go from here? I have even considered continuing on with my project, coating it in poly and keeping the marks as a reminder of my first project.

Should I sand the coats off, if that's possible, and then smooth out the dings with steel wool or sandpaper and use the hot-iron-damp-cloth to raise them?

Maybe they can be raised out without sanding?

I am hoping i can sand it, I noticed after it was all dry that on one side of my stock, there are a ton of these little dark gray specks, as if there was water damage. Only thing I can figure out is that I didn't sand down far enough and some of the old finish is still on there. How I missed this is obvious, I'm new.

Damn my clumsiness. I don't even know what the hell a 50/50 mix of poly and mineral spirits is supposed to do (help the poly to absorb into the wood?).
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Old April 27, 2009, 02:21 PM   #2
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The 50/50 mix may be to better soak in to the wood. I've never used it, but I trust those guys at TBOT.

I had the same thing happen to a 91/30 I was refinishing for the second time. The first time I used a combination stain/poly product the result of which sucked, so I re-stripped and used a separate stain and finish. I was on my third coat of satin poly after six coats of stain when the wire suspending my stock came loose and <clunk> down it went on the concrete floor. I thought about having to strip and re-finish a third time and went ahead and did it. I only sanded the on the first re-finishing - the second and third I just chemically stripped so it wasn't as time-consuming.

If you're going to sand, you'll probably have to wait a couple of days for the poly to harden enough without gumming up the sandpaper - maybe as long as a week depending on coat thickness and drying time/temperature/humidity.
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Last edited by jsmaye; April 29, 2009 at 07:19 AM.
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Old April 27, 2009, 02:23 PM   #3
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i would sand it back down and start over. Those surface imperfections are probably from dust sticking to the finish before it dried. You need to apply the new finish in a dust free environment.
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Old April 28, 2009, 03:33 PM   #4
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strip it and if the dings are still present then use a steamer or an iron with the steamer setting to steam out the dings. it works well.

then go and redo all the work you had to strip off. it happens to everyone. i dropped a AAA clario walnut stock I was finishing for a custom 98 build and put a big dent in it, luckily the steamer raised it and I just had to refinish it and not ditch a $400 stock.
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Old April 29, 2009, 12:54 PM   #5
Coomba
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Excellent advice guys, thanks.

Now, about this stripping with Easy-Off oven cleaner deal. I was cleaning my glasses this morning when i noticed a speck that would not come off. Upon closer investigation, it looks like a burn mark - melted plastic. Looks like the Easy-Off came back at me and worked its magic. Could of been my eye.

If Easy-Off is THAT freaking strong, couldn't it burn the wood?
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Old April 29, 2009, 03:25 PM   #6
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Quote:
If Easy-Off is THAT freaking strong, couldn't it burn the wood?
Yes, it can 'burn' the wood. And it still doesn't reach inside the wood to pull out the cosmoline.
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Old May 2, 2009, 03:08 AM   #7
Flipper 56
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Shouldn't be refinishing "milsurps" anyway....serves ya right

Just kiddin'
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Old May 3, 2009, 07:40 PM   #8
Coomba
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Everytime I look at it I get a bad feeling about destroying some of its historical value or something. Next milsurp, I'll refinish a spare stock and keep the original. Only good thing about this refinishing process so far, I found a hairline crack. I don't believe I did it, I've been careful. After the drop I checked it thoroughly and didn't find anything. As I sanded down the other day, I found a sof spot that got softer, and wouldn't you know. Looks like all the shellac or whatever is on this thing covered it up and kept it sturdy.

About this rifle's value. It's Chinese. Most markings are close to gone if not gone, except on the stock, there is one nice cartouche that I have not removed or damaged. It has a side scope mount bolted onto it. An odd rig, haven't seen one like that on any other SKS. The stock is modified, or at least it looks that way. That side scope mount juts out, the stock looks cut to fit it, and it doesn't fit very well. Coulda been a "bubba" I suppose. I don't count on selling any of my rifles anyway, I'm sure many of us say that, I'm going to try and stick to it.

