Gun refinishing questions?

Question

okay im pretty good at refinishing guns stocks and rebluing but all my guns look plain i was wondering how people get that realy high gloss looks on stocks i usually just stain then apply 2 coats of tungs oil should i stain it more and apply tungs oil around 10x or is there anouther secret? and bluing im doing pretty good with the birchwood casey bluing but is there something a little easier i can use?

Answer 1

I have refinished 2 rifles and i'm on my 3rd.  I have never refinished any of the metal though.  The wood is fairly easy to deal with.  To get the "high gloss" look to the stock, I use a simply would finish from Home Depot.  Find a shade that looks good (test it of course), sand it down, and put several coats on.  I usually put at least 4.  Sand with steel wool in between coats.  Next I put on a high gloss polyuerthane coat.  Looks like glass when its finished.  hope this helps.

Answer 2

I have had the very best luck with the Birchwood Casey refinish kit. The Tru-oil has a nice glossy finish. Or just get a bottle of Tru-oil.

There are blue removers available or continue with the finest grade of steel wool (0000)

Answer 3

If you want a mile-deep glass finish on the stock, there are two methods I have used but neither are fast ways of doing it. A hand rubbed oil with dryers added is one way and I have used as much as 20 coats( linseed oil). To fill all the wood grain completely you will basically be taking off almost every coat except the last few.

There is a little faster way of doing it and it is called " French finishing" , a style of finishing made popular by French furniture makers but similar to hand rubbed. Keep in mind, if the stock gets too " pretty" you wont want to use it. There are all sorts of little tricks to help these processes along as well as remove dings from the wood itself by "steam raising" a dent or grain instead of sanding it down. Deep cleaning old stain can be done with Carbon techchloride or similar "dry cleaning fluids"

When you get to the final stage before finish, there is a way of making the "grain whiskers" go away by " boning" the wood using a very smooth ham bone. These are all old ways of doing a fine finish and usually other methods are just as good for a "using" or utility gun.

Tons of information on the internet on these methods. Good luck and have fun.