If you scratch your stock, don't panic, here's how to restore it - Lessons Learned

[Barryt]

I copied the russian red shellac pretty well on my m44. you couldnt tell it was ever fixed. I recommend clear shellac and red food coloring. Mix and apply till it blends together and matches.

You really shouldnt of sanded the rifle. I dont think you will ever get it to look "right" again.

[Alex$]

Use small amount of mineral oil and 0000 steel wool, it will take a while and you need to try and stay on the ridges of where the shellac built up. It will thin it down and it will also take that shine off the new shellac.

Looks like a close match.

[Alex$]

Just to clarify, the mineral oil acts as a lubricant between the shellac and steel wool so you don't end up with scratching. Be patient and don't try to press harder to get faster results.

After a few minutes you will notice the mineral oil is changing color to a yellow/garnet, that just means it is working. Add more oil and keep at it.

The wool will get clogged with shellac after a bit and you will need to turn it to get a new bite on the shellac.

You are almost there...

[Alex$]

Please be sure to take the stock off before you start in with steel wool, don't need to accidentally scratch up your magazine and receiver...

[jt183]

I'll take it. PM sent!

I will play you rock paper scissors for it!

[sdfire]

should have just left the original scratch and rubbed some oil on it.

[nrakid88]

Jesus man, this turned into a trainwreck pretty damn fast.

Like LA women, trying to cover up age with plastic surgery... turn into Aliens instead of accepting the character that life grants them...

I'd say stop while your ahead... but whats the point now...

Good luck, hopefully you can get her back to normal.

[Caribouriver]

You can buy garnet shellac flakes and dissolve them in alcohol to make a very dark patching liquid that will bond with the original shellac. It won't be an invisible repair but not not as glaringly noticeable.

[flak88mm]

Here's some photos of restoration. It turned out pretty well and I learned something new. My m44 might be my next project. Thanks for all the help and advice.

[Chaos47]

Looks pretty good in the end.

You should write what in the end actually worked and how you did it so other people finding this down the road can benefit from your trial and error.

[flak88mm]

Ok if I were to rewind time, here are some things to keep in mind before you panic that you scratched your SKS or any other kind of stock that you want to restore from the scratch. This will be a lessons learned. If you have questions, feel free to ask me or any of the members on here who helped me.

1) If the scratch is minor, like the first photo in this thread, you could save money by buying high quality denatured alcohol (DA) from shellac.net only. I just realized I could have fixed the problem just by applying DA on the scratch w/o having to buy the shellac garnet flakes. But since I went overboard in a panic, I did too much damage.

2) If you do damage it, like I did, sand down the scratch. Sand it enough to the point where you are not sanding down the wood, but rather just the existing finish to get it prepared. By the way, I did a lot of damage by panicking, then using stain and finish from home depot (which is a no no), and then coming out tacky where I had to sand it down.

3) Buy shellac flakes from the shellac.net website and their DA brand. When you receive it, start reading the directions on how to mix it (I'm not gonna go in detail on it)

4) Apply 1 coat first. Let it dry for 10-15 min each time. Then repeat until you match the color of the existing coat. When applying coats, you can use a brush (which you can buy anywhere), but make sure you are padding it, instead of brushing it on there cause you will end up doing what I did, which is to create a build up of the existing shellac finish like post #44. The DA will melt the existing, just make sure you pad it on, not brush it. Make sure you actually dry it out each time, if you don't let it dry each time, it will worsen the build up (dark circle).

5) After you reach the desired amount of coats that satisfy you, let it sit for 24 hours. It will be really shiny the next day.

6) Go to Rite Aid, which is where I went, and bought some mineral oil. I spent almost 30 min looking for it, even the workers there didn't know exactly where it was until I asked the pharmacy and they directed me where all the over the counter meds/vitamins are. The one I bought is used to treat constipation and other conditions.

7) Go to Home Depot and buy the steel wool buff, 000. Someone here said to get the 0000, but they didn't have it. So if they have 000, then just get that.