Also, I believe it is all milled. The numbers don't match I don't think, there's lots of numbers and I think they are mostly import marks. So it could even be this is just a Frankenstein. I will be taking pictures because:

1. I don't know how to fix a crack like that. It's on a thin part of the stock. So, I'll need the collective wisdom of this forum. The picture will explain.

2. Maybe someone can help shed some light on this SKS.

3. I think some of you guys will like to see some pictures of a round I let off on accident. Let the tomatoes fly, I feel like a complete and utter ass. Off the stone along the base of my mirror, through the mirror, through the wall, there was a door open against the other side of the wall so it went through that, and there is a dent on the opposite wall, thank God it didn't leave that room. The jacket I found and it's all just a big chunk of shrapnel. The bullet its self, I cannot find. Where it could be, I don't know. The jacket was found in the room but not close to the wall. It was just the smell of gun powder, and ringing in my ears. 9mm. I'm glad I observe the four rules and only failed due to a slip on a pair of pants. When you fail on one rule, the other 3 may help save a life or limb or cat. Damn, damn damn.
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Old May 4, 2009, 05:47 PM   #9
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Dropped Stocks AND accidental discharges
Firearms are for responsible citizens
Take it easy Buddy !!!!!!!
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Old May 4, 2009, 07:00 PM   #10
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Wait, how did the AD happen? You can't just throw that into a completely unrelated post and expect us to be like "yeah, lets see the cool pic!"

This is like an entirely different, conversation. You may have just completely derailed and killed your thread but I am entirely interested in hearing more!
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Old May 5, 2009, 10:51 PM   #11
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Do NOT cut POLY with mineral spirits!!!!!!!!!! Find a woodworker to fix it, if it can be........ Dont know where you got your advise but its horrible! You do not cut poly with mineral spirits, and using oven cleaner as a stripper is just odd. I wouldnt have stripped it anyways. If it had to be refinished, I would have scraped and sanded it back to bare wood. Then I would have used boiled linseed oil on it and sealed it with 2# cut of shellac. Then use a good whipe on poly, or if you have a sprayer (not a spray can) then spray it. The linseed oil should be left to dry for a few days before the shellac and poly. Not tryin to sound harsh, but there is alot of bad woodworking advise on gun sites...
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Old May 6, 2009, 07:27 AM   #12
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Quote:
and using oven cleaner as a stripper is just odd.
People are using oven cleaner to remove the cosmoline, not strip the finish.

Quote:
If it had to be refinished, I would have scraped and sanded it back to bare wood. Then I would have used boiled linseed oil on it and sealed it with 2# cut of shellac. Then use a good wipe on poly, or if you have a sprayer (not a spray can) then spray it.
Yes, that's one way of doing it. Many of us have had excellent results using other methods.
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Old May 6, 2009, 09:01 AM   #13
Coomba
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The oven cleaner method for stripping finish, I must say, worked pretty damn well - but not as well as I thought it would. I won't be using this method again, it's just too harsh on the wood for me.

The 50/50 spirits and poly, I have to say, looks and feels really, really good. Brought out the wood's character, it really livened up that SKS. Why is this not a good method specifically? Is there a scientific reason for not doing so? Or is it a historical value deal? Does it weaken the wood or something?

I'm sanding away now, haven't brought it down to bare wood yet, I'm being very gentle and careful (livin' and learnin'), especially around that Chinese character which I can't identify online anywhere. Taking pictures of the details has been difficult, I'll have to look into picture taking techniques to clarify the remaining numbers and characters.

The SKS boards and info sites are full of info, who would have thought? Sure there's digging to do, but honestly many of those people have identical issues and helpful posts have almost always been on the front page just waiting to be read. I highly recommend them.
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Old May 6, 2009, 05:38 PM   #14
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Someone works an AD into a post bout refinishing an SKS and no one bats an eye? Guess I took my crazy pills today...
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