Your right about the need to sand in between coats. That certainly may be causing part of the problem. I'm thinking that you may want to sand or strip back to basic wood and start over and sand between each coat. The sanding sealer you used is compatible with the polyurethane so that isn't the problem.
I wouldn't mix poly and tru-oil. Use all tru oil or all poly.
Here is an article on finishing and re-finishing from Brownell's. perhaps there's something here that might help you.
Gunstock Finishes, Getting Them Right
by: Ben Wilson
Many of our customers call us and say “I can’t get my gunstock finishes to come out looking right. What am I doing wrong” ? Probably nothing. The difference between a really fine finish and one that turns out just “so-so” is attention to detail and making sure each step in the stock finishing process is fully completed before going on to the next step. Each step is very important and vital to the overall quality of the finished job.
Sanding. Progressively finer grits up to about 400 or so are usually sufficient. As much as possible, sanding should be done with the grain of the wood to minimize surface scratches that can show as imperfections in the final finish. Some finishing techniques require “whiskering” to be done at this time. Whiskering is accomplished by slightly dampening the stock with a clean rag that’s been soaked with denatured alcohol or water. Alcohol dries faster than water, so it is preferred. The moisture raises the grain so you can sand off the whiskers left from preliminary sanding with coarser grades of sandpaper. Care must be exercised here to make sure that all flats are dead flat, corners are sharp and edges don’t get rounded over. Sanding without a sanding block to back up the paper and not giving proper attention to the maintenance of edges and corners are the biggest problems that arise during this stage.
Sealing. Sealing the wood with a liquid sanding sealer prevents moisture from moving between the atmosphere and the wood. This is very important when the rifle may be subjected to rapid changes in environment, such as a hunting trip to a different part of the country. All surfaces of the wood must be sealed with a penetrating sealant that will be compatible with the final finish product to be applied to the wood.
Finishing. This is actually two processes. The first is applying the finish uniformly to the surface of the wood. Usually some type of varnish, oil or urethane finish is chosen for durability and coloring. This application can be done in different ways depending on the chosen finish and desired effect. A wide variety of wood finishing products is available from Brownells. After the finish is applied and fully cured, it usually needs to be “rubbed” or “polished” out. This is done by making the surface uniform and polishing it to the desired “sheen”. Very fine sandpaper (1000 or 1200 grit) may be used to level the surface of the finish and remove any imperfections like dust specks. This must be done slowly and carefully. You must avoid cutting through the finish and into the wood. Then, the stock may be gone over with one of the stock rubbing compounds we offer to achieve a uniform low, medium or high-gloss finish.
Remember, the steps given here have been found to provide very acceptable results for most stock finishing applications. Because of differences in relative humidity, ambient temperature, wood density or composition, you may need to modify these techniques slightly to achieve the exact finish you’re looking for. If you find a particular technique that works best for you and produces the desired results, then that’s the one you should use. The end result is what’s most important
Stock Refinishing, Part I
by David Bennetts
ALERT!
It was a really tough hunting season, and your poor gun took quite a beating! Look at those dings and scratches in the stock. They look horrible! In fact, it looks bad enough that you should think about refinishing during the winter so it will look good for spring shooting.
The first thing you need to do is make sure you have the proper tools you will need to do the job. If you have a shotgun, you need to have the tools for removing the recoil pad from the stock. This is usually a Phillips screwdriver, but occasionally you will run into a square drive, or slotted head screw. Take a look at Brownells Magna-Tip Screwdriver SuperSets™ -- they’re designed specifically for working on guns. Next, you will need the proper stock wrench for your shotgun. Be sure to check
www.brownells.com for all of the stock wrenches we have in stock.
After you remove the buttstock, you will need to remove the forearm. Some guns it just slips off, some you need a special wrench to remove it. If you are unsure of what to do, go see your local gunsmith, they can usually help you with this. If you have a rifle, it normally requires a set of screwdrivers, or hex drivers to remove the stock. Sporting rifles are simple, but the military issue rifles can be more difficult, so again, if you’re not sure, seek professional advice. You can also call our Gunsmith Techs for specific help at 800-741-0015.
