Author Topic: Is it a "sin" to re-finish a K-31? (Read 560 times)

hardertr · « **on:** February 06, 2005, 02:13:42 PM »

I just picked up a K-31 from Big 5 today. It's my first, but I couldn't pass it up for $99.

It is in pretty good shape. Better than "good", but not quite "very good" is my guess. SO, here is my question:

If I completely strip the entire gun, re-blue the barrel and finish the stock with a nice satin finish, will I be laughed off the range?

This gun will definitely be a shooter. Like all of my other guns, I have no intention of ever selling it either.

By the way...for $99, would you suggest going back down there an picking up the last one? They have it advertised as "originally $179", but I doubt they really ever sell for that much.

iamb a sucker for guns on sale.

kevin.303 · « **Reply #1 on:** February 06, 2005, 02:37:31 PM »

go for it. your not bubbaing it and if you don't refinish it could eventually damage the gun if exposed to the elements. i got a Lee-Enfield that had very little finish left on the stock. put it away wet in a carrying case and it wasn't a pretty sight the next day.

S.S. · « **Reply #2 on:** February 06, 2005, 03:12:16 PM »

If you BUBBA' it you will "ROAST IN ETERNAL TORMENT"
Just Making it "PURDY AGIN" should not plunge you directly
into the lake of fire!

1911crazy · « **Reply #3 on:** February 06, 2005, 04:03:32 PM »

I won't rot in C&R hell for this but i have refinished a few that were in very sad condition. I say do it. BigBill

Val · « **Reply #4 on:** February 07, 2005, 04:13:27 AM »

The Milsurps purists would crucify you. However, if you bought the gun for shooting enjoyment and don't expect it to increase in value, go for it.

1911crazy · « **Reply #5 on:** February 07, 2005, 06:39:11 AM »

Military purists I'm going to open up a can of worms here about whats collectable and whats been done by a so called "arsenal refinish" which i feel is totally "BS". No one can tell me these guns aren't refinished for US to buy. Then I almost laugh off my chair when i read "OH look what we just found in a warehouse in europe" And there "arsenaled refinished" then i look at the guns and there either lightly or really heavy disc sanded some so bad the trigger housing is sticking below the stock. Someday the finish will still be wet when they arrive too. I think thats why it takes some of these so called boat loads to get here. Maybe they refinish them on the boat trip? Then its said oh its a sin to refinish your military surplus gun. So whats real and whats a fake too. The older collectors must never stop laughing at us for sure were being duped. I am so tired of hearing "Oh look what we found". I just heard there is a boat load of Russian SVT-40 Tokarev's on the way here and i think Aztec has something to do with it. It was mentioned on another site a while back. This cracks me up too like for what price?? With the average price somewhere between $500 to $800 whats a boat load worth?? I have a gut feeling the price will be $1,000 for the rearsenaled/refinished ones!!!! I say let them ROT!!!!!!!!! It maybe me being too frugal at times but I got into this because it was affordable well down right cheap for guns and ammo. I'm not against the prices going higher but when i'm buying a refinished in someones garage then its called an arsenal refinish then the price is out of site and its a fake and were being mislead the whole time about it that pisses me off. Then they have the Ba-ls to say don't refinish your surplups who are they fooling?? I just don't get it. I'm going to say othersites are supported by some of these guys with boat loads of guns and nothing is said about the truth because everyone is making $$$ on us buying these refinished fakes. (its not this site you know the ones i mean) My advise don't be had!!! Don't be fooled!!! Sorry for the rant but its true I took an honest pill today and i have to tell the truth wether it bites me or not. When money is envoled friendship/fellowship ends its everyone for themselves thats business. I say refinish it and do it right no disc sander!!!!!!! Don't use stripper that sucks too. BigBill

Let the dice roll the way they go just tell the truth because it will bite your credability later.

S.Sumner we talkked about this before but we didn't go into the depth i just did you know what i mean.

hardertr · « **Reply #6 on:** February 07, 2005, 08:00:25 AM »

BigBill, why do you say not to strip it?

I PERSONALLY would like a nice smooth satin finish all over. Maybe with a light pecan stain. I have no intentions of passing it off as "original finish".

OR maybe I'll take it down to a local place and have the whole thing sprayed with Rhino Liner :lol:

1911crazy · « **Reply #7 on:** February 07, 2005, 08:42:48 AM »

Quote from: hardertr

BigBill, why do you say not to strip it?

