SKS Refinishing Begins...

[kellzey]

I stripped the cosmoline encrusted rifle with the intention of refinishing the stock. This is the first of many posts on my journey.

The gun is "new" with a stock that is pretty nicked up from storage and soaked with cosmoline.

http://www.914club.com/bbs2/uploads/blog-1128222897.jpg

I scrubbed the stock with Purple Power and a stiff brush until I could see the cosmoline dissolving. Then I ran it under hot water in the utility sink to wash away the cosmoline. A wave of brown gook was washed down the drain.

I hung the stock to dry. After an hour or two, I zapped the rear of the stock with a heat gun and more cosmoline emerged. I think a tour of duty in a 200 degree oven is next. (Maybe tomorrow or Wednesday)

Here is the stock as it sits to dry for the night...

http://www.914club.com/bbs2/uploads/blog-1129005876.jpg

For the rest of the rifle, I first scrubbed all of the metal parts in Purple Power using a tooth brush. Next, I ran each part under hot water and flushed the cosmoline away. I took the air compressor and blew as much water off as possible. Next I zapped and soaked all parts with a liberal amount of Brake Cleaner. The parts were air dryed and then I went over everything with a rag and mineral spirits.

Finally, I soaked all of the parts with Eezox and wiped everything down. Here are the parts read for assembly in the refinished stock...

http://www.914club.com/bbs2/uploads/blog-1129005821.jpg

Next... more cosmoline removal from the stock. Light sanding... and then some tung oil!

:)

[Specks]

That looks great so far. Looking forward to the final pictures.

[jonathon]

I boiled my yugo stock and most of it came out.. then used plain old dish soap and hot water :cool:

Working on sanding now though.

[gatsby]

I'm not trying to rain on your picnic or anything, but (if you have not already) you should take out your sks and test it for accuracy before you put alot of work into it. Just from personal experience, I bought an sks (yugo like yours) and refinished the stock and made it very pretty, but to my massive dismay it turned out to be a "bad egg." After breaking in the barrel and all that good stuff, with Silver Bear, Wolf, and Monarch 7.62 and 3 trips to the range it simply would not shoot anything smaller than 4 inch groups at 50 yards no matter who was behind the trigger. I was very dissapointed after hearing about the accuracy an sks can have (both my buddy's and my brothers can shoot 2 inch groups at 100 yards), but mine simply did not produce it so I sold it.
Best of luck with yours,
dave

[Burncycle]

I boiled my yugo stock and most of it came out.. then used plain old dish soap and hot water

;P poor wood

[jonathon]

Originally posted by Burncycle
;P poor wood

Definatly was ;P

Though now it has no dents, and only one major gouge left ;f

Plan to finish it with the darkest stain I can find, and many coats of it, so I'm not worried about any oil left in the stock(which is not to much).

[kellzey]

Paper towel cocoon....

http://www.914club.com/bbs2/uploads/blog-1129078192.jpg

Does an SKS fit in a Thermador oven? Just barely?

http://www.914club.com/bbs2/uploads/blog-1129078201.jpg

I am occasionally rotating and flipping it and rubbing the paper towels all over the wood to soak up oil. I can see a big oil spot towards both ends!

[kellzey]

Ahh.... pretty clean now! And it's only been drying for an hour or so!

http://www.914club.com/bbs2/uploads/blog-1129086827.jpg

Tomorrow... a light sanding and inspection for dents.

The hot water washing and scrubbing already raised most of them.

[Burncycle]

For good measure, you might want to bake it once more, 175-200 degrees (check @ minute 15, minute 30)

If absolutely nothing comes out, good to go... if it soaks up again, repeat! Really don't want that stuff seeping out of the wood at the range when the rifle heats up ;)

Looking good so far though

[kellzey]

Sanded it nice and smooth with 220 this evening and steamed out a few dents. I noticed a little more cosmoline coming out... so in the oven again for a few hours.... it's gotta be right!

I also re-engraved the stock to bring out the serial number a but, since sanding lightened it up a bot. I just took a corner of a chisel and pressed it in to bring out the serial number a bit!

[hotpig]

I just sprayed the stocks with oven cleaner and followed with a hot water wash.I guess I must be lazy.

I carried one in the trunk of my car for a week or so in the summer time. That cleaned it so much that I never had to take it apart. I just wiped the oil from it every day until is stopped oozing.

[Kentuckian]

I don't know what you intend to refinish it with, but I used BLO on mine and it came out great.

[kellzey]

Okay... the stock is done. Baked and scrubbed twice. Progressively sanded and dents steamed out.

I know I am picky and spending too much time on a stupid $150 gun, but I might as well practice for a future gun restoration that has more value.

The stock has some nicks in the wood... more like chips.

These are too deep to be sanded out and not true dents so steam won't work. Do I just leave 'em or is there some way to "fill" in.

