to refinish or not to .....garand stock?

[DaveN]

I have a couple brand new CMP stocks(came w rifles) and are light in color.
They are great looking but to light. CMPs site advertizes linseed oil finish?
With original stocks I leave history alone but think these new ones would
look great with a dark walnut stain. Do I have to remove the light oil finish
(I would assume) Note: I had refinished 1 front hand guard that was new and
it came out great and now matches rifles older stock. any advice from those
in the know is greatly appreciated. thanks!

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[shottist]

If you use an alcohol based stain like "Chestnut Hill" there is no need to strip stock. Stain. 0000 steel wool to smooth and then Oil. I personally think a Tung Oil finish is superior to Linseed but be sure to use a pure food grade Tung Oil. 3 -7 THIN oilings 24 hrs apart, and finish with a coat of Arsenal Wax 1/3 Beeswax, 1/3 Turpentine, 1/3 linseed oil all melted and mixed together. Prepared Wax and food grade Tung oil can be found on the M1 site of "flea" bay at reasonable prices. Others here may other suggestions but this procedure has worked very well for me.

[Jack Stanley]

As long as the finish on them is linseed oil the alcohol dyes will penetrate and you can darken them up as much as you like . Chestnut hill is good as is Fiebings dark brown leather dye . The nice thing about the alcohol finishes is if you get it to dark you can wipe down with a cloth wet with denatured alcohol and lighten it a bit .

Jack

[DaveN]

shottist, why pure food grade tung oil?

[shottist]

Has no chemical Binders or Accelerators. Check the label on most containers sold in Hardware stores. Food Grade does not contain anything but pure unadulterated Tung Oil.