8) Apply mineral oil on the steel wool and start working on the finish, to remove, as one member here calls it, the "pimp shine". Keep on working the wool over the shellac finish until the shine is gone or matches existing shine.

After that, thank yourself. All in all, all this work cost me about $40 worth of materials + whatever you value your time/labor.

Right now, I took off my M44 Nagant stock and I am refinishing that to give it a dark Russian red, I will post pics when the project is done. Again I want to thank all of you and your professional advice.


PS I also wanted to add that in post 44, since the build up was bad (due to not letting it dry and being too much in a rush to keep applying more coats to get it dark), I waited to let it dry and then I ended up sanding it down again. I started over from that point.

[Spyder]

I have all of my rifles in Midway gun socks. My wife always laughs at me when I am looking for a rifle in the safe... I am usually "feeling up" all the rifles, trying to figure out what kind of front sight is has, sling hangers, bent bolt handle, etc, until I find the right one!

Midway gun socks have this fancy little tag on the end of them, that is the PERFECT size for using a fine tipped Sharpie and writing in what rifle it is.

[SouperMan]

Ok if I were to rewind time, here are some things to keep in mind before you panic that you scratched your SKS or any other kind of stock that you want to restore from the scratch. This will be a lessons learned. If you have questions, feel free to ask me or any of the members on here who helped me.

1) If the scratch is minor, like the first photo in this thread, you could save money by buying high quality denatured alcohol (DA) from shellac.net only. I just realized I could have fixed the problem just by applying DA on the scratch w/o having to buy the shellac garnet flakes. But since I went overboard in a panic, I did too much damage.

2) If you do damage it, like I did, sand down the scratch. Sand it enough to the point where you are not sanding down the wood, but rather just the existing finish to get it prepared. By the way, I did a lot of damage by panicking, then using stain and finish from home depot (which is a no no), and then coming out tacky where I had to sand it down.

3) Buy shellac flakes from the shellac.net website and their DA brand. When you receive it, start reading the directions on how to mix it (I'm not gonna go in detail on it)

4) Apply 1 coat first. Let it dry for 10-15 min each time. Then repeat until you match the color of the existing coat. When applying coats, you can use a brush (which you can buy anywhere), but make sure you are padding it, instead of brushing it on there cause you will end up doing what I did, which is to create a build up of the existing shellac finish like post #44. The DA will melt the existing, just make sure you pad it on, not brush it. Make sure you actually dry it out each time, if you don't let it dry each time, it will worsen the build up.

5) After you reach the desired amount of coats that satisfy you, let it sit for 24 hours. It will be really shiny the next day.

6) Go to Rite Aid, which is where I went, and bought some mineral oil. I spent almost 30 min looking for it, even the workers there didn't know exactly where it was until I asked the pharmacy and they directed me where all the over the counter meds/vitamins are. The one I bought is used to treat constipation and other conditions.

7) Go to Home Depot and buy the steel wool buff, 000. Someone here said to get the 0000, but they didn't have it. So if they have 000, then just get that.

8) Apply mineral oil on the steel wool and start working on the finish, to remove, as one member here calls it, the "pimp shine". Keep on working the wool over the shellac finish until the shine is gone or matches existing shine.

After that, thank yourself. All in all, all this work cost me about $40 worth of materials + whatever you value your time/labor.

Right now, I took off my M44 Nagant stock and I am refinishing that to give it a dark Russian red, I will post pics when the project is done. Again I want to thank all of you and your professional advice.

This should be stickied for a "don't panic, here's how to fix it" thread.

I am glad it all worked out for you! Results look fantastic!

[TrexTracker]

This baby will stay with me and his wound will heal.

The wound healed up nicely. Good job. Thanks for sharing the experience. We have definitely benefited from this thread.

[8886]

Mods, please sticky this thread. I'm in a similar boat and the end results from this one look good.