Refinishing an old family classic, with a twist

Rifleman97

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My late dad had a favorite rifle, his Stevens 22/410 over under. He got it used when he was a kid, I believe it's a late 30's to 40's era. It was his favorite and most used gun, from robin pest control, rabbit hunting, plinking, squirrel hunting, to even a bit of light clay shooting. Through it's life it has earned many scratches, dents, dings, and shows the character my dad gave it.

He passed away 9 years ago within a week or two of now. The finish on his favorite rifle was getting to the point it was flaking and peeling off, and generally just really awful looking. Hard to blame it for being a budget rifle from such a long time ago.

I decided I wanted to refinish it, but without fixing any of the "flaws" that my dad imparted onto it with his 50 years with the rifle (he passed away at 60). It probably hurts the "value" of the gun, but honestly since I'm never selling it, that is the last thing on my mind. Besides, the flaking finish wasn't doing it any favors either!

So I began sanding, using 120 grit. I'd usually start lower so I can fix any flaws, but since we're not doing that here I was careful to not push too hard or sand too deep. At worst, I would only round over some of the sharper edges of the dent's just so the finish would apply better. In my excitement for the project I realized I had fully sanded the finish off without taking ANY before pictures, so you'll have to trust me when I say it was ROUGH.

I am a woodworker by profession, so whenever I had a quick few minutes of downtime I would apply 1 coat of tru oil, the first few coats I was sanding with 180 or 220 (can't remember now which) with lots of wet finish still on the stock, so that the sand would mix with the oil and fill the grain. This stock, being from a very cheap gun, is made out of very plain, borderline ugly hard maple. I love maple, this is just a rather poor example of it. But once I was satisfied with the grain fill, maybe 6-10 coats in, I started just rubbing the finish in by hand, pushing with enough pressure to feel the tru-oil get warm, and once it would get sticky I would stop and put it in my hot box to speed up the drying process (a box for keeping boards very dry, but also is warm which helps speed oil drying time.)

After every few coats I would use 00000 (Five zero's) steel wool and get all of the lint, bumps, and imperfections out of the finish. This is my first time using Tru-oil so I was having a hard time getting a really nice sheen out of it. After a number of coats it seemed I could not increase the sheen any further, and I was dissatisfied with the roughness of the finish. So I rubbed it down with steel wool one more time, and then did another 3 or so coats applied with an applicator cloth (lint free very high thread count) and a very good light to make sure I wasn't missing any spots. I'm not sure if the pictures online are deceiving or if I am just not good at applying tru-oil by hand, but the cloth rub finish looked 10 times better than anything I was getting by hand.

Stupidly, instead of stopping there, I tried to apply one more coat by hand to see if the cloth was the fix, or just the number of coats was the fix. It was definitely the cloth, as the finish looked blotchy, fingerprinty, and horrible. I rubbed it down with steel wool another last time, and applied 3 more coats with the cloth (3 because the coats are so thin I wanted to make sure I got them to the same thickness as before from the steel wool reduction. VERY thin coats!)

Anyways, without further Ado, the results
1753840896000.jpeg

1753840914454.jpeg

1753840932839.jpeg


I think the results speak for themselves. Only context I'll add is that the 2nd picture is with the completed finish, just without any direct light reflections to show off the dings. Maybe you hate it, maybe you love it. I'll leave that for you to decide. But I love that it no longer looks like it was unloved. Over the course of my life I hope to impart a few dings of my own, not on purpose of course. They need to be earned. Next project, reblueing, something I've done only once before many years ago now. Definitely more out of my wheelhouse!

Til next time,

Louis

PS: I also repaired the cracks in the stock with black epoxy to show off the damage rather than to try and hide it
 
I did something similar many years ago with my grandfather’s old Stevens single shot .22. Great way to preserve the character by not “fixing” the wear on the stock.
 
My late dad had a favorite rifle, his Stevens 22/410 over under. He got it used when he was a kid, I believe it's a late 30's to 40's era. It was his favorite and most used gun, from robin pest control, rabbit hunting, plinking, squirrel hunting, to even a bit of light clay shooting. Through it's life it has earned many scratches, dents, dings, and shows the character my dad gave it.

