I have a yugo sks that I picked up at dunhams for 109 dollars.  Everything on it is matching except for the gas tube, it was stovepiping like a mofo so I sent it back to century and they put it a new gas tube in it for free because it was under 30 days.. So now it shoots really nice, but it looks like hell.  There is words carved in the stock in yugoslavian that I cannot understand... And some slight chips and dings in it.  Im thinkin of sanding it down and restaining it, like I did for my WASR and maybe using some wood filler for the chips.  I am still going to maintain the original sks look though. Im wondering though how common it is to have the stock covered with words that were carved in it in a foreign language.  If its common, and lots of the issued yugos have this, then I will just go ahead and refinish it, however if its rare, then I will consider not refinishing the wood.  And also, I heard someone say that oven or grill paint worked good on the metal of their WASRs, would you recommend this for an sks for a cheap but decent enough for the beast that it is.  Obviously it would look better to have the metal all stripped and completely redone, but we are talking about a 110 dollar gun here.  Will the grill or oven paint ruin it or would it turn out ok?

The metal really doesnt look TOO BAD on it, the reason I want to refinish it though is how easily it rusts.  If I talk about water around it, it will rust.  Last time I took out, it was just slightly sprinkling and I was also shooting under a roof that was keeping the majority of me, my guns, and the gun cases dry.  Of course it was just a narrow roof though so me and my stuff got hit with a few drops, but its not like I threw it in a puddle.  And even though I took it out of the case as soon as I got home and wiped it down with a cloth, it still was covered in surface rust the next day... I got all of that off though cuz it hadnt gotten to the point of pitting yet though.

It *will* be rare. I would recommend the standard cosmoline removal and to remove the cosmoline from the stock.

I cleaned the stock with hot water which raised the dings and then dried it and left it to fully dry. Then I put some boiled linseed oil on it and rubbed it with my hand.  The carving is very commom.

There is one article about shoving the stock in the dish washer to completely strip off the gunk and to raise all the dings but I've not tried it ... yet.

If you don't like the stock Advanced Technology makes an excellent Monte Carlo one and the length of pull on their stocks is great. You can always save the wood.

I tried that dishwasher method recently with my SKS and it did a wonderful job of cleaning the cosmo out of the wood.  I also stained the wood on mine too.  As for the metal parts I just put them in a pot of boiling water for a while and that too worked very well for removing the cosmo.  

Quoted: I tried that dishwasher method recently with my SKS and it did a wonderful job of cleaning the cosmo out of the wood.  I also stained the wood on mine too.  As for the metal parts I just put them in a pot of boiling water for a while and that too worked very well for removing the cosmo.

+1 on the dishwasher method. I have used it to great results. You can find it on Surplusrifle.com.

+1 on dishwasher but would recommend against using linseed oil. Use Tung oil it is much better. I am in the process of refinishing my SKS right now.

Perfect time to refinish a gun right now, while its cold outside.

yup

I originally cleaned my stock chemically, sanded and refinished it.  I didn't bother taking out any dents.  After a few trips to the range and cosmoline still coming out when I got it hot, I  decided to do something about it.  A few days ago I used a handheld steam cleaner to steam out a few of the dents and clean out more cosmoline.  I used Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil (I believe it contains linseed oil), which is easy to apply and gives excellent results.  

Here are a few pics:

Nice