Im refinishing an old rifle, and now that ive gotten it stripped of the old chipping lacquer the wood is in great shape aside from some nicks and dings, Ive had a couple of options kicking around but im sick of the same walnut finish/tung oil/BLO/boring classic refinish for old rifles. But then again I dont want it to be shit i regret the moment I start. The wood is birch with fairly regular grain, ive read that birch dosent take a stain readily and seeing as its 80+ years old, i cant help but think itd help. whatever im going to do id like to do a hard laquer over it just so itll last forever, and maintenance on the wood is nil. One of the options I was looking at was lightly torching the grain in such a way that it burns into a nice pattern, not tigerstripes or some BS but just folowing the grain so it zebras, but im not too sure about the specific wood if thatll work. Any other unique idea wood be greatly appreciated as well as tips on how to do said idea.
Ive been woodworking for about 3-4 years now doing custom molding and cabinets, and refinishing old wardrobes and desks accurately under a carpenter but he cant be bothered with my side projects,
I took this to /k/ and they gave me a bunch of shit about ruining the historical value or conductibility so I could really not give two shits about that.
Pics related
>>973872
>>973872
hh
>>973872
This is what I was thinking about scorching, but Ive never done that before and not even sure itd work on birch.
>>973872
ALSO! Anything about cleaning wood that old its looks nice in pics but its still grungy to me, or I just have tunnel vision and am nitpicking. I used a heat gun, acetone, and soap and water (Seperately) to clean out LOADS of old grease and dirt and oil but it still looks dingy to me, if im just being an asshole disregard.
That's a 91/30. You got all the cosmoline out, right?
>>973886
There is absolutely positively no gotdamned cosmo left in this wood.
>>973886
>cosmoline
>>973889
Just so you understand the process, Denatured alchohol dissolved the shellac, heat gun and general dickery for 2 days sweated out 90% of cosmo, took it down to wookworking shop and they suggested acetone, did a demonstraion and the rags were dirty like I just started with shellac again. Another day of just cleaning wiht acetone till rags came off clean. Then a scrub with light soapy water till most of the dirt was off the wood, and here I am ready to start putting things back onto the wood.
What are you going to do with the hardware?
>>973895
Put it back together and shoot the fucker? What you think im going to go to this much effort not to have the stock as a working rifle? It works fine, i just hated the furniture chipping onto my hands every time i fired it.
>>973872
Next time try taking the bare stock out in the back yard, spray it with oven cleaner, the stronger the better, and then rinse it off with your garden hose. Much faster and easier than any other way I've tried. You're going to hear humidity bullshit, but it's never been a problem for me. It'll need sanding of course, but you were probably going to do that anyway, and the water will start to raise any nicks and whatnot as well.
What you're talking about, I think, is called a suigi finish. The flame/heat will darken the different grain orientations at different temperatures and make them pop, the trick is to stop in time so the whole thing isn't basically charred. I've always been too pussy to try it, but I've heard that a propane torch is fine for that. Good luck figuring out how close to play the flame, I'm guessing 6-8 inches away from the stock? And watch out for corners/tight curves (like the grip, etc.)
Also, if you want to stain it try aneline (sp?) dyes. Iirc they're alcohol based, and penetrate stuff like birch better than water based dyes. Tru-oil of course once you're done, three coats is fine once it's sealed, no matter what the autists tell you.
>>973921
Ive heard that birch dosent pop when it burns because of the uniformity and tightness of the grain, but because of that same property im not sure if itd char the grains separately light/dark alond grain lines or just make it evenly black. but yeah I was going to do a light sand just to knock down the grain before staining and sealing if I go that route.
Also what the deal with true oil, ive only ever used tung or a hard finish like laquer or shellac and ive never done a stock before.
