refinishing stock on rem M700 BDL?

[vance]

Just got a used one and contemplating stripping the high gloss varnish and doing an oil finish. I have read that this finish is difficult to strip. Anyone have any experience?
Thanks
Vance

[fps plus]

#1 patients. You can use stripper but not really effective and will eat forend tip and grip cap . A hot air paint stripper works somewhat . Sandpaper , sanding block works. Be patient don’t round square edges , don’t get careless and sand checkering. Say a few curse words and doubt why you ever started this . There’s no fast way to do it . It’s not hard just slow tedious work .

[partsman]

Have heard of using wood scrapers

[360hunt]

I'm just in the middle of refinishing a walnut mannlicher stock.
It had a polyurethane clear coat that had better days.
I have used a furniture varnish stripper with light coats. Took a few coats but has removed 100% of the poly.

I then steamed the stock with a wet clean cloth and a house hold iron to raise the grain.
Proceeded with a light sand with 320 grit.

I have finished it with minwax antique oil and its turned out better than any other finish I have tried. If your looking for a oil finish I'd recommend you checking it out. Super easy to use.

My 2 cents

[fps plus]

If just want a “dull “ finish you can rub down the stock with rotten stone .It will dull the Varathane finish

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by vance

Just got a used one and contemplating stripping the high gloss varnish and doing an oil finish. I have read that this finish is difficult to strip. Anyone have any experience?
Thanks
Vance

Remove any plastic grip caps, recoil pads etc, tape off the black forened cap completely if it has one. Circa 1850 Paint stripper is very aggressive and will remove the Urethane finish. I have used envro friendly stuff (Soy based) from Drumond on other guns but never on a Remington and the Rem finish is very tough to remove, the Circa I know works for sure.

Drumond if you want to give it a try you get here. Circa you can buy anywhere.

SHERWIN-WILLIAMS CANADA 8783
993 FIR ST
SHERWOOD PARK, AB, Canada T8A 4N5
Phone: 780-417-8763

[MK2750]

Originally Posted by Dean2

Remove any plastic grip caps, recoil pads etc, tape off the black forened cap completely if it has one. Circa 1850 Paint stripper is very aggressive and will remove the Urethane finish. I have used envro friendly stuff (Soy based) from Drumond on other guns but never on a Remington and the Rem finish is very tough to remove, the Circa I know works for sure.

Drumond if you want to give it a try you get here. Circa you can buy anywhere.

SHERWIN-WILLIAMS CANADA 8783
993 FIR ST
SHERWOOD PARK, AB, Canada T8A 4N5
Phone: 780-417-8763

I looked everywhere for the original Circa and all places are carrying the new environmentally friendly stuff. It sucks, but luckily I found an old can at a small town HH store when travelling for work.

[icehunter]

Originally Posted by Dean2

Remove any plastic grip caps, recoil pads etc, tape off the black forened cap completely if it has one. Circa 1850 Paint stripper is very aggressive and will remove the Urethane finish. I have used envro friendly stuff (Soy based) from Drumond on other guns but never on a Remington and the Rem finish is very tough to remove, the Circa I know works for sure.

Drumond if you want to give it a try you get here. Circa you can buy anywhere.

SHERWIN-WILLIAMS CANADA 8783
993 FIR ST
SHERWOOD PARK, AB, Canada T8A 4N5
Phone: 780-417-8763

Is the circa 1850 in a new plastic jug by chance?

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by icehunter

Is the circa 1850 in a new plastic jug by chance?

The old one and the one I use comes in a pint can. My bet is the plastic jug version is the new environment friendly version. Never used that version so no idea how good it works.

[Deer Hunter]

The circa 1850 is now hard to find. Klean Strip works well too and is available at Lowes etc.

[icehunter]

Originally Posted by Dean2

The old one and the one I use comes in a pint can. My bet is the plastic jug version is the new environment friendly version. Never used that version so no idea how good it works.

That's what I used to use all the time, cant find it now.

[bsmitty27]

Originally Posted by partsman

Have heard of using wood scrapers

X2
That finish is hard. I have softened it up with chemical then cabinet scraper.

[270person]

Originally Posted by Deer Hunter

The circa 1850 is now hard to find. Klean Strip works well too and is available at Lowes etc.