I PERSONALLY would like a nice smooth satin finish all over. Maybe with a light pecan stain. I have no intentions of passing it off as "original finish".

OR maybe I'll take it down to a local place and have the whole thing sprayed with Rhino Liner :lol:

Don't take me the wrong way I mean nothing towards your project its all about wether to refinish or not is my point. The bottomline of my point is if they are refinishing it for us then why can't we do it too? Thats what i mean.

I tried stripper once and it messed up an extra stock i had, i finished it anyway after some grief of sanding it anyway to get the spray stripper off. If the stock is oil soaked I will try coarse steelwool to see if that does it first. All your trying to do is to remove that saran wrap thin layer of oil soaked wood. If that doesn't work i use 1" wide 80grit sand paper doing a little area at a time and i try to remover the same amout in each little area then when the paper cloggs up I get a new piece and move to another spot. This way of being extra careful your keeping the wood surface even. Then once the stock is completely clean I switch to #100 paper and go over the stock again to remove any sanding marks from the 80grit paper. Then i go finer on the next pass then i'm ready for stain. It depends on how the stain looks I may use even a finer paper or switch to a steelwool, then wipe it down and restain. Remember take your time go slow and the results will pay off. You can do it orginal or put your own touch on it thats up to you. It just pisses me off when the dealers/importers pass off the refinished stocks as "rearsenaled" when its not, sorry it has nothing to do with you or me refinishing our own stocks. They lie to us. BigBill

savageT · « **Reply #8 on:** February 07, 2005, 10:33:48 AM »

hardertr,
Your K31 is probably in good condition as is, but as you say, It's your first one and you want it to look nice........Try washing the stock with Murphy's Oil Soap first, let dry and see how it looks.
My feelings are that if you are careful and use only enough clean-up (minimal sanding/stripping) to refinish the stock then you have accomplished a rearsonal refinish. Just be careful to stay away from the sharp edges and stampings with the sandpaper. These are found in the wood stock as they are very important to the collectability of the milsurp. The dents can be steamed out in most cases with a steamiron and a cotton washcloth.
Now....concerning the rebluing: If the bluing is truly worn to the point of needing to be redone where bare metal shows through, then it can be done by you with "cold bluing", but if it needs touching up in a few spots, I'd rather see you do that to maintain the originality, OK? Just take it slow and easy.

Jim

MGMorden · « **Reply #9 on:** February 07, 2005, 03:10:28 PM »

It's your rifle, do as you wish with it. I wouldn't worry about the man who inherit's it boo-hooing over it being modified. He's getting it free; you paid for it

. I've refinished the stock that came with my SKS (had to. soap and water took off the original finish :shock:), and I'm completely sporterizing a Turk Mauser, but other than that I've left original. Mostly just out of laziness, as I have an Enfield that REALLY needs to be refinished

(both metal and wood).

The only thing is that you mention "rebluing". If you mean taking it to a gunsmith to reblue (or if you have proper equipment), then I think that's fine and it should turn out well. If you're talking about cold bluing though, then forget about it. You'll end up with a FAR uglier finish then what you started with, and it'll be pretty delicate to boot. I wouldn't use cold blue for ANYTHING other than really small pieces.

joev · « **Reply #10 on:** February 07, 2005, 04:24:48 PM »

I have cleaned up a few rifles in my time and really could care less about some"purists" opinion as to what I do with my weapons. It is your fireararm and the only gripe you would get out of me would be to restore it back to its original pristie beauty.

1911crazy · « **Reply #11 on:** February 08, 2005, 04:12:02 AM »

With rebluing I have tried a few cold blues and i have found that Birchwood Casey's Perma Blue works the best for me. I wash the area i'm going to blue with rubbing alcohol "twice" to make sure its clean. Wash it with a new clean cloth everytime too. And dry it off with a new clean rag everytime. Make sure its squeeky clean and dry. I apply the Perma Blue with a "Q" tip all over the area then i let it soak a little then I may apply more if it drys up a little then i will use a piece of fine steelwool to work it in good. It will turn a weird shade of blue at first but redo it again and it will darken and stay going till a deep blue color is achieved. The rinse the residue off and dry it. It has worked everytime for me. There is another bluing you do by heating it up with a hair dryer and applying it but i haven't tried it yet. BigBill

hardertr · « **Reply #12 on:** February 08, 2005, 04:39:04 AM »

I gave a buddy of mine a CVA muzzle-loader a couple of weeks ago. When I got it, it was in pretty BAD shape. The bore was rusted up pretty badly, and the hammer was rusted in the down position.

