Romanian AKM stock finish ?

[Bulls-I_24]

I picked up an extra stock set, minus the upper handguard, a couple months ago. It is a Romanian Guard stock (with the black stripe on the buttstock), laminated wood, and the foregrip on the lower hand guard. The stock set is much lighter in color than the dark colored one I have now, and others I've seen.I searched around for a surplus upper handguard and found one that looked like the color would match so I ordered one. Upon receiving it today I discovered it was "naked", bare wood and very dry.
My question is, does anyone know what they used for a finish? Some type of stock oil? Tung? Linseed?
I will post comparison pics tonight or tomorrow....thanks in advance to anyone with an idea.
I knew something else was off, I ordered a laminated wood one and
received a solid wood one it took 3 months to get that and a couple screws....hopefully they make it right

Information

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[Aragorn243]

My upper handguard was cracked so I ordered a new one. It was unfinished as well. I used BLO on it and it matched up with the remaining portions of the stock perfectly.

[jjjxlr8]

They used shellac originally.

[Bulls-I_24]

My upper handguard was cracked so I ordered a new one. It was unfinished as well. I used BLO on it and it matched up with the remaining portions of the stock perfectly.

What color stock was this used to match?I'm not familiar with BLO...

They used shellac originally.

I'm assuming the shellac is the darker color like the finish on the SKS?

[Aragorn243]

BLO is boiled linseed oil. It generally just darkens the wood from its natural state just a bit. If you put enough coats on it, it will develop a shine that is easily repaired in the event of a scratch. My Romanian stock is a WASR-10 and I have photos of it in this thread: Gp wasr 10 The stock is a laminate that does not have a shellac on it. Fairly light wood, reddish in color just a bit. Not sure how close that would be to your model.

The photo shows the original upper hand guard, not the replacement. The replacement is a bit darker and a better match. The stock has quite a bit of cosmoline in it I believe and I have not done much to get it out.

[jjjxlr8]

This is a Romanian Civil Guard AIM that still retains the original shellac finish:






Note that the "G" on the rear sight block (originally highlighted with orange paint) and the black stripe on the buttstock are unique to the Civil Guard rifles, which were semi-auto not select fire.

[Aragorn243]

That shellac looks more durable than the typical Soviet shellac.

[Midmichigun]

As a side note, some were imported that were "wetted" at one time. The distributor ran a sale on them due to the damage. I managed to afford 1 at the time. The wood is VERY dry and it doesn't look finished. My kit also had a lot of rust and pitting on the metal.

BTW, that is a nice looking Guard stock. I don't think mine looked that nice (even the ones that were in good condition that I had purchased).

As far as I can tell, it was a nice lacquer finish on the composite. However, most people quickly swapped out the furniture. Since they deemed it ugly.

[jjjxlr8]

I was lucky enough to have a local builder make 3 of these for me with original matching kits.

He would normally cut off the foregrip and belt sand all of the original finish off! I asked him if I bought 3 rifles from him, would he pick out the best condition kits and leave the original finish alone and he agreed.

[Midmichigun]

JJ,
Sweet looking rifles! Yep, most people did dump the finish and also the fore grip.
The belt sanding method actually seems very accurate on how many people handled them... regardless, looks like you have a nice collection!!