Not hard to find at all.

OP....Give er with Circa 1850. Worked very well on my BDL. I do boiled linseed oil, takes 3-4 months to do properly, but I get the results I want.

Circa will melt the white plastic spacers so cover or remove all prior. 2 coats slapped on with a cheap brush then wrap in foil for 3-5 minutes, plastic scraper to remove what you can, then an old terry towel rub down. Likely 1 applications.

[Deer Hunter]

Originally Posted by 270person

Not hard to find at all.

OP....Give er with Circa 1850. Worked very well on my BDL. I do boiled linseed oil, takes 3-4 months to do properly, but I get the results I want.

Circa will melt the white plastic spacers so cover or remove all prior. 2 coats slapped on with a cheap brush then wrap in foil for 3-5 minutes, plastic scraper to remove what you can, then an old terry towel rub down. Likely 1 applications.

Where are you finding circa 1850 locally?

[270person]

Originally Posted by Deer Hunter

Where are you finding circa 1850 locally?

Windsor Plywood. Cloverdale Paints.

sns2 was having trouble finding it last year as well. I just walked into a Windsor.

[sns2]

Originally Posted by 270person

Not hard to find at all.

OP....Give er with Circa 1850. Worked very well on my BDL. I do boiled linseed oil, takes 3-4 months to do properly, but I get the results I want.

Circa will melt the white plastic spacers so cover or remove all prior. 2 coats slapped on with a cheap brush then wrap in foil for 3-5 minutes, plastic scraper to remove what you can, then an old terry towel rub down. Likely 1 applications.

This is the finish that Elmer Fudd and all his dyed in the wool devotees use.

For those who are not part of this select group, which is led locally by 270Person, this is the finish of choice...

https://www.homedepot.ca/product/wat...-ml/1000426717

[Deer Hunter]

Originally Posted by 270person

Windsor Plywood. Cloverdale Paints.

sns2 was having trouble finding it last year as well. I just walked into a Windsor.

Ok thanks

[catnthehat]

I used to strip factory finishes with commercial stripper, whisker with alcohol , burnish, then after sealing with Birchwood Casey I used either Birchwood Casey finish or GB Linspeed.
Linspeed is very thick and goes in very well, with the Drying agents in Birchwood Casey and Linspeed, both resulted in a fantastic, durable finish that was months quicker than straight linseed oil which actually does not seal the wood .
Cat

[vance]

Thanks fellas. Appreciate all the tips.
Likely going to keep the rifle, so will put it in the queue for stock refinishing (which keeps getting longer).
Cheers
Vance

[icehunter]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

I used to strip factory finishes with commercial stripper, whisker with alcohol , burnish, then after sealing with Birchwood Casey I used either Birchwood Casey finish or GB Linspeed.
Linspeed is very thick and goes in very well, with the Drying agents in Birchwood Casey and Linspeed, both resulted in a fantastic, durable finish that was months quicker than straight linseed oil which actually does not seal the wood .
Cat

I haven't seen linspeed in years now. I would love to find some.

[icehunter]

Lately I have been working with a bunch of finishes on 1x6 walnut. I have used antique oil (minwax) danish oil,BLO,tru-oil (which I have always used) Tung oil,tung oil finished with BLO Tru oil finished with a rubbed BLO.

The one finish that hit me one night was to mix BLO with Tru-oil 1 to 1. You can adjust the sheen by adding or removing the truoil. It dries overnight, gives a dull sheen and is durable. Its gives a harder finish then BLO and actually works nicely. Hand rubbed on and set to dry it is slightly glossy,but as it dries the gloss leaves and gives a sheen.

With the minwax antique oil there is a real problem with delamination if its not sanded between coats. I have also read that its not a real waterproof finish.

Being a autobody painter I have also done quite a few stocks with automotive clear. Its expensive to do using a good quality clear,it is extremely slippery when it gets wet,it brings out the grain nicely on a nice chunk of wood and its durable. Plus I can polish it out and really make it look nice.

I contacted Remington once to get some of there finish but they wouldn't sell it to me.

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by icehunter

I haven't seen linspeed in years now. I would love to find some.

You can order it online from Brownelles or direct from The maker. Last batch I got off amazon.

