wood stain for an ak stock?

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - wood stain for an ak stock?

Posted: 10/3/2005 8:33:45 AM EDT

What would be a good wood stain to use on an AK stock? I sanded off the "factory" finish and want to redo it. Thing is I am not to sure about mixing my own dye... what would you guys recommend?

Posted: 10/3/2005 8:38:20 AM EDT

[#1]

And you are starting with???blonde, brown, laminate????

And you prefer what look in the end????

Posted: 10/3/2005 10:21:16 AM EDT

[#2]

it is almost tan... very very light... it had a red-tinted finish on it before. I sanded it down because the varnish (or whatever it was) had a lot of runs in it. There are some spots where I could not get the "stain out". I will post pics tonight if you are intersted...

Posted: 10/3/2005 10:44:19 AM EDT

[#3]

I have a Romy kit that I used Rit Dye to bring it back to the red, and then lacquered

Posted: 10/3/2005 11:22:38 AM EDT

[#4]

What was the process that you used? Did you remove the original finish first?

btw... what is the difference between using a dye process -vs- a stain from a hardware store?

Posted: 10/3/2005 11:38:19 AM EDT

[#5]

Dye comes in vibrant colors and I found I could make very gradual changes by added a little more this or that. You will like the freedom when you try it. Too dark, throw in a little yellow. You dissolve it in denatured alcohol and then filter the crystals out, then just brush it on.

The process i used. Well thats kinda funny.

1. Strip original finish with Chemical stripper
2. No need to sand, seems pretty smooth
3. Use Tung oil finish for a rustic look
4. Sand down tung oil so that I can put poly on it.
5. Dye with Rit dye, scarlet, yellow, and brown dissolved in DNA, then filtered. Then got yelled at by wife for destroying new pants with a pleasantly russian red color.
6. Put on coat of helmsman gloss poly.
7. Sand down drops and runs of helmsman poly.
8. Thin Helmsman poly and proceed to try a wipe on finish
9. Sand down chunks of tshirt fabric left in poly as wipe on finish fails
10. Dye again with rit dye.
11. Get one can of Spray lacquer and spray about 15 very thin coats...success.

Posted: 10/3/2005 12:28:39 PM EDT

[#6]

i sanded mine to make it smooth and used minwax stain, then finished it off with 4-5 coats of minwax polyurethane

Result:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y157/t3rr0rz/Pics/WASRAK.jpg

Posted: 10/3/2005 1:35:31 PM EDT

[#7]

Quoted:
i sanded mine to make it smooth and used minwax stain, then finished it off with 4-5 coats of minwax polyurethane

Result:

Looks good

Posted: 10/3/2005 1:36:18 PM EDT

[#8]

That looks really nice man

Posted: 10/3/2005 2:45:12 PM EDT

[#9]

Quoted:
That looks really nice man

Thanks first time AK owner, just got it saturday because i got rid of my Yugo SKS
I like the trade off

Posted: 10/3/2005 3:28:48 PM EDT

[#10]

Your welcome! I really like the way that wood looks.

Posted: 10/3/2005 3:32:03 PM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:
Quoted:
i sanded mine to make it smooth and used minwax stain, then finished it off with 4-5 coats of minwax polyurethane

Result:
i5.photobucket.com/albums/y157/t3rr0rz/Pics/WASRAK.jpg

Looks good

That does look good. I really like that shade. What shade of minwax stain did you use?

Posted: 10/3/2005 3:50:04 PM EDT

[#12]

I used Minwax Walnut.

Turned out fine by me.

I just sanded the reddish finish off. Then applied about three coats of stain. Then sprayed about 15 coats of polyurethane down.

It's held up to being slammed around during hog hunting as well as smoking the handguards during bump firing.

Posted: 10/3/2005 3:54:14 PM EDT

[#13]

I used Minwax Red Mahogany and 4 coats of Tung-Oil.

Posted: 10/3/2005 5:45:51 PM EDT

[#14]

Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
i sanded mine to make it smooth and used minwax stain, then finished it off with 4-5 coats of minwax polyurethane

Result:
i5.photobucket.com/albums/y157/t3rr0rz/Pics/WASRAK.jpg

Looks good

That does look good. I really like that shade. What shade of minwax stain did you use?

Red Oak 275

Posted: 10/3/2005 9:18:27 PM EDT

[#15]

This is great!

I am planning to get a new AK in the next few weeks and will need to add a US stock to be able to have enough US parts for it to be legal. I like the rich red Russian shades and have got a lot of woodworking ahead of me once I get the unpainted stock.

Posted: 10/4/2005 12:33:46 AM EDT

[#16]

Quoted:

Red Oak 275

I've got MinWax Red Oak 215 in my garage. The MinWax site doesn't show a Red Oak 275? I going to do one this weekend with what I have.

Posted: 10/4/2005 4:59:16 AM EDT

[#17]

I started this thread and haven't even had the chance to post pics... actually, I can't find my digital camera.

I stained the stock using MinWax Walnut last night... I had to go dark because I wasn't able to get all of the old stain out. Anyway it is looking really good so far... I went up to 800 grit sandpaper followed by 0000 steel wool prior to sanding. I'm thinking about finishing it off with boiled linseed oil... but I'm not 100% sure.

I'll try and get the pics up tonight for those of you who are interested. If I can't find my camera I'll just use my cell

Posted: 10/4/2005 5:01:27 AM EDT

[#18]

Like this?

Rit dye/tung oil

Posted: 10/4/2005 5:07:52 AM EDT

[#19]

i re did a mak for a buddy's who's burned up a little in a fire, used linseed oil, turned out great, have pics but am to lazy to host, let me know if you wanna see'em.

