How much does refinishing decrease value

[Land_Owner]

Quite a while ago I refinished the stock of a Marlin 336 in 30-30 caliber.    I used a 10% polyurethane and 90% thinner mixture after carefully hand sanding all surfaces and gave it at least 6 good coats, sanding between each, prior to observing that all of the grain was filled with urethane.  Now the gun is both quite handsome and weather resistant whereas its former diminished finish was neither.  My son is well please with the result.

[oneoldsap]

          Refinishing your Marlin didn't hurt the value at all , as it will probably never be a collector anyway . Keeping your shooters weatherproof is a good idea and will keep them from depriciating . 10-90 is a pretty weak finish though , watch for wear as it's very thin !

[Land_Owner]

multiple coatings of 10-90 (6 coats) brought it up to ~60% Urethane and the finish is sterling in comparison to its former "used and abused" and weatherless condition.  Thanks for the insight.  It is a good shooting gun and my boy really enjoy taking it to the woods.

[Austin from NC]

A good refinish can hurt collectors value but a can help an old beater. Any pics?

       Austin

[gunnut69]

Refinishing a collectable is generally a bad ida. Collectors would much rather the piece retain what ever original finsh it had since they are interested in originality not useability.. Also thinning the finish as you did doesn't cause a problem as the solvent evaporates anyway so what remains on the wood is 100% polyeurethane. As a matter of fact such a finish is available ready made. It's called 'rubbing poly' and I bought mine at the local WallyWorld but I disremember the brand..

[Land_Owner]

I guess what I was trying to indicate is that compared to an initial 100% Poly coat (once-over), I used 6 coats of 10% Poly, with intermediate sanding, and got what I desired with less than a once-over coating. 

No pics, per se, although I can take some of the AFTER (none were taken BEFORE).   Good idea for next time though.

[gunnut69]

I see what you're saying.. The rubbing poly allows a better control of the finish level one wants on the wood. It can at the lower level mimic an oil in wood finish. With a bit more work it can fill the pores and look surprisingly like an oil/wax finish and with a lot more one can have the Weatherby finish... The real benefit though is the ease of application. Just use your finigers as if applying a normal oil type finish.. It also is a much better penetrator so the finish actually penetrates the wood to a much better degree. Unfortunately it's still harder to rpair than an oil finish..