[double gun]

Strip with circa1850
Finish with timberluxe

[270person]

Originally Posted by sns2

This is the finish that Elmer Fudd and all his dyed in the wool devotees use.

For those who are not part of this select group, which is led locally by 270Person, this is the finish of choice...

https://www.homedepot.ca/product/wat...-ml/1000426717

This is quite amusing coming from someone who just refinished his 30-06, 32-40, and .303 with brown crayons.

I heard he's even had crayon holders sewn into his suspenders so he can refinish and snack at a higher rate.

[CptnBlues63]

Originally Posted by fps plus

#1 patients. You can use stripper but not really effective and will eat forend tip and grip cap . A hot air paint stripper works somewhat . Sandpaper , sanding block works. Be patient don’t round square edges , don’t get careless and sand checkering. Say a few curse words and doubt why you ever started this . There’s no fast way to do it . It’s not hard just slow tedious work .

Agree 100% on the sandpaper and patience!

I redid the stock on my one Savage 99C a few years back and used a Tru-Oil kit. It came out real nice. The link below shows some pics:

http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/showt...ight=savage+99

I used sandpaper and elbow grease to remove the original finish. It took some time and effort but I was careful and it came out pretty darn good for a first timer!

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by CptnBlues63

Agree 100% on the sandpaper and patience!

I redid the stock on my one Savage 99C a few years back and used a Tru-Oil kit. It came out real nice. The link below shows some pics:

http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/showt...ight=savage+99

I used sandpaper and elbow grease to remove the original finish. It took some time and effort but I was careful and it came out pretty darn good for a first timer!

Stripper is a far better idea than sanding. Sanding finish of will quite often result in a lot of wood being removed leaving the wood to metal joints, butt plate, checkering etc no longer a perfectly flat match. You can see this on a lot of used guns where the wood now meets the metal with the metal sitting proud at the joint. There is zero advantage to sanding over chemical stripping and many negatives.

[sns2]

Originally Posted by 270person

This is quite amusing coming from someone who just refinished his 30-06, 32-40, and .303 with brown crayons.

I heard he's even had crayon holders sewn into his suspenders so he can refinish and snack at a higher rate.

Don't knock it till ya try it. Helps with waterproofing too.

[CptnBlues63]

Originally Posted by Dean2

Stripper is a far better idea than sanding. Sanding finish of will quite often result in a lot of wood being removed leaving the wood to metal joints, butt plate, checkering etc no longer a perfectly flat match. You can see this on a lot of used guns where the wood now meets the metal with the metal sitting proud at the joint. There is zero advantage to sanding over chemical stripping and many negatives.

You didn't look at my pictures obviously. You should. Make note of the checkering. I will admit, I didn't sand the checkering itself, just carefully sanded around it.

It's worth noting I took my time as I didn't want to take too much wood off.......just the old varnish. I did it all by hand (no power tools) and everything fit back together perfectly and it looks great.

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by CptnBlues63

You didn't look at my pictures obviously. You should. Make note of the checkering. I will admit, I didn't sand the checkering itself, just carefully sanded around it.

It's worth noting I took my time as I didn't want to take too much wood off.......just the old varnish. I did it all by hand (no power tools) and everything fit back together perfectly and it looks great.

I meant no offense. Like I said in my post "often", not always. You can do a good job with sand paper but it takes a LOT longer and with inexperienced people it often has the downfalls I talked about. If you insist on doing it the hard way, don't let me or anyone else stop you, just trying to provide a better option is all.

I did in fact look at your pictures and to me they show exactly what I was talking about but I chose not to make those comments. Since you have raised it specifically; The butt of the stock rolls down to the recoil pad, it is no longer a straight line, and the lever action tang line is sitting well proud of the wood that joins it. If you look at a model 99 that has not been refinished this is not true. Yours also shows significant rounding of the raised area above the lever. This should be a nice crisp line, yours is now rounded over a significant amount. Finally, you can see that where the wood meets the rear of the action, the wood is now 1/8" shorter than a proper meet at the action like the unfinished stock shows.

This is what the lever to wood joint should look like.



This is yours



Here you can see the hump in your refinished stock and how it rolls down to the Recoil pad. This should be a perfectly straight line.



Should look like this