Norwegian Mauser K98 stock refinishing

[albertacowboy]

A friend has a Norwegian K98 which a previous owner appears to have protected with a medium-thick coat of varnish. What is the best way to remove the varnish and refinish the stock in a military finish, without damaging the glue in the red-layered laminated stock?

The varnish looks steaky and uneven, so I don't think it is the thin coat of varnish the Norwegians applied.

Many thanks!

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[Aragorn243]

I generally scrape my stocks rather than use chemical strippers. Due the the oil underneath, the varnishes and shellacs usually come off without too much effort. I can strip an entire stock in about an hour and a half. Don't ever direct the blade edge toward the wood as you can knick it. Keep it perpendicular at all times or even facing slightly away from the direction you are scraping. Always go with the grain. A plain old kitchen paring knife works fine. You don't need anything extremely sharp. If you have to apply a lot of pressure to get it to come off, you may want to try chemical strippers but don't let them soak too long on the laminated wood.

If the blade is "jumping" you are running counter to the wood grain. Usually occurs around pistol grips, etc. Just scrape in the opposite direction.

I just did a K98 stock over the weekend and posted some pics of the after in the Russian Capture thread.

Anywhere where there is a marking, you want to be very carefull and move very slowly.

I didn't go overboard with the stock, I left most of the dings and things in it, I just wanted to get the Russian shellac off of it. I coated it with BLO afterwards. Since I posted the photos, I've used some steel wool on it to make it a little more glossy. Usually takes a few coats to get it where you want it.

I did spray the stock with a very mild oven cleaner with lemon and washed it off after only a few minutes without any bad effects. It did pull some of the staining out. I would not try the regular oven cleaners though, I've read some bad reports with guys leaving it on too long or putting too many coats on and it delaminated the wood. After rinsing, I washed it with some shampoo and water and left it air dry. If you have bad dings, I did have some success with an iron and a wet paper towel in raising them a bit.

I learned to refinish wood this way from an old furniture refinisher. Just carried it over to stocks.

[albertacowboy]

Aragorn243, I saw the pics of your RC and it looks great. How would steel wool do instead of the knife blade, for those who are challenged by cutting tools?

[jon_norstog]

Norwegian wood? It's probably fish oil. Maybe you can get someone's cat to lick it off? Seriously, fish oil is the luxe of Norwegian wood treatments, what kept all the thousand-year-old Stave churches from rotting away.

Good luck, anyway.

jn

[jon_norstog]

Norwegian wood? It's probably fish oil. Maybe you can get someone's cat to lick it off? Seriously, fish oil is the luxe of Norwegian wood treatments, what kept all the thousand-year-old Stave churches from rotting away.

Good luck, anyway.

jn

[Aragorn243]

Aragorn243, I saw the pics of your RC and it looks great. How would steel wool do instead of the knife blade, for those who are challenged by cutting tools?

Depends on the finish. The stuff the Russians put on will come off with some elbow grease and steel wool. I don't know about what may be on your stock. You can try it. Steel wool is what I use in the rounded grooves where you don't want to try scraping like finger grooves or the groove where the bolt handle is on the 98's.

You don't need a sharp knife, a butter knife would probably work so long as it isn't completely rounded off or has serated edges. I've used them before. I have one of those cheap Chinese made pocket knives that they give away as free advertisements with a company name on it.