After you have the wood removed from the firearm, you need to also remove any other non-wood related parts, such as buttplate, grip caps, cross bolts, swivel studs, etc. In a lot of cases, the grip caps, forend tip, and butt plates are made of plastic, and the stripper you will use will melt them. If they look like you will destroy them during removal, then don’t! We will tell you how to work around this later. This is also a good time to think about putting on custom accessories, such as custom swivel studs, new recoil pad, or a custom grip cap. It sure is a lot easier to fit this stuff while you’re doing the refinish than it is with a finished stock.
Now that the wood is off, and the hardware is stripped off, you get to the really fun part. Stripping the old finish!
You’ll need quite a bit of stuff to do this. First, a good quality stripper is essential. Look for one that is rated for epoxy finishes, and I personally prefer the paste type as it will cling to the odd shapes better than a liquid will. You will also need a pair of rubber gloves, and to be on the safe side, I would highly recommend wearing a pair of safety glasses and a long sleeve shirt. These potent finish strippers will give you a chemical burn very fast, so protect yourself. .
If you have a newer gun, the chances are that the finish on it is epoxy. Most firearms made since the mid-80’s have this finish, so in order to remove it you will need a couple of scrapers. I personally like the Jerry Fisher Scrapers in a small diameter with the octagon shape. They are easy to use, and easy to re-sharpen. Make sure that the work surface you are going to be using will not be damaged by the stripper. In other words, don’t use the dining room table! I have found that a very thick layer of newspaper (10 to 12 layers) on my work bench works well to absorb the excess stripper and keep it from soaking through to the bench top.
Before you start laying on the stripper, take a close look at your stock. If it appears to have a very uniform, dark drown, or reddish brown color, the chances are the existing finish had a colorant added to it. This is how the factories get the uniform color from gun to gun. This is important to know before hand, because you will find that after stripping, the wood underneath will not be anything like what you see now, in fact, you may have quite a bit of sap wood in the stock that you will deal with when you do the finishing. Just be aware that your stock will not look much like you see it now. The good thing is, however, in many cases, there is some very pretty wood being covered up by that colored finish.
To start the stripping process, lay the stock on its side on the newspaper. I usually will pour the stripper right from the can and use a bristle brush or even a rag to spread it over the stock surface. You want a good thick coating. If you had plastic fittings on your stock, you want to be very careful not to get the stripper on it. I will brush the stripper up close, then take a Q-tip and apply the stripper as close as possible. Another thing to keep in mind is to do just one side at a time. It’s easier to concentrate on a smaller area, than it is the entire stock. Now sit back and let the stripper do its work; generally 20 to 30 minutes.
If you have an older stock with the non-epoxy finish, you will be able to watch it bubble up and see it working. If it’s an epoxy finish, it will look as though nothing is happening. But, it is.
Next, hold the stock firmly in your rubber-gloved hands, and using the flat scraper, start at the checkering and scrape back towards the butt of the gun. The finish will scrape off, but not easily. You’ll have to work at it! Get as much off as possible, always working away from the checkering since this keeps you from slipping and putting some unsightly gouges in it.
When you get to the inside curved areas, get out the small diameter scraper and work those areas trying to get as much off as you can. At this point, you will probably have most of the finish off, but you will some brown streaks. This is that lovely colorant and filler that I talked about earlier, so you may want to apply some more stripper and scrape some more. Try to get as much as possible off but if some remains, you can get it off later when you do the sanding.
As you get to the plastic parts (if you have them) start the scraper on the edge just ahead of where you stopped the stripper and work away from the plastic. It’s okay if you scratch it, you just don’t want the stripper to melt it. If you do get stripper on it, wipe it off quickly and you won’t hurt anything, just don’t let it sit too long! When you have that side done to your satisfaction, wipe the remaining stripper off with a rag or paper towel. It doesn’t have to be perfect; you’re just getting rid of some of the mess. You also might want to take a scrap of stiff cardboard and scrape up some of the crud off the newspaper, or take the first layer of newspaper off the top and discard the whole thing.
