I'm calling this finished with the exception of paint. Thanks for everyone's help, especially with the bolt closing problem. Only thing that I don't like id the safety lever doesn't line up with the stop. Here's before:


and after: (sorry about the huge pictures)

looks good.

No better feeling than finishing your first one. congrats on a nice looking rifle!

I like the refinished wood!

Quoted: I like the refinished wood!

+1  what was your process.

Finished?  How can it be finished with no "Finish"???  

Are you talking about the piece from the trigger guard that comes up the side of the receiver there not lining up with the dimple in the selector? Was there anything you could have done about that?  Does it always line up on every AK?  Maybe 50% of them?

overall looks nice.  Mine is just a box of parts.  

Now that I found this U-drive thread, I might not be waiting until I have $225 to have mine built-  I might just do it myself!

Quoted: Finished?  How can it be finished with no "Finish"???

Quoted: I'm calling this finished with the exception of paint

I guess that's how.  


looks great, especially the wood!  I'm tossing a set in bleachwater tonight when i get home from work.  

Quoted: Quoted: I like the refinished wood! +1  what was your process.

I'm pretty sure that mcook76 used the stock refinishing method that I posted here

Quoted: I like the refinished wood!

He's absolutely correct! I forgot to give proper thanks to you for the formula. I've done two sets now and it is about a authentic as it gets! Thanks again to Tapeo and others!

You're welcome!  Actually, I can't take full credit for the formula/proceedure.  I basically gathered some info that was already posted on other sites and modified the formula/proceedure until I was satisfied with the results.  

Very nice job, now you will be taken over by the desire to build even more of them as they strike your fancy. Welcome to the dark side.

With the caveats that yes, these are AKs, and yes, the wood is laminated and so stronger, I submit that soaking wood in anything for any length of time is very, very bad for it.

They make wood bleach products just for this purpose. Or, you can simply wipe on a mild bleach solution, let it dry, and repeat until you get the color you want. Then you have to nuetralize the bleach (basic) with vinegar (acidic) to stop the bleaching process and you won't have to wait two or three days for it to dry.

Water + wood = bad!

I'm not saying your guys' stocks look bad, because they look great. Just that there are better, more accepted ways of working with the stuff that will make it look even better.

Tom h.gif

Quoted: Water + wood = bad!

How does that explain the top dollar value they get for those waterlogged old growth logs they pull up from the bottom of lakes?

www.popularwoodworking.com/features/fea.asp?id=1300

Looks Great!!!!  

Quoted: Quoted: Water + wood = bad! How does that explain the top dollar value they get for those waterlogged old growth logs they pull up from the bottom of lakes? www.popularwoodworking.com/features/fea.asp?id=1300

Totally different situation. Working on rifle stocks is a lot more akin to, say, cabinetmaking than it is to logging or lumber/board cutting.

Riflestocks (and most lumber we would ever use for anything) are professionally dried in a controlled environment to a very specific moisture content in order to provide the most strength.  Messing with that by soaking it in water is risky, though less so on a small, dense laminate peice like AK stocks.

Those old logs have been preserved by the ultra-cold water and, before they can be used, will probably have to be carefully and professionally dried in a controlled environment.

hug.gif

Quoted: Riflestocks (and most lumber we would ever use for anything) are professionally dried in a controlled environment to a very specific moisture content in order to provide the most strength.  Messing with that by soaking it in water is risky, though less so on a small, dense laminate peice like AK stocks.

I personally find it difficult to believe that Romania (or any other communist country for that matter) really gave a lot of consideration to specific moisture contents in their massed produced AK stocks.  I could be completely wrong but it just doesn't seem like something they would have devoted a lot of time and effort to.

True test of the build,  how does the safety lever line up with the dust cover in the safe position?  

lol, thanks a lot. It looks like that in only in that spot. Who would have thought an angle grinder would leave such a mess!

Quoted: Quoted: Riflestocks (and most lumber we would ever use for anything) are professionally dried in a controlled environment to a very specific moisture content in order to provide the most strength.  Messing with that by soaking it in water is risky, though less so on a small, dense laminate peice like AK stocks. I personally find it difficult to believe that Romania (or any other communist country for that matter) really gave a lot of consideration to specific moisture contents in their massed produced AK stocks.  I could be completely wrong but it just doesn't seem like something they would have devoted a lot of time and effort to.

