Another gunstock refinishing question

[JonnyReb]

 I've just recently aquired an older t/c renegade and want to refinish the stock. Another gbo post recommended a one step hand rubbed finishing oil and I ordered some. My problem is that the stock is already on the small side, seemingly it looks to have shrunk slightly and i'm already going to have to trim the buttplate to fit the smaller wood and nowhere on the gun is there wood to spare. Theres a varnish on the rifle now and here lies my question.should I use a wood stripper first to remove as much varnish as possible before lightly sanding? Is it worth trying to steam out the small pressure marks rather than sanding them out? Any better ways of dealing with pressure marks while limiting wood removal? Thanks,. J

[Alan R McDaniel Jr]

If you just gotta do it, use stripper and coarse steel wool.  Once you've got all the old finish off then moisten the wood to make the grain stand up.  Sand carefully with very fine grit sandpaper (200+)  and don't sand all the way to the edge of the stock particularly where it mates up to metal. 


The worst thing that can happen is that you screw it up and have to buy/make another stock. 


Alan

[JonnyReb]

Great advice Alan, thanks so much for taking the time to put all that down. Its just what i'll do.  J

[JonnyReb]

Suffered through 6 coats of stripper and sure enough its all gone with no damage to the wood. Worked well, has been polished with 600 grit and is ready for finishing. J

[blind ear]

When you are raising the grain (makeing the grain stand up to sand off the fuzzy stickers) add a few drops of carpenters glue to some water to dampen the stock with. let it dry real well and the stickers and fuzzy spots can be sanded off more smooth.
 For raising dents a drop of water in the dent and a hair dryer is worth a try and can hurt little if anything.  ear

[JonnyReb]

Thanks ear, good tip i'm sure and will try to remember for future refinishing. I got lucky as the extremely tight grain on this stock feels like glass, just waiting on my finishing oil concoction to arrive. In the downtime I stripped the metal parts and polished and reblued. Filed out the buggered screwheads and reblued those too. Kinda wished i'd browned it but still, i think this thirty something year old rifle is going to end up looking almost like new. Thanks for the tips guys:-). J