Now, turn the stock over and repeat the whole process again. On-two piece stocks, I’ll usually do one side of the stock and one side of the forearm at the same time. Again, try to get as much as possible of the brown colorant as possible, but don’t worry if some remains. Now take a rag or paper towel and wipe as much of the stripper left on the stock off the surface. You also need to get the finish out of the checkering. To do this, I take a Q-tip and apply stripper to the checkering pattern only, one panel at a time. Allow it to sit for 10 minutes or so, then take a bronze brush and scrub all the crud out of the checkering. Dipping the brush in lacquer thinner sometimes will really help with the cleaning.
The next step is to neutralize the stripper. One of the biggest problems I often run into is problems with a new finish not drying properly, and most of the time it is due to not cleaning the residue of the stripper off the surface, and out of the pores. The way I like to do this is by dipping a pad of 0000 steel wool in lacquer thinner and scrubbing the surface well. This will remove any petroleum base additives in the stripper. Next I will take the stock over to my sink, and with hot running tap water and a few drops of dish soap, I will saturate the stock with water, put the dish soap on another pad of steel wool, and scrub the stock with the soapy, hot water.
Also, you can use an old toothbrush to scrub the stripper that dripped into the inletting. Shake the stock off, and set it aside to let the surface dry. While the wood is still slightly damp, take a look at the surface. If there is finish left, it will look like little crystals on the surface. If you scrape them quickly, before everything is dry completely, they will come off easily. Once you are satisfied the finish has been thoroughly removed, set the stock to the side and let it dry completely. Overnight is usually the best bet, because you want the wood dry again before you start sanding. Just make sure that the area you leave the stock in is fairly dry and not damp and musty. Otherwise it might take a few days for it to dry out completely.
When you’re satisfied that the stock is dry, you’re ready to start sanding. I always hand sand, rather than using a power sander. It is very easy to lose your sharp lines, and over-sand with a power sander. These also have a tendency to leave swirl marks in the wood, so I avoid their use on gunstocks. The supplies you will need for this will be Aluminum Oxide Sandpaper (wet- or dry) in 120, 220, 320, and 400-grit. I like the aluminum oxide paper because it cuts fast, and doesn’t dull from the abrasive fillers that are in the pores of the stock. You will also need a good sanding block. You can make one up from a scrap block of wood, with a hard felt pad glued to the bottom. You want a sanding block that is firm, yet has some give so it will follow the stock contour. Now you want to install your recoil pad, or buttplate, and any non-metallic fittings back on the stock, such as a plastic grip cap. The idea is to sand these parts at the same time you sand the stock. This how you get that perfect fit on your recoil pad!
Remember the plastic pieces that you had to leave on the stock? Well, now you’re going to sand the old finish off! I usually do this first since it will make the surface uniform to the wood before you sand the rest of the stock, and this will avoid any dips that could show up from over sanding to get the finish off the plastic pieces. You want to start out using 120 grit paper backed up with the sanding block.
The goal is to only remove what finish and dark filler is left on the surface of the wood, you are not looking to remove any defects, just to get the down to the wood surface so it looks a uniform surface. You must take care at the areas that the wood and metal will meet. You do not want to over sand!
The whole idea is to remove as little wood as possible, and to avoid having the edges roll over. Keep everything sharp! Just as the stock was when it was made. You also want to be very careful around the checkering, just work up to it, and don’t sand over it. To sand inside contours, such a cheek piece or flutes, tear off a small piece of sandpaper, and wrap it around your finger. For small radii, use the eraser end of a pencil, or any other cylindrical object that fits the radius.
You now have the stock and fittings all sanded to a uniform 120 grit, so the next step is to try to lift the old filler out of the wood pores. To do this, you want an OLD steam iron; don’t use your wife’s good one, as it will ruin it! Take a soft cotton rag, flannel works good, but make sure it is well washed, or it could transfer dye to the stock. Wet the rag and lay it over the stock, covering as large an area as possible. I usually make it large enough to cover both sides of the buttstock, and long enough to go full length of a shotgun stock, or _ the length of a rifle stock. Turn the iron on to high, and let it get good and hot. Now take the iron, and lay it on the wet rag, but keep it moving slowly, and go over the entire covered area including the checkering. Be careful! You will be producing some very hot steam that can burn!
