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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Refinished Romanian Stocks (Page 1 of 4)
Posted: 8/2/2005 5:48:24 PM EDT
Well, I just finished refinishing the stock sets for my two Rommy kits. I think they came out pretty well... What do you think? Here's a better picture of the handguards... 
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Thanks! I first took off the old finish with Bix stripper then I soaked them in some hot bleach water for about 2 or 3 hours. After letting them dry out good... I cheated by placing them in my oven for a few hours set at "warm" with the door cracked open. This turned out to be about 130 F or so. Next, I applied betadine with a brush. I did this about 3 times. I then wiped them down with a rag, and let them dry out again. By this time, they were a yellowish/orange color. I then applied some minwax Red Mahogany stain which I diluted about 1 part stain to 2 parts mineral spirits and wiped them down with that. After they dried out again, I applied 3 coats of Zinsser (SP?) Amber Shellac. That's about it. |
Yes, the uppers are solid wood and they are the original ones that came with the kits. It's kinda funny to think that the Bulgarian 74 kit I got a while back had a laminated upper and the rest of the furniture was all solid. |
Yeah, the soaking in the hot bleach water for 2 or 3 hours plus some light sanding afterwards got rid of the dents and scratches. I didn't really have many dents or scratches to begin with though. A wet rag and a clothes iron will also work to remove some dents. |
"that's some pretty wood". Wow, this is making think I'm ready some gay magazine. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours" Enjoy guys,. Guns are good. I'm just messing with ya. 
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cllary, ArmedFerret is exactly right. I got my betadine in the bandaid section at WalMart. The label on the bottle reads... Equate povidone-iodine solution, 10% It was definitely cheaper at WalMart (around $5) compared to Walgreens (around $14) for a bottle. Keep in mind that it does look really good on the wood while it's still wet but once it dries it leaves a yellow/orange color. This yellow/orange color is just the base color. Once it dries from the betadine, lightly sand with very fine sand paper and rub in some diluted stain. The amber shellac really adds a nice rich color after that. The nice thing about shellac is how quickly it dries... so quick that you really need to work really fast with it. You should also dilute the shellac with some denatured alcohol. The negative about shellac is that it's not really the most durable finish out there especially with water but it's my understanding that the Russians used a shellac finish on their AK stocks though. ETA: Feel free to IM me if you have any questions. I'd be more than happy to offer any help. |
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Thanks guys! I was shocked that it finished as well as it did due to the original condition. I've got old shovels that have better wood on them than this WASR did. Sure cleaned up well. I know everyone says use authentic finishes like BLO and tung...but I bought this rifle before reading any of that stuff. I just sanded it down, stained it several times, then sprayed polyurethane on it a few times. It has not chipped or bubbled no matter how many times I have smoke the handguards or hit it against something. Who knows?!? I'll refinish my next project gun the "right" way so I can see what a tung or BLO finish looks like. I wouldn't mind buying a $79 SKS just for the experiment of doing just that... |
I bought the Amber Shellac at Home Depot. I bought the Bix stripper at Home Depot too. It doesn't have to be "Bix"... probably any chemical stripper will work. I would imagine that citrus stripper works too. |
Oh, I think I dulted it to about 4 parts shellac to 1 part DNA... something like that. You might want to dilute to about 50/50 for the first coat though. |
How thick was the shellac? I have a bottle here at home but it's really thick stuff. |
I'm planning on making some sheet metal heat guards (like the ones for the plastic lowers) for the lower handguards. |
I put about 10 coats of spray polyurethane on the one I posted pictures of here. For whatever reason, mine never did bubble despite cooking the barrel numerous times. Probably has something to do with how much moisture is in the wood prior to finishing. I bet if you stripped your stock with oven cleaner and then washed it off, this would cause the wood to be too moist prior to finish. I've shot unrefinished rifles before where I got the wood so hot that cosmoline bubbled out of the grain. I sanded mine, so it was never wet, aside from the moisture involved in staining. |
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Well, I finished the first of my two Rommy kits. A big "thank you" goes to Socandyman for his help. Pics can be seen here.... www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=4&f=51&t=75271&page=1 |
[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Refinished Romanian Stocks (Page 1 of 4)
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