Refinishing Stock

[rocky321]

K98 Russian capture. Don't like the shellac look, so I stripped the laminated stock and handguard. I applied 6 coats of 50/50 BLO and mineral sprits and 4 hand rubbings of Tom's 3/1. I can't get the hanguard as dark as the stock. Looks mismatched. I heard wiping it down in cosmoline and leaving for a week or so will darken the wood. I don't want to strip and stain. Any thoughts?

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[mdrim13]

Personally i would not reccomend putting cosmoline on the wood because it is a mix of oil, grease and bees wax. all three of these can prevent the adhering of the final layer of finish. i would rub it with boiled linseed oil to see if you can darken the wood. depending on the finish of the stock (darkness) this may or may not be enough. good luck and you should post pics of a before and after.

[stockerphil]

I work on many gun stocks. I suggest you either rub off BLO and apply stain to the wood or reapply with BLO to which you add some stain. Or add many more coats of BLO with stain in it to darken FE. You can use furniture powder stain, artist oil paint to get the color, or - if you mix long enough the Transtint liquid stains work too.

[b32dominator]

No need to remove the BLO. You can try two things. Find some light brown leather die, it has brown and reddish town to it, especially when mixed with BLO. You can also try cutting some brown rit dye with denatured alcohol. If you mix it like you can add to proper darkening.

[Aragorn243]

When the Russians rebuilt these things they were taking parts out of bins so chances the forend matches the stock are pretty small. If they are both laminated, they should match pretty closely if they are both cleaned thoroughly but even then no guarantee. If it were mine, I'd clean it with citristrip and start over once the two match closely when cleaned. I generally use unthinned BLO and put a coat on every evening for two weeks and then let it sit for a month and put another coat on and see what happens. If it still has a dry look to it after that one, I'll put a new coat on for several evenings and let it sit for another month. I currently have five rifles including 1 RC that have reached the point where I'm very satisfied with them. With a soft cloth buffing, they all have a nice low shine to them. Just finished them this weekend. The rifle that took the most coats of BLO and I thought it was never going to get there was a Carcano Cavalry Carbine. That just sucked up the BLO every time until this week.

[sakorick]

When the Russians rebuilt these things they were taking parts out of bins so chances the forend matches the stock are pretty small. If they are both laminated, they should match pretty closely if they are both cleaned thoroughly but even then no guarantee. If it were mine, I'd clean it with citristrip and start over once the two match closely when cleaned. I generally use unthinned BLO and put a coat on every evening for two weeks and then let it sit for a month and put another coat on and see what happens. If it still has a dry look to it after that one, I'll put a new coat on for several evenings and let it sit for another month. I currently have five rifles including 1 RC that have reached the point where I'm very satisfied with them. With a soft cloth buffing, they all have a nice low shine to them. Just finished them this weekend. The rifle that took the most coats of BLO and I thought it was never going to get there was a Carcano Cavalry Carbine. That just sucked up the BLO every time until this week.

I'm in with this but prefer Raw Linseed oil over BLO. There was no BLO in the 40's so Raw Linseed oil was used then and it stands to reason it should be used now. It takes longer to dry but that is actually a good thing when it comes to color matching. K98's were never meant to have a shine....low or otherwise. JMHO.....Regards, Rick.

[Alexisrq]

No need to remove the BLO. You can try two things. Find some light brown leather die, it has brown and reddish town to it, especially when mixed with BLO. You can also try cutting some brown rit dye with denatured alcohol. If you mix it like you can add to proper darkening.

Tandy Leather Factory - Fiebing's Dye 4 oz Dk Brown

This is the one I use, get the alcohol base.

Without getting in the linseed oil/tung oil debate.

Pure Tung Oil Finish - Wood Finishing - All Natural Finish - China Wood Oil - Real Milk Paint