SKS Cleaning help

[pterrell]

Hey all. Got a Type 56 that I've been cleaning the Cosmo off of and I came across the front end of the stock that I can't clean up through my normal mild means (sun, soap/water, lots of rags).

It almost looks like the lacquer has bubbled or blistered. Anyone have a non destructive way to clean it up or does this look like it needs to be refinished?

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[beerman]

Steel wool?(although it will remove some finish) Look like you have 2 choices. Leave it or refinish it. Back in the days of $69 SKS, I bought one with a hammered stock. I stripped and belt sanded the heck out of it,then refinished it. It came out with the coolest blonde/gold wood ever. Turned out to be the best shooting and one of the best looking of all the SKS I've ever had. Shouldn't have sold it. Good luck with your project!

[pterrell]

Steel wool?(although it will remove some finish) Look like you have 2 choices. Leave it or refinish it. Back in the days of $69 SKS, I bought one with a hammered stock. I stripped and belt sanded the heck out of it,then refinished it. It came out with the coolest blonde/gold wood ever. Turned out to be the best shooting and one of the best looking of all the SKS I've ever had. Shouldn't have sold it. Good luck with your project!

I was thinking of going that direction. Way back when, I bought a Mosin with a stock that was pretty torn up and I decided to refinish it using bam to strip it (works fantastically, get kitchen gloves), steel wool and then BLO (got addicted to it). Turned out really nice.

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[hifiguns]

The finish should be shellac. Use the green can denatured alcohol from HD, which is mostly ethanol. The shellac is soluble in ethanol. See if it is to confirm it's shellac. If it is, good news. You can use ethanol and a brush or cloth to smooth the finish. Check out this post from C&RTrader:

Shellac Finishing

Shellac is very interesting to work with. Dries extremely fast. Soluble in ethanol, it's resistant to grease, oil, petroleum based solvent and acetone. It will coat and bond to almost any finish. You can use it as a base coat and wood grain filler, then apply a poly finish or steel wool linseed or tung oil on top. Oil on shellac is a beautiful finish. Water can penetrate (form rings on furniture), but rings and scratches can be fixed with ethanol.

[FeuerFrei]

Mechanic friend of mine (also a gun guy) turned me on to this stuff...

https://www.cosmolinedirect.com/cosmoline-remover-aerosol-ss-245/

From the makers of Cosmoline. Who'd have thought?

[onelonehorseman]

The finish should be shellac. Use the green can denatured alcohol from HD, which is mostly ethanol. The shellac is soluble in ethanol. See if it is to confirm it's shellac. If it is, good news. You can use ethanol and a brush or cloth to smooth the finish. Check out this post from C&RTrader:

Shellac Finishing

Shellac is very interesting to work with. Dries extremely fast. Soluble in ethanol, it's resistant to grease, oil, petroleum based solvent and acetone. It will coat and bond to almost any finish. You can use it as a base coat and wood grain filler, then apply a poly finish or steel wool linseed or tung oil on top. Oil on shellac is a beautiful finish. Water can penetrate (form rings on furniture), but rings and scratches can be fixed with ethanol.

^ good info!

[wolfmann]

Howard feed-n-wax with 4 ought steel wool.
Did this with my old Tula when the finish started to flake,easy and cheap looks new when done.

[echo1]

Turned out to be the best shooting and one of the best looking of all the SKS I've ever had. Shouldn't have sold it. Good luck with your project!

Famous last words. PAX

[BigPimping]

Selling an SKS these days is always a questionable decision. They're becoming harder and harder to get.