I am afraid if I use wood filler and then apply the tung oil that it...

a) won't absorb the same into the filler as to the wood
b) will look like a filled in the spots with filler

If wood filer IS the way to go, what kind of filler to I use?

Advice?

[ylide]

This is funny, I got a Yugo 2 weeks ago and am doing the same thing.
In college I worked for a furniture restoration company and I really love refinishing.

Anyway, when I went to get the stain for the stock, I brought my 3.5 year old son with me, out of the blue he picked up a can of dark walnut stain and said. "This is the perfect one dad".

Well how can I say no to that? Even though, I usually go with a natural finish I went ahead and got the dark walnut. It was a hard choice since the stock that came with my SKS is a very nice light red color.

As many of you have undoubtedly seen with your SKS stocks. Even after a good steaming there are some marks that were so deep they stay discolored, unless you really remove a lot of wood.

Well, I just finished the second coat with the dark walnut stain and did a little wet sanding to keep it nice and smooth. I am really pleased with the dark finish so far it hides almost all of the marks and yet some of the red color of the wood is still coming through. I will post some pictures in a few weeks after I get a few layers of clear coat on it.

P.S. I am thinking that I might go with a dull finish after I apply my clear coat, since this is supposed to be a battle rifle and I don't think a "shinny from 200 yards away" high gloss is appropriate. What do you guys think?


Also kellzey, I don't think about it as spending too much time on a cheap rifle, just enjoy the woodworking time. Best mental therapy I know of.

[Kentuckian]

Originally posted by ylide
What do you guys think?


I think I'd just go with BLO. ;)

[Specks]

Originally posted by Kentuckian
I think I'd just go with BLO. ;)

Have any pictures?

[ylide]

Specks,
Linseed Oil is a good choice and looks great. But the added protection of a good poly clear coat over stain is more important to me on a firearm.

Besides I really like adding coat, after coat, after coat of clear.

[Kentuckian]

Originally posted by Specks
Have any pictures?

Just one.

[kellzey]

She's coming along beautifully. I have 2 coats of 50/50 tung/mineral on it and one coat of tung oil. Tomorrow I put the second coat of tung oil.

I chose a high gloss and she is looking pretty.

The wood almost looks like a chestnut or oak finish.

Really nice.

Pics later!

[kellzey]

Looking nice... 2 or 3 coats more to go...

[kellzey]

Looking nice... 2 or 3 coats more to go...

http://www.914club.com/bbs2/uploads/blog-1129520616.jpg

[kellzey]

Well... she is back together. 4 coats of Formby's High Gloss Tung Oil... (actually 2 coats of 50/50 mineral/tung oil and then 4 coats of tung oil finish). All metal received a thorough cleaning to remove all cosmoline and a lube with Eezox.

I even installed an original sling.

Althought this was technically a "new" gun, the stock was pretty nicked up. I couldn't remove all of the gouges because they were too deep. The wood wasn't the nicest, but it's the best that it could turn out for what it was...

http://www.914club.com/bbs2/uploads/blog-1129852172.jpg

[Specks]

That looks great!

[jonathon]

I'm going to be starting to apply the finish on mine tonight! Yours turned real nice..

How'd you do the handguard on the gas tube? I can't seem to get the pin on mine to move..

[kellzey]

I left it attached to the gas tube and just masked it off with painters tape. Worked fine!

[jonathon]

Originally posted by kellzey
I left it attached to the gas tube and just masked it off with painters tape. Worked fine!

Good suggestion! I'll start sanding tomorow on that part. The stock is done, just waiting for me to remember to pick up the stain..

I spent about 14 hours sand it, and about 1 wet sanding it. After the wet sand, it was smooooooth as clean glass.

[Russ in PA]

Originally posted by jonathon

I spent about 14 hours sand it, and about 1 wet sanding it.


I'm surprised there's anything left!

Which side of the sandpaper did you use?

[Kentuckian]

Just a little FYI....

Formby's Tung Oil finish as well as most tung oil finishes on the market have very little tung oil in them. They're mostly varnish.

If you're wanting to use tung oil, look for "pure tung oil".

[sharpshooter]

I tried the Formbys Tung Oil but I didn't like the way it turned out. It is mostly varnish as was said. I stripped my SKS back down and started over.

You'll bet better results if you use Boiled Linseed Oil. I mix in a little bit of oil stain to get some deeper color for a few coats. Once you have the BLO built up evenly, spray it with aerosol Spar eurothane marine-type varnish with at least 3 coats. Here's two rifles I've done. The first is a Mosin Nagant 91/30 with semi-gloss spar varnish. The second one is a Russian SKS with satin spar varnish. I like the semi-gloss better, it's got the perfect amount of gloss, not too much.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v519/benclawson/MN104.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v519/benclawson/MN3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v519/benclawson/SKS6.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v519/benclawson/SKS5.jpg