Refinishing the stock on a Swede?

[Runs with Scissors]

I'm seriously thinking of restoring the blond color of my 1900 M96 Swede.
There are parts of the stock that are beautiful and there others that are stained dark by oils and such.
My plan was to strip the existing finish with furniture stripper then apply several coats of boiled Linseed Oil. I have no plans to do any sanding.
I would have already started the project but I can't seem to get the band off to disassemble the rifle.
Do most owners refinish their wood, or do they leave the antique patina established by decades of use?
Any tips on getting the band off?

Later.

Bill

[Mikey]

Runs with Scissors:  a few inches down the line in this forum is a post entitled "Have a new project underway" in which they discuss refinishing mil-surp stocks and that includes posts by Savage T, one of the moderators, who has done what you intend to do.  

Also, if that stock band is giving you fits it may be due to a tung oil, varnish or crud buildup under the retaining spring.  You might be able to get some of that crud (er whatever) toi flex a bit by first introducing some gun cleaning fluid to the area (Hoppes works) to soften the stuff, then heating it with a blow-dryer to soften it further.  If you can get the spring to depress but just can't slide that stock band off then you may have to use 3 hands to hold the spring down and then drive the band off.  Sometimes the bands are pretty gummed or varnished up and are stuck right to the stock.  HTH.  Mikey.

[Runs with Scissors]

Thanks Mickey.

I kept looking at my rifle and I just couldnt bring myself to remove the heritage it holds in its long history. Who knows what it saw in its 100-plus years of being handed to different soldiers? Who knows where it has been?
I ended up going over the wood with denatured alcohol and cotton balls to wick up excess oils, grime and whatever.
As it dried each time it also lightened somewhat, and began to look a bit more "Beech Blond".
I set it out on the deck for a couple of hours of hot sunshine, then I added 3 coats of Linseed Oil.
It now looks great to me. It still has a patina finish with darker areas where its been carried and near the bolt areas. It now looks like a really clean, 100 year old military rifle that is in amazing shape.
I like the way it smells too :wink:

Bill

[1911crazy]

The darker area on the stocks is oil.  I refinished one replacement stock mainly because it was oil soaked really bad.  I used coarse steelwool with murphy's wood soap and it came out really clean.  I let the Murphys wood soap soak on the stock and some oil came right up out of the stock.  It may take a few washings/soakings before its clean.  Then i dry it, don't rinse it with water it will lighten some areas of the wood beyond repair.  I dry it with a soft towel.  Let it sit for a day or so until its really dried.   Then I restain it to match the orginal color and it may take two or three coats of stain to get the desired color.   Then i let it dry again over night and next I apply Formby's Tung Oil finish I like to do 4 to 6 coats using a fine steelwool inbetween coats.  I don't redo all my stocks just the really bad ones.                                                          BigBill

[savageT]

I'm seriously thinking of restoring the blond color of my 1900 M96 Swede.
There are parts of the stock that are beautiful and there others that are stained dark by oils and such.
My plan was to strip the existing finish with furniture stripper then apply several coats of boiled Linseed Oil. I have no plans to do any sanding.
I would have already started the project but I can't seem to get the band off to disassemble the rifle.
Do most owners refinish their wood, or do they leave the antique patina established by decades of use?
Any tips on getting the band off?

Later.

Bill

Bill,
The secret to getting the bands off is to use a "C" clamp and something like soft padding under the clamp so you don't dent the wood.  That should allow you to push off the bands.  Now you can fully dis-assemble the stocks after you remove the upper barrel guard by rotating it 90o's to clear the rear sight.  Remove the trigger/action screws, drop the trigger group and lift out the barrel and action. Oh, don't forget to remove the cleaning rod first!

Jim

[Runs with Scissors]

Jim.

I got the bands off and I saw that I have a M38 by the markings on the barrel.


Bill

[Runs with Scissors]

Oh Yea........

I'm in the process of stripping all the sentimental crud off the wood of my rifle.
It's blond and its proud of it.
Maybe I'll post photos later, but you know everyone hits on blonds

Bill

[savageT]

Bill,
That's why I keep my blonde in the closet!!!! :grin:

[rockbilly]

I have used Acetone, MEK and Napther to soak the oil out of woods.  I no longer use the MEK due to the possible health hazards, but the others work well.  I have soaked grips/stocks overnight, and in some cases could see no evidence of oil the next day.  Some are oiled up so bad that all you can expect is for the process to lighten it up a bit.  

I recently refinished a Lemon wood stock.  It is light blond, almost yellow.  It had been standing in a closet for years.  The lady I bought it from said her husband had not cleaned or shot the gun for over twenty years,  She said he would take it out and rub some "motor oil" on it occasionally.  As a result, the pistol grip was a dark brown, with streaks almost to the butt plate.  I first stripped the wood with a furniture refinish product, I then soaked it for 24 hours in napther.  I took it out and let it air dry in the shop, went over it with 0000 steel wool and applied the finish.  It looks almost as good as new.  There is still a trace of oil stain, but if you didn't know it was there you would never notice.

A word of caution...........IF YOU USE ANY OF THESE PRODUCTS---MAKE SURE THE WORK AREA IS WELL VENTILATED.  I DON'T RECOMMEND USING THEM IN THE HOUSE, UNLESS YOU KNOW A GOOD DIVORCE LAWYER.