Milsurp rifle stocks

[flatwins]

On the topic of milsurp rifle stock restoration, how much is too much? What I mean is, say you have a Garand. It is "worth" more if the stock has not been refinished. By refinished I mean stock stripped, stained, finish reapplied. But what if a guy used a finish restoration kit from someone like Formby's to clean up and enhance the original finish? Good? Bad?

 

[TJay74]

Are You Worried About The Value At All?

If So Dont Mess With It At All Other Than Cleaning It And Keeping The Stock Clean And Oiled.

If You Dont Care About The Value Then You Can Strip And Refinish It To Your Liking, Value Will Take A Hit Some Though With That Method.

 

[Big50]

Even a lite sand and oil??

 

[ldp4570]

Even a lite sand and oil??

YEP!!!!

 

[ldp4570]

On the topic of milsurp rifle stock restoration, how much is too much? What I mean is, say you have a Garand. It is "worth" more if the stock has not been refinished. By refinished I mean stock stripped, stained, finish reapplied. But what if a guy used a finish restoration kit from someone like Formby's to clean up and enhance the original finish? Good? Bad?

The moment you start to do anything like that, you damage the original markings i.e. cartouches, inspector marks, build marks. Those all add up to money you loose if you damage them by striping.

 

[Fly]

Man that's tuff!I'm in to this stuff.The most I do is use Howards feed-N-wax
preserver.It doe's enhance the stock & helps to keep it from cracking from
drying out.But be own that leave it be.JMOHOP

 

[ronny]

If you have a rifle that has true collector value, you will negatively affect that value by refinishing.

You mentioned Garand. Most US Milsurps are oiled. You won't hurt it to re-oil it. Don't sand it.

I saw a Garand at a gun show a few weeks ago. It had had a polyurethane-like finish applied. Looked like highly polished Weatherby stock. UUUUUGLY.

If you're talking a Mosin, unless it's a truly rare one, have at it. Once again, don't sand it. But, strip the shellac and re-do it to your heart's content. If you then don't like it, re-strip it. Denatured Alcohol takes shellac off easily.

You should enjoy your rifles. Just don't be foolish if you have a valued one.

WE NEED A MILSURP SECTION.

 

[Perplexed]

I agree with the others - leave it alone, or at most treat it with boiled linseed oil or pure tung oil (not tung oil finish, which is a mixture of tung oil and other stuff). Linseed oil is what the US military used during the early days of WW2, and pure tung oil is what they used during the later part of, and just after, WW2 on their rifle stocks. You can cut the BLO or tung oil with a mild solvent (I use citrus solvent) to help the oil penetrate into the wood and to help speed the drying time.

If you really want a stock with bling, get one of these.

 

[flatwins]

Thanks guys. I was just using a Garand as an example. I don't have one but have access to one that is pretty for sale. Wondering if I should buy it...

Anyhow, I have a couple of Mausers and well as a USGI M1 carbine with a Saginaw SG high wood stock. Ain't no way I'm touching that baby! I might play around with refinishing my Turk Mauser since they probably will never be collectible. But on my Swede I thought about seeing if I could merely clean the stock up but not actually refinish it.

 

[ronny]

Try cleaning it with some Murphy's Oil Soap and then wax it.