I picked up some of the automotive rest remover and dumped it down the bore. It removed EVERYTHING...blueing included. After about an hour of scrubbing and rinsing, I had it all down to the bare metal.

He saw it, and wanted to try to re-blue it. He used the Birchwood Casey's Perma blue. It took about 4 coats, but it looks GOOD! I would be happy if my K-31 turns out like that one did. (we took it to the range the other day, and apparently, the bore was not pitted too badly...4 inch groups at 100 yards with open sites on a bobcat isn't bad)

On a side note... I saw a few mentions of a "cracked stock" being typical on the K-31. Where is this crack normally?? I don't see one on mine, but don't want to over-stress the wood by cleaning it.

ONE HOLE 4570 · « **Reply #13 on:** February 08, 2005, 11:20:56 AM »

I refinished mine (blue was good) stock that is, it was beat to hadies. Multiple small cracks filled in with acraglass stained in the color I was going to use, steamed out as many dents as poss & redid it. If it is mine & I want it to look perty I will go ahead. I have bubba dized 2 turks, m48a yugo & a ishapor 308 enfield I don't feal bad about any of it didn,t give more than $90 for any of them. No time now to do project work 2 jobs & kids so I get to shoot what I have now & reload when time permits. Anyone reload for their K-31?? I don'yt yet but if I can find some brass & dies I may eventually, GP11 works great when I shoot it

jh45gun · « **Reply #14 on:** February 08, 2005, 12:23:11 PM »

Try getting some wood turners finish or some call it French polish. Others call it padding polish ect. It will clean the dirt off your stock and restore the origional finish to its origional luster. All you do is take a soft cloth add some finish and keep rubbing the stock. It at first will be tacky and then dry to a nice luster. It is all I use anymore on old gun stocks. The stuff I have is called:

BEHLEN WOOD TURNERS FINISH.

Like most solvents it has some chemicals in it so Only thing I caution is it does stink and the vapors can get to you if you did it inside with out adaquate ventilation. So do out side and rubber gloves may be a good idea though I have never used them. If you do it where you can get ventilation and use gloves it is perfectly safe. I have a buddy who works with wood and uses it all the time and of course like most solvents they really stress the warnings to protect them selves. I think it is a fantastic product for cleaning up stocks and I would not be with out it. Jim

hardertr · « **Reply #15 on:** February 08, 2005, 01:53:40 PM »

Jim,

Will it take the Cosmoline off too? I have a Yugo SKS that I plan on cleaning up too. Hopefully I can get them both cleaned up without wasting a whole weekend doing it.

1911crazy · « **Reply #16 on:** February 08, 2005, 04:39:34 PM »

My last few gun stocks have been refinished with BEHLEN MASTER SOLAR-LUX STAIN and its awesome well worth the $$$. Make sure you wear gloves it will get into your pores of your skin its "poison". You can mix colors to make a unique color or just pick the color that matches your orginal stock color too. Then i went over it with a tung oil glossy finish then on my last coat I took fine steelwool and lightly dulled it then i applied Johnsons wood paste wax and its done with a hand rubbed finish. This is how i do my shooters/hunters to protect the stocks from the outdoor weather. I have ended up with 10 coats of tung oil on some stocks mainly because i do light coats till i get my desired finish. BigBill

1911crazy · « **Reply #17 on:** February 08, 2005, 04:49:26 PM »

Quote from: hardertr

Jim,

Will it take the Cosmoline off too? I have a Yugo SKS that I plan on cleaning up too. Hopefully I can get them both cleaned up without wasting a whole weekend doing it.

On all my yugo sks's(unissued/like new ones) the stocks have cleaned up ok by using rubbing alcohol after 3 or 4 washings they will come out squeeky clean. Just like i said before use you wash rag only once so you don't put the dirty rag cosmo back on it. The cosmo will come off the stock. If you have a shooter grade yugo sks then you have to use Murphy's Wood Soap. If it doesn't come clean on the first few tries let the soap soak on the stock for a while because i've seen the oil come to the surface with the soap. If the stock is really badly soaked you may have to do the black plastic bag in the hot sun treatment. You put the stock in a black plastic garbage bag and put it in the hot sun so it will heat it and the cosmo will sweat out of it too. It all depends on which grade of Yugo sks you buy.