If you are doing this correctly, you can actually hear the steam rumble under the cloth. This will force steam into the wood pores and lift out the filler, and raise most of the dings and dents that you have acquired. Go over the stock with the wet rag and steam iron enough to make sure you have covered the entire stock as best you can. If you haven’t covered everything, rewet the rag, and move on to another area. When you have finished, set the stock aside to dry. If you have an old hair dryer, you can speed up the drying time considerably. You will also see a color change in the wood as it dries. After the stock has dried, you will see that the grain has also been raised and opened up.
Now take some more 120 grit paper and sand the stock again. Once more, all you’re trying to do is smooth the surface, not to remove much wood, or change dimensions of the stock. When you are happy with your sanding, remove all the dust with a soft rag and a soft brush, such as a cheap paint brush. Now take a close look at your stock. Check it over carefully for defects, like scratches that went clear through the finish and into the wood, dings that didn’t come out with the steaming process, and hairline cracks. The scratches can, for the most part, be sanded out. But be careful, and follow the stock contour. Don’t leave a low spot. Blend your sanding in with the rest of the stock. If you still have some dings, try spot steaming them with a wet rag, and use the point of the hot steam iron.
If you work at it you can raise most dings with success. If you can’t get them out, I like to fill them with a clear, quick drying epoxy, such as Acra-Quick. You mix a small amount of epoxy, and using a toothpick, apply the epoxy to the low spot, building it up higher than the surface, because some will soak into the wood. Another trick is to take a lit match and pass it a few times over the epoxy. This warms it and allows it to work into the wood fibers for an even better repair. Just be careful not to burn the adhesive. Set it aside and allow to dry overnight.
Once this has dried, go back and sand the surface till it is even with the wood. For cracks, the best thing I have found is The Original Hot Stuff. This adhesive is water thin, and will seep into even a crack that is clamped tight. Just apply the glue to the crack, and it will wick itself to the back of the crack. Once again, let the outside dry thoroughly, and sand the surface even.
Now look at where your recoil pad, grip cap, etc. meet the wood. If they are not perfectly flush, then use your sanding block and sand either the stock, or the piece till they are flush. Also make sure you have all the old finish off of your plastic pieces. By this time, you should have a nice, clean gunstock with nothing showing other than the darker areas where you did any repair work. Don’t worry about those areas being darker; they will blend in when you do your finish.
Now, start sanding with the finer grits of paper to smooth off the surface. Start with 220-grit and re-sand the entire stock. You want to remove the scratches left from the 120-grit, but once again, do not over-sand the wood to metal areas, and use your sanding block to maintain your contours. Once you have finished with the 220-grit, remove the sanding dust like you did with the 120-grit, and repeat using 320-grit paper.
Once you have finished sanding with the 320-grit, this is usually smooth enough for any type stock finish, but if you want to get your stock perfectly smooth, than proceed to use the 400-grit paper. This will nearly polish the surface, and if you have any defects, lake waves in the sides, they will really show up. If you are satisfied with the results, then the next step will be to apply your finish.
Stock Refinishing - Part II
By Dave Bennetts
Last month I wrote about stripping the old finish off of a stock and getting it ready for refinishing. Well, we have this perfectly sanded stock and now the question is, what are we going to do with it?
The first thing to consider is whether you want to stain the stock or not, and if you decide to go with stain, what is the best one to use. When deciding what to do, it’s a good idea to closely look at the wood in your stock. Does it have a lot of figure, or grain pattern in it? If so, the oil finishes will usually bring out that natural beauty without a stain. If you’re going to use a spray type of finish a good stain job will really make the stock look great. Spray finishes do not penetrate the wood as well as oil will and therefore, won’t show the grain as well. Is the wood a very light color? If that is the case, then a stain will enhance it and make it look even better.