>>973929
It's just a good finish, fairly easy to apply, and easy for a gunsmith to fix if he has to work on the stock. It goes on about like tung oil, and I've used floor finish for that matter. Tru-oil is a little thicker and doesn't run as bad, so easier for a casual user to get the hang of. I kind of "slop it on" like with a paper towel even for the first coat or so, until the stock stops drinking it up, cut that back with 0000 steel wool until it's level, then start stretching on thin coats by hand, using my finger. The first couple are for practice anyway, and you'll steel wool them off, then once you get nice level coats two or three of them are plenty.
>>973929
And like I said, I've just never had the guts to try toasting a rifle stock. If you're careful you could maybe try it in the barrel channel, or on the bottom of the forearm, very slowly, and see if you get any pop? It shouldn't be too deep anyway and you SHOULD be able to sand it off... Bwa ha ha!
>>973897
Lmao got your panties in a twist? Thought you might do something to it before you put it back on you fuck.
>>973938
???????????
You asked a dumb fucking question. What do you even do to the hardware of a gun? Re-blu it? Maybe? Be some Tacti-cool Homo and coat with redneck forest camo?
>>973943
No fucking wonder why you didn't get help in /k/. They hate dumb ass niggers like you.
>>973937
I was thinking of just getting a chunk of scrap birch with similar grains from a local shop, and test it out on that, in fact im probs gonna do that first no matter what I do just to see how it takes it, ive never worked with birch, like at all.
>>973944
Literally tell me anything I could to the hardware of the gun.
>>973944
Excuse me, tell me literally anything I could do to the hardware of a gun that would be better suited in /diy/ than /k/, Im not posting this in /k/ because I had questions about refinishing wood, so yeah, and cause the responses I got were chastising me about ruining a historical gun that I paid $180 for, or telling me to buy and archangel stock and make tacticool garbage. Excuse me.
>>973953
If I was you I'd put it back together and kill myself.
>>973956
Informative, helpful and generally constructive comment, Cool for you.
>>973872
>thumbnail in catalog looks like someone's leg with a leech on it
Try scrollwork pyrography, antler inlays with scrimshaw, micro engraving on the hardware, soaking the wood in UV/ reactive dyes, high-voltage Lichtenberg figuring of the wood, etc.
>>973958
Nothing but the best for someone that replies to simple questions as kindly as you do. God bless. Trump 2016.
>>973960
Holy Shit thats past my skill level but my god that would look nice, sorry about the shitty pics, hard to get decent lighting on the whole gun at once, and im a fucker.
But god those are all great ideas.
>>973960
High Voltage lichtenberg figuring, with resin in the burns, im fucking salivating almost.
>>973970
Make that "UV reactive resin" in the burns and you're golden.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuG1oNRQnyI
>>973972
Holy shit thats the best thing ive heard in a while. I think we might have a winner if I dont find any better options or if im too much a pussy to try it.
>>973974
I recommend getting some of the same wood type as the rifle stock and doing many tests with it before you start on the stock. You'll learn tons about how to control it and not screw it up.
>>973946
That is a good plan. If memory serves, it's another soft hardwood, works kind of like pine, but with tighter grain. So like a soft walnut? And unless it just shoots that good, or you love it that much, don't bother with the metal. It's not worth it on that rifle.
>>973976
Exactly that, i can get some raw scrap birch from a shop near to my house and jeez, im gonna have to practice a lot, my only concern is if I can only do it properly on the butt of the stock or if I cant get it all the way down the length of it properly.
>>973978
I can have on electrode on a insulated stick and drag it slowly down the side. You might need to do that with both electrodes at the same time. The electricity always burns between them. The longer they burn in one spot the larger the pattern but also the deeper into the wood the pattern burns. If the two patterns touch, it starts to burn deeper much faster.
So, sliding the electrodes around on the wood could have some neat results and patterns.
>>973981
That sounds like a good method, and what would I do too prepare the carbonized wood for the resin? Just scrub it out a bit with a stuff brush?
>>973988
You'll find out on your test pieces.
>>973989
True enough
>>973961
>comes in with a question unrelated to the thread
>insults OP when called stupid
>When confronted with stupidity devolves into insults
>generally putting nothing forward thats constructive to the thread at all
>'go kill yourself'
>Trump supporter
It all makes sense now anon. Thanks for making that clear
>>973872
Human blood, then sealed.
No, really. It makes a pretty nice finish.
>>974322
Gonna humor ya, where am I getting such an amount of blood? as far as I know more than a pint is dangerous from any one person. Than again a pint is a lot of stain.
>>973872
OP here, just an update on the project, I went ahead and set up the equipment to burn the wood and after some experimenting i found the best way to do it, and my samples have turned out pretty good, next is to try it on the gun and then epoxy over it with some colorant, i have yet to find. Ive been having some trouble finding powder or liquid coloring for the epoxy in a color that I like, but im mostly just being nitpicky.
>>975582
If anyone wants to know how to the wood burning I can tell ya, but its a bit of a process so.
>>975582
Just use something else for color and apply the epoxy over it as a second coat.
Tests look good. Have you tried moving the electrodes around yet to see what that produces?
>>975589
I tried, it didnt work out so great, moving the wires as it burns just fucks up the current and you just get burn where the wires were, not a lot of arcing, since the electricity has to follow burns, also just letting some water adn baking soda soak in for a while help out a lot. On the left panel, you can see i wet all 3 spots on that board at the same time but only did the bottom one first, then the middle after 5 minutes and the top after 10 minutes, the level of detail, and how fast it burned was a lot better each time. Going across the grain in the right panel worked, but it really did not like that. even after letting the water soak in for 15 mins, it took easily 5x as long to burn that, and i had to reapply the water and backing soda solution several times as it would dry with the heat.
>>975606
Very good information, anon.
>>975582
maybe just leave it clear.
slap some danish/tung/linseed oil on there and the contrast between the natural wood and the burned patterns would be amazing.
>>975583
Yeah man what kind of equipmunk did you use to get the power high enough?
>>975995
I used the transformer out of a microwave I had in my garage, a set of jumper cables from my car, the power cable from the microwave, and just some misc wires i pulled out of the microwave. The transformer had a bunch of wires hanging of it, and it took a little bit of figuring to figure out what was what, on one side of the lower coil, there are pos/neg terminals that I connected the power cord to, as far as i can tell it dosent matter which is which and they rent labeled but dont quote me on that, i just got it to work, im not an electrician. there were two wires hanging out between the two coils, and i had to do some research online before i figured out they dont do anything and just to snip them off. I actually connected them and couldnt figure out why it wouldnt work and after it started smoking i unplugged the whole thing and looked it up. Theres another electrical connection just like the pos/neg connections on the upper coil, and I attached a chunk of wire from the microwave internals so I could get a grip on it with the jumper cables, and I read online that one cable has to be connected to that upper coil, and the other actually has to be connected to the frame of the actual transformer. I dont know why, but it worked.
If any of you assholes try this, DONT FUCK AROUND WHILE ITS PLUGGED IN. all the connecting and reconnecting i did , i did while it was unpluged and wearing thick latex gloves for good measure.. Once I got everything hooked up properly (Took about a half hour to figure it out) all 2000 volts of high current burned through the wood nicely after it was wetted with the water and baking soda sollution.
Heres a pic of my set up, the other ends of the jumper cables go on either side of the wet wood.
>>975995
To anyone wanting to know why it needs to be connected like that, i dont fucking know i just fiddled with it until it works, ask an actual electrician or someone who works with this shit.
I learned that if I got the other ends of the jumper cables too close together they wouldnt even try to go through the wood, they just make a plasma arc that hurts my eyes. Id take a pic, but thats terrifying. And by too close, I mean like within 4 inches. The same happens if I connect the red jumper cable directly to that little nub on the transformer without that wire connected. High voltage man. Be careful ya fucks.
BOILED
LINSEED
OIL.
And that had better have been a 1943 Izhevsk 91/30 and not something actually worth a fuck. $180 tells me you either overpaid for one of those or got something decent for a steal.
>>976190
BLO needs to be maintained and gets cloudy and shit when it gets wet , so maybe. Also def a 1943 Izzy, round receiver, no special markings or anything. It was actually 250,but it came with 150 rounds surplus, period strap, bayonet, rubber buttpad, and a shitload of stripper clips. I figure all that's with about 70$ so yeah.
>>976193
Oh and ammo pouches too, forgot about them
I think it was a good deal, nice shooter, I'm just a good haggler and pushed the shitty cracking finish.
>>976190
Boiled linseed oil... You're from /k/, aren't you?
>>976220
Hah
>>976193
>>976218
Yeah, you deffo overpaid. All that shit should have been included for about $150, $175. The accessories (pouches, bayo, sling, oil can, etc) are generally included with 91/30s. Surplus nugget food is worth piss-all and you can (probably still) get a huge spam can of the shit for $120.
At least you're not fucking something uncommon. You still got taken for a ride though.
>>976228
Right now surplus ammo is 40c a round, minimum man, then shipping right now, it's kinda dried up. Mosins in general have gone up recently too, I only got mine 2 months ago. dunno how recent you are but just thems accessories are 50 or more man.
>>976232
>Right now surplus ammo is 40c a round, minimum man
>40c/round
>for surplus 54r
>>976240
You find it cheaper tell me man, or get out my face.
>>976243
did you even click the .gif
40c/round for that garbage is super fucked, man. If that's the state of the ammo economy then I'm glad I haven't bought ammo in a while.
>>976244
Ahh. Well it is what it is I guess, thanks Obama.
>>976190
I've given up on BLO long ago...
Tung oil all the way now (though it's hard to find the pure stuff nowadays)
>>976232
Jesus fucking christ
I bought mine way back when Mosins were $39.99 at Dunhams.
20 round surplus paper packs were $1.99
When did this shit go up in price?
I dont really buy or shoot guns anymore.
>>976390
How old are you??
>>976431
26
>>976390
It went up in price around 2008 because Obama came into office and so everyone was mass bulk buying anything they could.
>TFW due to current government attitudes on surplus firearms across the globe, the era of cheap surplus is gone forever.
Don't be afraid to mix stains. I like to mix a little bit of red into whatever I am staining because it looks better in dim lighting. Never done a gunstock, but there are so many dark heavy gunstocks out there, I would be tempted to go with a nice light color.
OP here, an update, I took the plunge and tried it out on the stock, theres no turning back now, i already have a resin set up, and I have a metallic blue pigment powder thats resin compatible coming in the mail, should be here thursday. I love how it turned out, i cleaned a lot of the ash out of the deeper burns since they are going to be filled with a blue resin, but im leaving the lighter more delicate burns for the finish. Ive only done one side so far but i think I might leave it as it is and just put a nice stain and finish after I do the resin.
>>977001
Op again, for the finish stain Ive seen some good results with mixing walnut or cherry stains with an ebony stain as the final coat, and that is something im strongly considering after the metallic blue epoxy. PIc related for one of the examples ive found of mixing a walnut and cherry stain with a ebony topcoat before finishing iwth a lacquer or tung oil.
>>977001
Oh, that's nice.
Oh yeah, is a wire brush the best thing to use to remove the char?
>>977054
Define best, yes it'll remove 100% of the char but that could be a bad thing? Like, I used a wire brush in my test peice and it looked carved not burned, I used a hard plastic brush on the gunstock and I shul got a bit zealous and removed too much char in the grooves of the more delicate burns. It's up to you, but I got best results just using a green scrubby pad, but I wanted all the char left in the grooves and ask of it off the rest of it. In fact just running it under water and rubbing it with my hands made the test prices I posted look like that. In the pic of the stock I posted I used a hard plastic brush.
>>977054
Try a bunch of different methods and see what works for you, it really depends on what you going for
>>977001
Nice man, more pics would be appreciated, that's fucking cool.
>>977001
How did you pick the electrode points? did you over-char any bits?
Anyone else think that was a juicy arm?
>>977159
I went a little deep in one spot but i think it looks OK, I just kinda eyeballed it for the most part, since the stock is so thin I had to do a couple spots twice to get a nice burn
>>977158
I'll post some more pics after work
Use a damp old towel and an iron to both remove cosmoline from the stock and raise nicks or dings. You will never get the cosmoline out of the barrel channel.
I used Birchwood Casey Tru-oil and got great results. It's a polyurethane coating with a light stain which also hardens the wood. I did about 3 coats sanding with 1000 grit in between and got great results.
>>977240
Op from the thread about lichtenberg that you commented on yesterday. That's absolutely gorgeous man. Definitely jealous and adding projects to the list. You just hooked jumper cables up right? Me and buddy are thinking of trying to use finish nails if the current doesn't melt em.
>>977429
just use a apir of jumper cables man, you probs have a pair lying around, and finish nails arent copper and may heat up and become unsafe during hgi voltage current, not to mention any wiring you build isnt going to be as safe, or have insulation as good as a cheap pair of jumper cables. after 10+ burning sessions, my cables are just singed form the wood catching on fire, but otherwise good shape, heres a pic of my entire electrical setup, as you can see its all in good shape, the ends where they touch the wood just have some carbon on them, and the plastic is singed from the fire, not the voltage. Also you showed up at a good time, heres some better pics of my stock so far
>>977241
OP here, heres some more pics.
>>977241
>>977241
ll
>>977241
theres some more here, sorry about the shit quality, only gots my phone right now
http://imgur.com/a/b5doC
right now ive done a lot of good burning on exactly one side of the stock, im not sure if I want to do the other side, since it has all the stamps and stuff on the wood, but im also runnign into a problem, since this is raw wood right now, the soot is really getting into the wood grain and is making it very dingy, gonna try my best to clean it out, but water just seems to spread it around, and I dont wanna have to sand anything too much cause itll fuck up the intricacies of the burn. Other than that, i have the stain that I want, and the pigment for the resin ill be adding will be here Thursday, but ill update with pics as they happen
>>977438
Now people can ask you if you got struck by lightning on a hunting trip.
>>977441
This is awesome.
>soot problem
Good to know. Get some putty eraser, smash it into the wood and crevices, pull it out along with the soot. That stuff used for art should be great. The kind you use to erase things (pic). Just smoosh, pull, knead the putty, repeat.
OR rinse it in running water.
Or use an air compressor to blow it out
>>977502
Compressed air would be better than water. Never clean dust out of stuff using water, it merely carries it into areas that are deeper; due to wicking and capillary actions..
>>977502
Running water got 90% of it, and diluted the other 10% into the fucking woodgrain. Pissing me off.
The denatured alchohol actually seemed to work, kinda, i tried vacuuming and compressed air first, after I noticed the soot was into the grain.
>>977498
The putty eraser sounds like a good idea, ive never worked with it, but the concept sounds like itd work
Tbh, the amount of soot left in the wood will probs dispensary when stain and shit get applied, im just a fucking pace of shit about micromanaging my projects
>>977512
>Tbh, the amount of soot left in the wood will probs dispensary when stain and shit get applied, im just a fucking pace of shit about micromanaging my projects
Art is art, regardless of the medium. Do your best, so you don't look at it every time and think you could have done better.
>>977515
True dat
Bump for interest.
>>978421
Ha Just saw that, never had a post bumped by someone else for interest, The pigment I wanted came in the mail, 25grams for ~8$ with shipping, the resin I got was the wrong fucking shit, and was gonna take 24 hours to dry, i mixed some up 7 hours ago and its the consistency of molasses, fuck that, it needs a falt surface to set and not run, and im never gonna get that on the surface of the stock. I got some different shit, but its not clear, it dries white cause apparently you cant make clear resin thats also fast set or some fucking shit. Imma test that shit out with some of my pigment and if its shitty than i also bought some builders grade 2 part epoxy that Ive used before, fuck this jewlery resin BS, and imma just use that. I got some Putty eraser, whoever recommended that kudos to you brother, it worked like a fuckin charm, I also got the stains I want and plan to have this shit wrapped up by the end of the weekend. Pic related is the pigment, shits ground to a diameter or 10 microns? i can rubbed it on my fingers it feels finer than any dust ive felt so. Still gonna keep posting pics as they happen.