He passed away 9 years ago within a week or two of now. The finish on his favorite rifle was getting to the point it was flaking and peeling off, and generally just really awful looking. Hard to blame it for being a budget rifle from such a long time ago.

I decided I wanted to refinish it, but without fixing any of the "flaws" that my dad imparted onto it with his 50 years with the rifle (he passed away at 60). It probably hurts the "value" of the gun, but honestly since I'm never selling it, that is the last thing on my mind. Besides, the flaking finish wasn't doing it any favors either!

So I began sanding, using 120 grit. I'd usually start lower so I can fix any flaws, but since we're not doing that here I was careful to not push too hard or sand too deep. At worst, I would only round over some of the sharper edges of the dent's just so the finish would apply better. In my excitement for the project I realized I had fully sanded the finish off without taking ANY before pictures, so you'll have to trust me when I say it was ROUGH.

I am a woodworker by profession, so whenever I had a quick few minutes of downtime I would apply 1 coat of tru oil, the first few coats I was sanding with 180 or 220 (can't remember now which) with lots of wet finish still on the stock, so that the sand would mix with the oil and fill the grain. This stock, being from a very cheap gun, is made out of very plain, borderline ugly hard maple. I love maple, this is just a rather poor example of it. But once I was satisfied with the grain fill, maybe 6-10 coats in, I started just rubbing the finish in by hand, pushing with enough pressure to feel the tru-oil get warm, and once it would get sticky I would stop and put it in my hot box to speed up the drying process (a box for keeping boards very dry, but also is warm which helps speed oil drying time.)

After every few coats I would use 00000 (Five zero's) steel wool and get all of the lint, bumps, and imperfections out of the finish. This is my first time using Tru-oil so I was having a hard time getting a really nice sheen out of it. After a number of coats it seemed I could not increase the sheen any further, and I was dissatisfied with the roughness of the finish. So I rubbed it down with steel wool one more time, and then did another 3 or so coats applied with an applicator cloth (lint free very high thread count) and a very good light to make sure I wasn't missing any spots. I'm not sure if the pictures online are deceiving or if I am just not good at applying tru-oil by hand, but the cloth rub finish looked 10 times better than anything I was getting by hand.

Stupidly, instead of stopping there, I tried to apply one more coat by hand to see if the cloth was the fix, or just the number of coats was the fix. It was definitely the cloth, as the finish looked blotchy, fingerprinty, and horrible. I rubbed it down with steel wool another last time, and applied 3 more coats with the cloth (3 because the coats are so thin I wanted to make sure I got them to the same thickness as before from the steel wool reduction. VERY thin coats!)

Anyways, without further Ado, the results
View attachment 703219
View attachment 703220
View attachment 703221

I think the results speak for themselves. Only context I'll add is that the 2nd picture is with the completed finish, just without any direct light reflections to show off the dings. Maybe you hate it, maybe you love it. I'll leave that for you to decide. But I love that it no longer looks like it was unloved. Over the course of my life I hope to impart a few dings of my own, not on purpose of course. They need to be earned. Next project, reblueing, something I've done only once before many years ago now. Definitely more out of my wheelhouse!

Til next time,

Louis

PS: I also repaired the cracks in the stock with black epoxy to show off the damage rather than to try and hide it
I think it is absolutely awesome!!!!! So agree with your thinking…you sir have nostalgia in you as I do given I don’t even begin to have your talent but I had my dads 30-06 redone very much for your reasons
 
I think it is absolutely awesome!!!!! So agree with your thinking…you sir have nostalgia in you as I do given I don’t even begin to have your talent but I had my dads 30-06 redone very much for your reasons
That’s awesome! Would love to see that if you’ve got a picture.
 
I don’t want to embarrass myself after seeing your work. I too his $210 Ruger M77 made in 1978 and had to replace his cracked stock with a Boyds Laminant then install a Timney Trigger
 

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