A lot of the older Browning firearms used a very light colored French walnut that had little or no color to them and this type of wood benefits from stain. Also, quite a few of the new firearms are using birch and other light colored dense woods for their stocks and will look much better with a stain on them.
To select a stain it’s important to know what the different types are. Most can be broken into two different types based on how they color the wood, namely pigmented and dye types of stain. Those that contain pigments can be distinguished by the thick sludge that settles to the bottom of the can or bottle and must be stirred into a liquid form before it can be used. On the other hand, dye based stains can be used right out of the bottle or with just a little shaking to get it mixed up well. Personally, I try to avoid some of the pigmented stains because they tendency to make the finish cloudy.
For this stock I’ll just focus on dye type stains. These can also be broken into categories relating to what liquid they use to deliver the dye: oil, spirit or solvents, and water. I don’t often use the oil base dye stains since they take quite a while to dry, generally 24 hours or longer. The water based stains work great and can be thinned by adding water to which you can do to vary the colors. One drawback to the water based variety is if a person doesn’t do a good job of steaming and sanding, it will raise the grain and then you’ll have to re-sand the stock and redo the stain. I really like the spirit or solvent stains are my personal favorite as they are easy to apply and dry quickly. These dye stains provide very dark colors for those light colored, hard to stain stocks and they can provide vivid coloration to accent an already nice wood grain. Again, this depends which brand you choose.
We carry several excellent dye stains such as Pilkington’s , which has a beautiful color and is not too dark. The Gale Lock Co brands also have a great color and are a little darker. Peter Vanderhave stains are much darker yet and work very well on exceptionally light colored stocks. We also carry the Laurel Mountain Forge line of Antique Wood Stains, which have a medium coloration to them. I’ve had great results using all of these stains on various projects over the years and it all depends on the coloration you want to have on a stock.
For the application, use a lint free cloth to apply the stain; T-shirt Squares work great for this. They can be torn into any size you need and they won’t leave any fuzz and threads on the stock. To begin, tear off a chunk about 3” square and fold it into a pad about 1” square. Open the bottle and put the pad over the top and tip the bottle to allow the stain to soak into the pad. A good tip here is to wear thin latex gloves since the stain will color your hands and fingers just as easily as the wood! The idea isn’t to completely saturate the pad but to moisten the surface with enough stain so that it will go onto the stock freely but not to “flow.” It’s a good idea to be able to control the amount of stain you’re applying.
Apply the stain in long strokes on a large area such as the butt on one side, and then move over to the other side, then on to the forend. You want to overlap as little as possible since this will leave streaks. If you have any white spacers such as the ones on the grip cap, butt plate, or forend tip, you want to avoid getting stain on these areas because they’ll stain too and it’s hard to remove. When you start to run out of stain on the pad simply go back and wet it again.
After you’ve covered the entire stock take a good look at it. If it’s not as dark as you would like, cover it with stain one more time. I’d suggest using a new pad of cloth for each coat because the dyes will accumulate on the surface of the pad and will give you false colors. Now, at this point, I usually take a stiff brush and work the stain down into the checkering to make sure it’s the same color as the rest of the stock. If you happen to have sapwood in the stock you can very carefully apply the stain only to the sap wood area and darken it to blend this spot in with the rest of the stock. If you’re going to apply an English-style oil finish that requires working the wood surface, you’ll want to stain the stock a couple of shades darker than normal since the stain will lighten as you work the wood surface. If you’re using the modified linseed oil based finish such as Laurel Mountain Forge , Tru Oil , or Linspeed it’s important to stain as close to the final color as possible. Once you have the stock stained to you satisfaction, set it aside to dry. I usually let it sit overnight to make sure that any solvent left in the pores has evaporated. If you apply the finish to soon it will trap these solvents and your finish won’t dry properly.
Stock Refinishing - Part III
By Dave Bennetts
Now that the stain job has dried properly, it’s time for the fun part - applying the finish. This is the most rewarding part of the job to me, and is when you see the results of all your hard work. It’s always a thrill when your firearm begins to take on that warm glow that sets it apart from other guns. Having been a professional stock maker and refinisher for more years than I want to admit, I have used probably every commercially available stock finish on the market. They’ve all worked, some with good results, some excellent, and some that were just okay.
