Can you polish a ****?

[DanBettin]

Can most gun stocks be refinished to bring out a decent quality grain - the kind you'd see on the more up-market turkish walnut gun stocks, or does the old saying stand true - that you can't polish a ****? i.e. are you mostly limited by the quality of the wood in the first place?

EDIT: I should be more specific - I know the grain of the wood in terms of the shape/pattern is what it is, but colour wise is it possible to get those vivid deeper colours with the right oil etc.?

Edited November 8, 2017 by DanBettin

[Scully]

When I tell my OH that ‘ you can’t polish a ****’, she replies...’no, you can’t; but you can cover it in glitter!’ 

There are people out there who can airbrush a plain stock to make it appear as G5 wood.

I used to do wood graining as part of my paint effects; the effects can be stunning once varnished. Perhaps you could find someone local?

[Harnser]

Any gun stock can be improved by rubbing down and finished with oil . You can add colour to it with the right wood stain . I once finished a very plain Jane looking stock on a friends miruko trap gun . After rubbing it down it was obvious that it was a very nice piece of wood and finished up as good as a grade 5 stock .

 

harnser

[TriBsa]

You are always going to be limited by the wood you start with, but the finish on any mass produced gun can usually be greatly improved with time and effort. Hand oiling a stock is labour and time intensive, hence why varnished or sprayed/dipped oil finishes are used to get product out of the door quickly and cheaply.

[Gunman]

I always went for colour when trying to improve the appearance of a plain grained stock , A darker red/brown will always look better in my opinion than a light colour .This often meant getting down to bare wood and using stains , spirit based I found best as they penetrated into the wood better . "Enhancing" the grain or painting some in is fine if you have the right stains that will penetrate deeply allowing you to tone down with your oiling  ,these are not usually available at your local DIY store , but practice with different brushes first , done reasonably well it looks OK , badly it looks awful.

Remember a "dull sheen " is more forgiving that a bright or high gloss on plain wood and will improve a lot of stocks appearance by simply dulling down a gloss  .

 

I should point out here that I have worked on hundreds of   guns of all makes re-finishing the wood ,including new guns removing gloss finishes and oiling as well as just improving a not so good factory finishes . Each must be taken as an individual so what works on one may not on another , its knowing when to stop and not over doing it that can make all the difference .

[wisdom]

Got a nice finish on an old Baikal.

Took it down to bare wood stained it with walnut stain(spirit based)rubbed down again and restrained finished with 5 coats of Danish oil.

The finish was a lot better and very pleased with the result.

[Cranfield]

Refurbing the wood on an old (or cheap) gun can give suprisingly excellent results, its also quite theraputic.

I have done a few over the years and you do not need to be an expert.

There are plenty of "how to" suggestions on Google and there are probably some threads in the Craft and DIY section if you do a Search.

[MR. BROWN]

I would dearly love the skill and patience to refinish my high grade walnut wood sets .....

 

I've had a go in the past, with mainly less than satisfactory results - I'm a fussy ba**ard.

 

I now take the short cut to happiness and send them out to my stock bloke.

 

P.S. My Miroku Model 9000 Grade 5 'Special Edition' is ready for pick up after a complete re-do.