Posted: 10/4/2005 6:35:15 AM EDT

[#20]

Quoted:
i re did a mak for a buddy's who's burned up a little in a fire, used linseed oil, turned out great, have pics but am to lazy to host, let me know if you wanna see'em.

yes please do post them... I'd like to see how the linseed oil finish looks. Thanks

Posted: 10/4/2005 1:28:06 PM EDT

[#21]

Quoted:
Quoted:

Red Oak 275

I've got MinWax Red Oak 215 in my garage. The MinWax site doesn't show a Red Oak 275? I going to do one this weekend with what I have.

yea thats it i just took a wild guess because i dont have the can anymore

Posted: 10/4/2005 2:41:00 PM EDT

[#22]

Quoted:

Dye comes in vibrant colors and I found I could make very gradual changes by added a little more this or that. You will like the freedom when you try it. Too dark, throw in a little yellow. You dissolve it in denatured alcohol and then filter the crystals out, then just brush it on.

The process i used. Well thats kinda funny.

1. Strip original finish with Chemical stripper
2. No need to sand, seems pretty smooth
3. Use Tung oil finish for a rustic look
4. Sand down tung oil so that I can put poly on it.
5. Dye with Rit dye, scarlet, yellow, and brown dissolved in DNA, then filtered. Then got yelled at by wife for destroying new pants with a pleasantly russian red color.
6. Put on coat of helmsman gloss poly.
7. Sand down drops and runs of helmsman poly.
8. Thin Helmsman poly and proceed to try a wipe on finish
9. Sand down chunks of tshirt fabric left in poly as wipe on finish fails
10. Dye again with rit dye.
11. Get one can of Spray lacquer and spray about 15 very thin coats...success.

Here are two sets. Romy ended up with rit dye and lacquer. Polish set was original color lightened a bit with formsbys gloss tung oil

Posted: 10/4/2005 2:50:18 PM EDT

[#23]

This is my mak-90 in minwax sedona red 222. I bought it with the wood painted black.
I stripped, sanded and steel wooled it. Three coats of stain and three coats of minwax
poly. I planned on more poly but wanted to shoot it.

Posted: 10/4/2005 3:27:38 PM EDT

[#24]

Copied from Ironwood Designs' website:

Here are some stain recommendations from a few of my customers as well as our own formula.
This is my new full proof stain formula. It is by far the easiest staining method I have ver used.
Materials: RIT clothing dye, available at supermarkets, fabric and drug stores. I happen to use the powder form
but you can get it in liquid form as well. In powder form they cost around $2 to 2.50 per color. Denatured,
Ethyl alcohol, also available at drug stores, cost, around $1.50 per bottle, reason, it evaporates faster than water
and raises the grain less, making it easier to lightly de-fuzz the stained finish before oil or clear coat application.

Mixture and method: I used Scarlet red and Sunburst Yellow, it created a red finish with a little orange. I suggest
you might try Red and Orange or even some Brown to get the authentic looking AK stock color. The store
I went to happen to be out of the Orange, so I went with the Yellow.

Mix 1 Tsp of Red and 1 Tsp of Yellow dye into some sort of cup. Hint, if you can grind up the dye a bit before
adding the Alcohol, it will help it dissolve more completely. Add 9 to 10 Tsp of the Alcohol and mix together.
Hint: You can also control the color by how much Alcohol you add, more =lighter color, less=darker, experiment.
Note: Only apply stain after you have taken the stocks through the grain raising process and final polish sanding
as listed above in the sanding suggestions. Apply the stain, I used a rag, you can use a sponge brush, but you
don't need to. Apply one coat, check the color, more coats=darker color. The color you see is the color you get.

When you are happy with the color, let the stock dry for about 10 minutes. Using some 600 wet dry sand paper
lightly sand down the slightly fuzzy surface or the stock parts. Sand lightly so as not to go through the stain.
This process will make the surface clear and smooth again, ready for oil or clear coat.
Final coat: I used an oil finish as listed in the finishing suggestions above, 4 coats of the Varathane Natural Oil
Finish, then 2 coats of Varathane Diamond grade Water based semi-gloss interior grade clear coat.
Note: let the oil finish dry for 24 hours before applying the clear coat. Also, Laminate is very thirsty for oil,
soak the wood well with oil on the initial coats as well as in between coats. You will see the shine go away as
the oil is drawn into the wood The wetter the better. When applying the clear, wait at least 2-3 hours before
applying the next coat. The optimum air temperature to apply the clear will be listed on the can.
Also, you can apply as many coats as you want, it will help if and when you wet sand
the final finish. I did not wet sand as I wanted to get the semi-rough finish as found on military stocks.

The beauty of this formula is that it is inexpensive, any one can do it, you can control the color, and, the stain
will not fade or dilute when applying oil or clear coats. Pay attention to detail, make sure the stock set is
properly sanded and prepped before sanding. If you do this, you can create a really nice finish.

Good luck.

Posted: 10/4/2005 3:56:12 PM EDT

[#25]

Rit dye and 6 coats of tung oil.

Posted: 10/9/2005 9:50:22 PM EDT

[#26]

Quoted:
Like this?

img.photobucket.com/albums/v456/archer31312/AK14.jpg

Rit dye/tung oil

that is purdy

Posted: 10/9/2005 9:57:28 PM EDT

[#27]

I used Minwax Red Mohogany, and really like the color.

Posted: 10/9/2005 10:01:55 PM EDT

[#28]

Cool! And I thought I was the only one who likes dark red wood! (seems like everyone likes blonde wood nowadays)

This is an AK47 stock set stained with Minwax Red Mahogany: