First K31! A project!!!

[Hammertime]

I want to thank M. D. Van Norman for the K31 that I got off of him via the private firearms sale forum. Got this guy last Monday and completely refinished the stock. This is step one...plan on reblueing (never done it before, but heck, this is only my 2nd stock refinishing attempt, so bring it on!), and polishing what is not reblued.

Without further ado;

Before:

(Pictures from M. D. Van Norman of original)













and after:

[Hammertime]

Just wanted to say M.D. Van Norman is a great seller, and here is some of his other stuff if you wanted to take a look! Cheers! http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/s...d.php?t=504230

[Clipity]

Looks good.

[TKM]

Looks pretty good.


What you need is more practice.





Out of the goodness of my heart I may be willing to let you practice on two of mine.

And then you can help me paint a fence....

[Hammertime]

Depends....can I have your rifles and fence when I'm done?

[TheExpertish]

Looks good. I want to refinish a couple of my guns, but I've never blued a gun either. Wood, no problem. I don't want mine as shinny, but that's just my preference.

[Hammertime]

My roommate talked me into making it shiny. If I want to make it dull again, takes about 4 minutes to matte it down with 00 steel wool.....either way looks awesome. I might just wool it out after a few years when it looses its luster from use.

Or just regloss it

[glennsche]

looks great to me! well done.

the way the k31s were carried the butts always seem to get "beaver chewed"; its a shame that the rifles generally dont look good since they're such amazing accurate and 10 shades of awesome Shooters.

i think you did good work here, taking out the dirt and beaver chewage.

[oftenindeed]

What did you do for refinishing the wood and what did you use? I think the wood looks great. Amazing how the grain comes out!
Also what's left to reblue? Seems to me that it looks pretty well blued already.

[CSACANNONEER]

You've got a good looking stock. Just be aware that you've sanded the history and value out of it. Yep, it's worth less now than when you bought it. Rebluing it now won't make that much difference but, it sure won't add any value to it. In otherwords, you've taken an inexpensive collectors item and turned it into a great looking, less desireable shooter. As long as you are happy with it, that's what really matters.

BTW, welcome to the wonderful world of Swiss rifle ownership. I was considering buying that exact rifle myself. I'm glad someone got it who is going to appreciate shooting it.

[Hammertime]

Thank you sir. I am well aware. This stock was refurbished in 1955 anyways, and I felt that the condition that it was in was not going to do a sexy shooting rifle any justice. I got it for $250, so I am not worried about how much I could get for it. In fact, I'm willing to bet someone would be willing to pay a little more since it looks cherry now. I may never know that, planning on keeping it for a long long time.

I don't think it was much of a collector's item to begin with, either, since it was a post war build and had a factory refurb.

Cheers, and I'll let you know how it shoots

You've got a good looking stock. Just be aware that you've sanded the history and value out of it. Yep, it's worth less now than when you bought it. Rebluing it now won't make that much difference but, it sure won't add any value to it. In otherwords, you've taken an inexpensive collectors item and turned it into a great looking, less desireable shooter. As long as you are happy with it, that's what really matters.

BTW, welcome to the wonderful world of Swiss rifle ownership. I was considering buying that exact rifle myself. I'm glad someone got it who is going to appreciate shooting it.

What did you do for refinishing the wood and what did you use? I think the wood looks great. Amazing how the grain comes out!
Also what's left to reblue? Seems to me that it looks pretty well blued already.

The (I don't know the correct nomenclature of this item) barrel bands need some touching up, that is about it...the receiver has a little wear on the left side but nothing I am worried about.

I used "krud kutter" and a stiff brush. I would use something other than a metallic bristle for taking the original coat off because you don't want to gouge the wood, and when you introduce the wood to water, you can strip a good deal of wood off...no bueno. After that, I sanded using 100 and 220 grit sand paper, 00 steel wool, and then used a conventional 'GUN STOCK' colored stain. Then 4 coats of tongue oil. Took about 3 days to do, but I could have been done in 2...it is amazing how many tiny spots you can miss on a rifle spot when applying tongue oil! GAAAH!

[0321jarhead]

My way is to NEVER sand. 0000 steel wool and blow off with a compressore (if you have one) steel wool particals. After waiting 16 to 24 house of applying tung oil, repeat steel wool and tung oil process 7 times. As for blueing, you can use Brownell's Oxpho Blue (cold blueing) in jell form. Liquid form is great for touch up of small parts. Anyway that is one of my methods in which I have been doing for nearly 20 years for myself and for other$. But your rifle does look very good

[Hammertime]

Thank you, Marine. I used a sanding method because there was a really nasty looking black mold on the under side of the stock, that completely offset the grain. I didn't WANT to sand it because I like the texture of wood, and not tongue oil, but that is the card I was dealt.

Thank you for the blueing and refinishing tips.

[TKM]

For the inevitable next step.

http://www.swissproductsllc.com/

Latigo stops by on occasion and his dad was a genius who turned his attention to Swiss rifles.

Some amazing stuff out there. The Lost Prairie Chronicles is a great read if I can find them again.

[0321jarhead]

Thank you, Marine. I used a sanding method because there was a really nasty looking black mold on the under side of the stock, that completely offset the grain. I didn't WANT to sand it because I like the texture of wood, and not tongue oil, but that is the card I was dealt.

Thank you for the blueing and refinishing tips.

Either way, it looks good. The more you do the better you get. The tung oil (not tongue) is what I have been useing for years on various Mil-Surp rifles. Like Mosin-Ngants, K31 and the SKS for example. On the U.S. Mil-Surp of wood furniture is most cases I use Boiled Linseed Oil. Enjoy what you are doing and don't rush to finish a project. That's where we make mistakes. If you ever do a project for somebody other than yourself and that person is in a rush, DO NOT DO IT. In the meantime enjoy it and take pride in your work.