I'm working on the stock of a 1942 Mosin 91/30 from the Izhevsk factory. The stock is birch. I lightly sanded the stock with 220 and 320, and applied 2 coats of Minwax oil based Sedona Red, waiting 3 hours between coats. After wiping, I realized just how hard it is for birch to take color...but it was enough to give it the look I wanted. I grabbed a can of Minwax Tung Oil Finish, and have put 4 coats on so far, rubbing it on with a 2000 grit 3M sanding sponge. The color with the Tung Oil Finish on top of the Sedona Red closely resembles the original finish, which was nothing more than shellac.

Anyway, I have a few more of these to refinish for friends of mine. What can I do to get the birch to accept color better? They guy I'm doing the next one for wants a nice mahogany finish put on.

One of the others came with a walnut stock. It's been armory rebuilt so many times that there's about 10 coats of shellac on it, even over the rings! It's not getting the shellac put on it, either...just a good rub down with some of the Minwax Tung Oil Finish.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

Once wood has been stained and sealed with shellac, varnish or whatever it gets its pores filled, then it will be tough to get it to take any stain. Raw wood will soak up stain like a sponge.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

I used oven cleaner to get the finish off my Mosin. Worked well, left it on there for 15 minutes and most of the old, junky, flaking-off finish wiped off. I would have preferred to leave it alone but I didnt like my fingers being stained red every time i picked the gun up.

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1985 CA 300D Turbo , 213K mi

I gave it 2 coats of Citrustrip, which took the shellac off. Other than battle stains and arsenal marks, the stock looked good.

There's plenty of wood that can be sanded without having to reshape the buttplate. Could sanding more on the next birch stock get me past whatever blocked mine from taking it darker?

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

That's what I had to do on some wood that was stained before. PIA though.

I don't really know how deep the material penetrates into the wood. I suspect it will be hard to get it all without taking a lot of material. I guess I would do a test in a location where some missing wood would not be noticed.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

I had read about that method, but feared the lye in the spray would destroy the fibers of the already old wood. Citrustrip did a great job.

Here's a pic of mine. 2 coats of Sedona Red, then multiple coats of Minwax Tung Oil Finish...I think it looks better than the shellac, but keeps the battle scars and marks.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

That looks very good to me.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Thanks...it took a week to get it to this point. I didn't want to lose much of the old stains in the wood, like behind the bolt and along the barrel section...those stains are from battle, same with that near the butt end.

My son, who has been helping me with this one, has been taking pictures of all the stamp marks and checking them against known symbols online, as well as taking pictures of the progress along the way. He's really gotten into this project, which is great...considering I picked one up for him for Christmas!!

He's been imagining these rifles being used against the Nazi's as they invaded the Soviet Union. If these weapons could only talk...

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

Jon, it looks like you also sanded your feet.

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For the Saved, this world is the worst it will ever get.
For the unSaved, this world is the best it will ever get.

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Old leather loafers...I really should toss them, but they're too damned comfortable.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

Thats the finish? Doesn't look red at all to me. I didn't have any troubles with my stock, just had to make sure i got all the cosmoline out of it (sat it in the sun a lot) and stripped it and spent a good few hours sanding it. Let's see pics of that sniper you said you got!

Actually even after all that, theres still cosmoline that leeches out of the stock when i shoot it and the barrel heats up.

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1985 CA 300D Turbo , 213K mi

The wood didn't take the stain well at all...but it did show more cartouches than what I thought were there. The stain did make the dark parts darker.

The sniper was sent back, because it was a Chinese made aftermarket repro mount, and the scope wasn't accurate for the time period. The seller offered to make it right, but in the end, my money was refunded. In other words, it wasn't a real sniper...I wasn't happy.

I did, however, pick up another 91/30 from another online seller. I don't have pics of it because it's still in the box, to be opened by my son on Christmas morning.

The carbine is at the gunsmith right now, having some work done to it. The bolt wouldn't open all the way, and I may be having a reversible scope mount added in place of the rear sight.

I made a sweat box for the stock, and sweated it for a few days. I think it didn't take the stain because I didn't heavily sand it, opening the wood fibers.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

Ah, thats a bummer. What a letdown!

I think Big5 has snipers available at times... 500 bucks!

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1985 CA 300D Turbo , 213K mi

Tell me about it. The repro mount is aluminum, not steel. I wasn't happy. I think my best bet is going to be buying an ex sniper, then buying a scope and mount from one of the former Soviet Bloc nations. I hear you can get them for about $125, shipped.

The smith we telling me about a non-numbers matching 91/30 that came in recently. It was damaged in a housefire, and needs a new stock. He said that everything checks out good but the stock, he said there's no saving it. I think I can get it for $30, then add a poly stock and modern scope mount and bipod. I'll have less than $200 counting scope for a fun shooter.

I took the one on the picture out to the club's range this afternoon for about 45 minutes to put a few rounds in it. After 3 shots, I had a small audience aver at my stall, some of them older guys. Two of them wanted to shoot it, because they remember them from their time in Korea. They really got a kick out of shooting it, literally and figuratively. I personally put 7 rounds through it, 10 total. She sure puts out a healthy fireball, and an equally loud boom.

I looked at the pictures again...the gun is actually has more red in it in person, I think the flash washed it out some.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles