New rifle - Want to refinishing Bulgarian blond stock

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - New rifle - Want to refinishing Bulgarian blond stock

Posted: 11/13/2008 7:04:58 PM EDT

I just got me a nice Vector yesterday. It had a Bulgarian blond wood stock, only problem is the lower hand guard is scratched up a bit from the metal hook on the sling. I want to refinish the wood but keep it looking like it originally did. Does someone have a procedure to refinish the the blond wood or have a link to one?

Here's a pic:

Posted: 11/14/2008 2:38:58 PM EDT

[#1]

Nobody ever refinish a blond Bulgarian stock? Is there any stain used or just a coat or two of polyurethane/varnish?

Posted: 11/14/2008 2:54:39 PM EDT

[#2]

Not to hijack this thread but I have similar furniture on an AK and have a USA made putty colored pistol grip on it. Does anyone know where to purchase just a pistol grip that is a reasonable match for the stock and handguards?

Posted: 11/17/2008 7:06:14 AM EDT

[#3]

I know that if you use tung oil on the beech wood that IW sells it looks a lot like the original Hungarian wood. I dont stain blonde very much but depending on the type of wood you have it might work, it looks like it would. Try it out on the stub that fits in the receiver. To the other guy check out Iron Wood Designs(IW). If you want wood they got it.

Posted: 11/17/2008 7:19:43 AM EDT

[#4]

refinishing would probably cause more problems than fix. you already have a light wood and sanding it down and restaining will most likely result in mismatched color, unless you redo the entire set.

i'd chock it up to use and call it a day

Posted: 11/17/2008 7:30:43 AM EDT

[#5]

I would strip the whole set, sand out the scratchs then rub in some danish oil, you can add oil base stain to the danish oil if you want a darker color. Let the oil soak in for a day or so then reapply and use a 600-800 grit paper to polish the set up. Keep soaking and polishing until it looks good.

Posted: 11/17/2008 9:00:56 AM EDT

[#6]

...but then there's the issue of having an AK-74-style buttstock on an AKM. It's just me perhaps, but I couldn't deal with the relief cut in the buttstock...it belongs on AK-74s only.

I also have an SSR, but I opted to get the one with the plastic stock for two reasons...1. it was cheaper, and 2. I planned on replacing the buttstock with one that didn't have the cut. I got pretty lucky and found a guy that wanted the KVAR set that came on my SSR and traded me his unfinished Ironwood set.

Posted: 11/17/2008 7:16:55 PM EDT

[#7]

My plan is to refinish the entire stock set. I would just live with the scrapes but the entire stock set has a weird sticky feeling to it. I tried to clean it with a mild detergent and water and it only seemed to make the "stickiness" worse. The original finish also seems to attract dirt. If my hands have dirt on them, it all comes off on the stock, which can be wiped off with a damp cloth. I don't know if the previous owner put something on it or not.

Posted: 11/18/2008 7:45:12 AM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
My plan is to refinish the entire stock set. I would just live with the scrapes but the entire stock set has a weird sticky feeling to it. I tried to clean it with a mild detergent and water and it only seemed to make the "stickiness" worse. The original finish also seems to attract dirt. If my hands have dirt on them, it all comes off on the stock, which can be wiped off with a damp cloth. I don't know if the previous owner put something on it or not.

if that is the case, then:

Quoted:
I would strip the whole set, sand out the scratchs then rub in some danish oil, you can add oil base stain to the danish oil if you want a darker color. Let the oil soak in for a day or so then reapply and use a 600-800 grit paper to polish the set up. Keep soaking and polishing until it looks good.

Posted: 11/18/2008 9:51:42 AM EDT

[#9]

Quoted:

Quoted:
My plan is to refinish the entire stock set. I would just live with the scrapes but the entire stock set has a weird sticky feeling to it. I tried to clean it with a mild detergent and water and it only seemed to make the "stickiness" worse. The original finish also seems to attract dirt. If my hands have dirt on them, it all comes off on the stock, which can be wiped off with a damp cloth. I don't know if the previous owner put something on it or not.

if that is the case, then:

Quoted:
I would strip the whole set, sand out the scratchs then rub in some danish oil, you can add oil base stain to the danish oil if you want a darker color. Let the oil soak in for a day or so then reapply and use a 600-800 grit paper to polish the set up. Keep soaking and polishing until it looks good.

Where do I get danish oil? Home depot?

Posted: 11/18/2008 6:22:50 PM EDT

[#10]

check your local shops that would carry wood stains, oils and the like.

home depot, lowes would be my first choices

otherwise just order online

Posted: 11/19/2008 5:36:07 AM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:
My plan is to refinish the entire stock set. I would just live with the scrapes but the entire stock set has a weird sticky feeling to it. I tried to clean it with a mild detergent and water and it only seemed to make the "stickiness" worse. The original finish also seems to attract dirt. If my hands have dirt on them, it all comes off on the stock, which can be wiped off with a damp cloth. I don't know if the previous owner put something on it or not.

Wipe down the stock and finish with mineral spirits, use a well dampened rag. That should clean the protective film (cosmoline) that feels sticky.

I did read here, some time ago, of a method to raise dents in wood via steam or maybe just hot water. I don't remember the process but if you search you may find it.

Good luck.

Posted: 11/19/2008 2:57:55 PM EDT

[#12]

There are not really any dents, just the finsh scraped off by the sling buckle. In fact I can easily scrape the finish off with my fingernail, so I have no clue what's on there now. I'm gonna go with the danish oil. I'll post up some pics when done.

Posted: 11/19/2008 7:10:39 PM EDT

[#13]

Strip it and then treat with boiled linseed oil or tung oil. That's all you need.

Posted: 11/19/2008 9:08:04 PM EDT

[#14]

Ok, so what's the difference between boiled linseed oil, tung oil and danish oil? Are they all comparable? I got some danish oil today from Home Depot, but if one of the others are better I'll use that instead. I have used BLO on a couple of 03 Springfields in the past that turned out well.
thanks

Posted: 11/19/2008 9:15:30 PM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:
My plan is to refinish the entire stock set. I would just live with the scrapes but the entire stock set has a weird sticky feeling to it. I tried to clean it with a mild detergent and water and it only seemed to make the "stickiness" worse. The original finish also seems to attract dirt. If my hands have dirt on them, it all comes off on the stock, which can be wiped off with a damp cloth. I don't know if the previous owner put something on it or not.

I would just start with some high grit sand paper and go from there. I'm sure you could get all the scratches out and then use a natural finish from minwax or something and then a nice poly. I bet you could get it looking really nice. I just refinished my AK's, but my wood was basically unfinished when I started.

The whole seed oil thing was too much work for me. I just did a few coats of bush on polyurithane and that worked nicely IMO. I like the glossy look so I went with a semi gloss, but I'm sure you could get a satin finish as well.
Here is a before pic