The finishes that I felt were the true English style oil finishes were generally quite good, but were difficult to use even by a person who had spent a number of years doing stock work. Being a member of Brownells technical staff gives me the opportunity to test quite a number of finishes that would like to make it into the market place. Again, some work okay but are no better than an existing finish that it would have to compete against. Early this spring, we received samples of an English style oil finish from a company in South Africa by the name of African Express. Well, I like the neat name, and the labels were pretty, but, I thought, “Here we go with another finish that no one wants, or will complain that it won’t work right, or the skill level required is beyond the average person.” I started reading the instructions, and everything sounded quite simple, but always being a skeptic, I figured I’d test it. Well surprise, surprise, surprise! This stuff was absolutely the easiest oil finish to apply that I have ever seen. I followed the instructions to the letter and it worked perfectly. Now, you have to understand that this type of finish requires a lot of patience to apply, due to drying time between coats. It’s not a put it on today, shoot tomorrow type of finish, but done correctly, you won’t find one more beautiful once you’re all done. The total time involved will vary from 3 to 4 weeks, but what else have you got to do in the middle of winter? All it takes is about an hour a day, so let’s get started.
Basically, the only supplies you will need will be the Stock Finishing Kit, a supply of 0000 Steel Wool, a soft throw away bristle brush, some T-Shirt Squares, and some 1200 Grit Wet or Dry Sand Paper. Before you begin, it’s a good idea to keep the stock in a warm area of the house to get it dried out properly. This will also allow the first coat to penetrate much better. Pour a small amount of the stock finish in a small dish then dip the brush in the finish and apply it liberally to the entire stock, except the checkering. If you’re careful, and work around the checkered areas, you’ll avoid having to go back and clean the finish out of it later on. You’ll see that the oil will soak in some areas quicker than others, so keep brushing the finish on these areas until the finish starts to build on the surface. This is a sign the wood will accept no more finish, so take a T-shirt square and wipe all the excess off the surface. Now, set the stock aside in a warm place to dry for 24 hours.
Once it’s dried thoroughly, you’ll begin to see shiny areas on the surface. Taking some 0000 steel wool, rub down the entire stock, which will remove any of the old finish that’s left on the surface. You want to take great care not to build up any surface finish at this time. Repeat the same cycle of oiling, wiping, drying, and steel wooling the surface, 6 more times.
At this point, we need to decide if we’re going to use the pore and grain filler that came with the finish kit. This is not a filler with silica as we discussed before, it’s a modified version of the same oil you were using that is thicker, and dries more quickly. If the wood is porous and the grain is still open, you’ll definitely want to use the filler. It goes on the same way you applied the oil, only the drying time is approximately 12 hours instead of 24. Once again, you want to apply the oil, wipe off the excess, and allow it to dry, then steel wool the surface to remove any surface buildup. Four applications should be enough, but if your wood surface is not dead flat at this point, take some Dry Sand Paper and lightly flatten the surface. You’re not trying to sand the wood, just flatten out the surface finish. Once that is done, usually one or two more coats of the filler will give you that perfect, flat surface, with no visible pores or grain showing.
Now comes the best part. We’re going to apply that beautiful surface finish that is so prized on firearms. To do this, take another 3 in. square of T-shirt fabric, and again fold it into a 1 in. pad. Put it over the top of the bottle, and tip the bottle up to apply some finish to the pad. Apply a thin layer of the finish to the stock with the pad, and continue rubbing with the pad until both the stock and pad are dry to the touch. At this time, set the stock aside to dry for between 12 and 16 hours. Continue to apply a new coat every 12 to 16 hours about 12 times. If you want even more depth, you can keep applying the finish with the same method for another week if so desired. Let your eyes be the judge as to when it finished to your satisfaction. Now, set it aside for 4 or 5 days to completely cure and admire what you have accomplished!