>>978495
Ok mixed up some of the second resin, worked good, a bit hesitant about the pigment, kinda looks like tacky nail polish. :/ What do you think /DIY/ ?
>>978506
Go for it
>>978506
I think you can get resin thinners
>>978517
No tacky as in the pigment mixed in with the resin looks like a trashy nail polish. I have some back up stuff that I think will work better coming in the mail too should be here tomorrow.
>>974326
Its 1 quarter for adult and 1 pint for a child
>>978495
I see what you're saying about looking like cheap nail polish, but it might look better once actually in a dried resin.
I think it might look better in a copper color, though.
>>978523
That pic is dried, I got some fast dry stuff and that's a hard blob now, but I'm pretty set on the blue, just not that blue
>>978525
Can't wait to see the final results. /k/fag monitoring this thread.
>>978543
Glad to see someone in my home board likes my progress, once in done I was gonna post in /k/ and get raged at by all the history fags
>muh historical riflu
>muh nuggets are skyrocketing in price
>literally 3 mosins left
>ruining collectibility for the rest of the world
>>978552
That kind of thinking put unmolested Krags at $1,500.
Just saying.
>>978552
As long as you keep it reasonable and don't go full bubba. You're putting genuine effort into making a fairly uniquely finished stock, but you aren't changing it's form. For the time being, there are also a ton of original 91/30 stocks on the market from people putting synthetic bullshit on their rifles.
When I bought my 91/30 years ago I stripped it down, gave it a BLO finish, and polished all the brass fittings.
>>978553
You're right, to an extent. People shouldn't cut their stocks down or drill scope mount holes into their actions,but I don't really have a problem with what OP is doing.
>>973972
I feel like this would fuck up the structural stability of the wood
>>978552
Actually just disgusted by the MLG resin color. Burns look better without it
>>979163
should be fine, just don't build a house out of it
>>979163
IT shoudnt the burns are less than an eighth in into the wood, and I cut into some of my tests to confirm it dosent fuck up the wood or penetrate further than the top depth.
>>979274
>>978523
I got some new pigment and teh color looks MUCH better, and its uv reactive, id post pics but under a darklight its hard to get a good shit, maybe later, I did some tests with resin and loctite 2 part epoxy, pic related, much happier with it, gonna use the epoxy instead of teh 2 part fast set resin, the resin bubbles and I dont like the color.
>>978553
Go fuck yourself
>>978589
Im spending a lot of time and working hard to make it look nice and something I can be proud of, anyone who dosent like what im doing I just dont care about them.
Gonna work on it put it together tonight, more pics in a few hours.
>>979489
Pic related of my epoxys and new pigment.
>>979500
looks nice under a darklight, nut i think ill leave most of it without the epoxy, the burn looks nice on its own, and its a lot of work getting the epoxy and resin smooth and not all of the wood. It took all night to do just hose two spots evenly, and then i had to take about an hour to clean off teh over spill onto the wood so the wood will take a stain. Heres some pics.
>>979625
see, if im not shining a blacklight on it, its just not worth the amount of work I just did.
>>979625
Well done for following through. Looks alright. Love the lightning design tho and thanks for telling us how to do it. You a real go-getter
>>973943
Jeez...not the guy yoi were talking too, but u need to lay off sniffing the solvents for a while. If you had some metal finish in mind, that might influence the choice of wood finish.
>>979627
>>979626
>>979625
>>977438
>>977437
>>977436
>>977001
post that shit on /k/ they will go apeshit.
>looks good though op
>>980244
They'd probably like it in general. It ain't no MLP stock.
