Ak-47 laminate refinish

[skyking]

Just got new ak-47 romy,Would like to refinish the laminated stock pls assist with threads to get me started. Thanks in advance .

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[browningautorifle]

Remember you're in fact stripping and refinishing plywood so I wouldn't use too harsh liquid strippers or you could de-laminate things to some extent. I should think the careful use of scrapers would take off old spotty finish and allow you to re apply a varnish equal to the original. I might be tempted to use spar varnish.

[Aragorn243]

All the Soviet stocks I've refinished stripped off very easily with a scraper. You can use the flat edge of a knife or if very careful, the sharp side, ensuring you go always with the grain and keep the edge at nearly a right angle to the wood. You do not want to cut the wood. I would not be too concerned using a mild water based stripper or soaps to clean some of the oil out of the wood prior to re-finishing but I would not use anything harsh as de-lamination can occur. I personally prefer an oil finish rather than varnish as the varnish is harder to apply, harder to maintain and harder to repair if damaged later.

There are quite a few discussions on stock refinishing lower on the page in the restorer section.

[smoke]

On the one that I did, I sprayed in down with Easy-off oven cleaner, waited 15 minutes, scrubbed it with a scrub brushes & then hosed it off with water. Stood it it the corner & let'er dry, then gave it a good sanding in restained it followed with a coating of marine spar varnish. It turned out looking great. Hope this helps. smoke P.S. Besure to follow the safety directions on the Easy-off oven cleaner can as it is costic.

[mdrim13]

Ive done a couple of these in the past. I have recently decided to start refinishing stocks as a way to make a little extra cash on the side. I would be happy to do this for you if you would be interested. I know how some people (like me) like to do it themselves so I would understand if you are not interested. PM me if you would like to discuss this. Below is a picture of one I have one. The finish on this particular one is a satin polyeurathane.

[skyking]

Thanks for replys.Ive started,with applying a 70/30% mixture of LINSPEED stock refinishing oil & mineral spirits.Did the wet sanding with said mix.After two coats & wetsanding,I will start three or four finish coats.After doing 3 or 4 wood stock w/BLO ,Tung Oil,was kind of nervous about laminates.I really enjoy doin it.Believe this Romanian AK-47 will turn out pretty slick. Thanks again for the replys

[browningautorifle]

Of course you will post after pics? Too late to ask about before pics. This info is invaluable for the doubting Thomas' later. I would have concerned myself about delaminating but after Smoke's post I guess it's not as bad as I thought.

[Trench-Artisan]

On the one that I did, I sprayed in down with Easy-off oven cleaner, waited 15 minutes, scrubbed it with a scrub brushes & then hosed it off with water. Stood it it the corner & let'er dry, then gave it a good sanding in restained it followed with a coating of marine spar varnish. It turned out looking great. Hope this helps. smoke P.S. Besure to follow the safety directions on the Easy-off oven cleaner can as it is costic.

So is there any particular reason you would recommend this method over Bix Stripper? I have Romy G vertical forward grip that I need to strip down to bare wood as well.

[sovblocgunfan]

I have had success on my Egyptian AKM laminate with Citristrip. Not harsh and made short work of the shellac.

[Trench-Artisan]

Probably should have used that instead of Bix, but oh well.
It took three 15-20 min. applications and the use of a plastic scraper tool and scrubbing pad, but I got it all off.
Then I soaked/scrubbed it in a 1:1 bleach/water solution over night and I have been drying it for several days.
I am very pleased with how light it has come out, but I have found two small areas where there seems to be some sort of stubborn oil left behind and I and concerned about it interfering with the Rit dye I was planning to use.