Again, I'm not sure how this applies to the large sheets of laminate wood that they cut into stock sets (although that stuff is made through a pressure-cooking system, as I recall, so it too would have a very specific moisture content).  But with hardwood (which is the beech that the solid stocks are made of and I think the laminate layers are beech too), if it's not properly dried it will warp and crack and split and check and do all sorts of nasty things. There is no way anyone could make a riflestock out of raw, green wood.  

I'm going on basic understanding of woodworking and riflestocking, not specific knowledge of AK stock production, so I, too, could be way off.

Tom

Quoted: Quoted: Riflestocks (and most lumber we would ever use for anything) are professionally dried in a controlled environment to a very specific moisture content in order to provide the most strength.  Messing with that by soaking it in water is risky, though less so on a small, dense laminate peice like AK stocks. I personally find it difficult to believe that Romania (or any other communist country for that matter) really gave a lot of consideration to specific moisture contents in their massed produced AK stocks.  I could be completely wrong but it just doesn't seem like something they would have devoted a lot of time and effort to.

Being that they used plywood, I would pretty much have to say you are completely wrong on this one.  If you dont have the proper moisture content, the laminations woudl simply start peeling apart among other things.  

You shouldn't assume that just because the rifles come from a country in which not everyone has a car or a 52" flat screen T.V. that somehow all their products are inferior...

Umm, I did make the disclaimer that I COULD BE WRONG.  I've been to Romania twice in the past three years and yes I know not everything they make is inferior and I never claimed that it was inferior to anything.  You do bring up a good point about it being plywood though.  Does anything bad happen to plywood if you were to submerge it in a lake over night and then let it dry out in the sun?  Would that plywood not then be usable again? Isn't that one of the main advantages to plywood that it doesn't warp easily? Do not makers of violins, cellos, etc soak their wood, sometimes for years to be able to bend the wood?

ETA: I found this article on surplusrifle.com about stock refinishing.  Guess what folks?  They boil or put the wood stocks into the dishwasher...

www.surplusrifle.com/shooting2006/dishwashermethod/index.asp

Quoted: Umm, I did make the disclaimer that I COULD BE WRONG.  I've been to Romania twice in the past three years and yes I know not everything they make is inferior and I never claimed that it was inferior to anything.  You do bring up a good point about it being plywood though.  Does anything bad happen to plywood if you were to submerge it in a lake over night and then let it dry out in the sun?  Would that plywood not then be usable again? Isn't that one of the main advantages to plywood that it doesn't warp easily? Do not makers of violins, cellos, etc soak their wood, sometimes for years to be able to bend the wood? ETA: I found this article on surplusrifle.com about stock refinishing.  Guess what folks?  They boil or put the wood stocks into the dishwasher... www.surplusrifle.com/shooting2006/dishwashermethod/index.asp

When you leave plywood out in the elements it warps and delaminates. Except for in controlled environments, water is bad for wood. On top of that, bleach is bad for wood.  That's why there are special products that use bleach in a very controlled way to change wood color.

About the worst thing you can do to a riflestock is put it in the dishwasher. High pressure and temperature water?! Why?? That's almost as bad as EZ-Off oven cleaner.

I've seen that page on surplusrifle.com, and while that site is a great reference for most things, that particular page makes me cringe.  It's fine to rinse a stock in water quickly to get stripper residue off, but cramming one in the dishwasher or boiling it is simply bad practice.

When it comes to cleaning and degreasing wood, there are no chemical shortcuts other than the commercially-produced stipper products that do their job quite well without harming the wood.  Time and heat can get soaked-in cosmolene out; no chemical process will get deep cosmo.  

You can do whatever you want to your AK stocks. I'll work on mine with actual woodworking techniques and products.  It's not really any harder to do, and the stuff is cheap.  I like my stocks to look authentic, not "refinished," but that's just me.

It looks great, just so ya know I have 5 home builts here on Tapco Flats, all of the safety's look like yours.  Also is the bbl pin in in the top picture?..

Can you tell us where you bought the parts kit from and how much it was?