Removing varnish finish on MK38 for oil - advice

[antse7en]

Hi guys,

I’d like to remove the varnish in place of an oil finish on my MK38.

Is there any advice or a step by step available for somebody with zero experience working with wood. I’d like to do it myself as a bit of a project instead of sending it off. 

Any help appreciated. 

- this would include what materials to buy etc too. 

Thanks.

 

[Tinker]

Advice?

Don't do it yourself. A good finish takes a lot of experience and a lot of time. And an MK38 is too good a gun to botch.

 

[Jan Powell]

Advice?

Don't do it yourself. A good finish takes a lot of experience and a lot of time. And an MK38 is too good a gun to botch.

I’ll second that. It can be done but it’s a dirty and time consuming job to do properly. If it’s just an oil finish your after give to someone like JWS who’ll do a excellent job for little money. If you want to learn (and there’s nothing wrong with that) find yourself an old stock and give it a go. You’ll find plenty of YouTube instructional videos online.

 

[antse7en]

Funny enough I’ve spoken to Jason and it’ll be going to him shortly. I do still want to tackle a project so perhaps a throwaway stock for practice would make sense. Cheers

 

[chippy]

I used a chainsaw to remove the varnish and waste engine oil from a tractor for the finish. Iam very pleased with the results.

 

[cockney21]

Part of the problem with a DIY job is that a true oil finish takes weeks rather than a weekend, we are talking about 2-3 coats a day. Good news is once it's done it will need very little care to keep it looking good for many years.

 

[Salopian]

To  antse7en,

 If you would like to learn , obtain a decent piece of wood  such as a walnut offcut , and sand and polish using the techniques that can easily be found on the internet on stock refinishing.

It is very pleasing and cheap to do your own stock , it just takes time and patience .

 

[westley]

Part of the problem with a DIY job is that a true oil finish takes weeks rather than a weekend, we are talking about 2-3 coats a day. Good news is once it's done it will need very little care to keep it looking good for many years.

I stick to 1 coat a day of the finishing oil, it can avoid starting all over again, caused by the application of too much oil.

I am nearing the final stages of finish on an old 300 auto woodwork. As it is only going to be used as a 'hide gun', I am not too fussed about raising all of the dents.

 

[bugsey hogan]

Hi guys,

I’d like to remove the varnish in place of an oil finish on my MK38.

Is there any advice or a step by step available for somebody with zero experience working with wood. I’d like to do it myself as a bit of a project instead of sending it off. 

Any help appreciated. 

- this would include what materials to buy etc too. 

Thanks.

Yes don’t do it 

 

[Westward]

It depends on you and your approach to a technically simple task that requires mucho patience. It's nothing to be scared about but maybe better left till winter when there's less shooting going on.

To start with Miroku uses a varnish that puts up a huge fight for survival. Nitromors will get rid of it - eventually - but it needs several applications.

As to re-oiling have a look at shotgunworld.com forum. There's a subform on gunsmithing and restoration and in there you'll find numerous posts about stock oiling. Americans can get pretty anal about such things but there's a ton of good info plough through. Research/homework is your friend.

The pros use so called "secret recipe oils" but really they're all reliant on an additive known as dryers, the best known of which is terebene, as used by paint manufacturers. It does exactly what you'd expect in that in speeds up the curing process, thus reducing the timescale from several months to 2 or 3 weeks.

 

[jonz]

A word of caution on using terebene if you use too much then it can make the finish brittle and crack it’s a result of drying quickly so beware a little is fine but too much and you’ll be doing it again in a year or so 

 

[Rod M]

I was looking into doing this exact thing for my Gr1 mk38. After getting a few quotes and doing some research, I determined that it was simply not worth paying anyone else to do the work (unless you are able to get a VERY good price). I was quoted around £400, which makes trading the Gr1 for a Gr5 a much more sensible option.