My K31 refinished

[Alvin Tostig]

After lurking around this forum for a few months, I thought I'd finally make a contribution. Here's my refinished K31.

When I first acquired this rifle, I thought I could live with it in it's former condition. The dents never really bothered me, and the stains seemed to be consistent with other K31s. One thing did irritate me though... the graffiti! I tried to tell myself that the carvings were a part of the rifle and that I shouldn't take away from it's heritage. However, I couldn't shake the fact that this was my rifle and I would have never done this to it.

Now that the refinishing is done, I can say that I'm very pleased with the final result.
This is now MY K31!

I followed a procedure posted by 8200rpm on the swiss rifles message board. The process took only 3 days (no more than 2 hours each day).

Stripped with denatured ethanol.
Lightly sanded entire stock. (220 grit)
Heavily sanded carved areas. (220 grit)
Raised dents with an iron and wet cloth.
Performed 3 applications of oxalic acid wood bleach.
Applied 6-9 coats of 1 lb cut Shellac. (6 coats on darker and 9 coats on lighter areas)
Lightly brushed with 0000 steel wool

Here's the before/after pictures.

before...




after...

[caldude]

Nice Job! I've got a few C&R rifles that I'm getting ready to re-finish, and I'd like to lighten the color on a few of them, is that what you used the wood bleach for? Where did you get that?

[Alvin Tostig]

Nice Job! I've got a few C&R rifles that I'm getting ready to re-finish, and I'd like to lighten the color on a few of them, is that what you used the wood bleach for? Where did you get that?

I used Savogran brand Oxalic Acid Wood Bleach. A friend of mine was kind enough to provide me with his leftovers after he refinished his K31, but you can get it here:

http://paint-and-supplies.hardwarestore.com/60-351-wood-preserver/wood-bleach-169870.aspx

Here's a similar product:

http://www.realmilkpaint.com/oxalic-acid-bleach.html

I don't think the product lightens the wood. It will, however, remove certain stains which make the wood appear to be darker than it really is. On my project, the wood bleach helped to remove about 50% of the black stains. I suppose I could have applied more of it to the stock, but the stuff was irritating my sinuses. I used a spray bottle to apply the bleach. The aerosolized oxalic acid stings as you inhale. It might have been better to apply it with a squirt bottle.

[8200rpm]

Nice work! The things looks sweet.

Now, you should get your hands on a K98k, a Mosin Nagant 91/30, and an M1 Garand.

[Cato]

Nice clean up. I'm glad you went with a low gloss finish: looks more original.

[RedDawn]

Wow, very nice job there.

[Wyseguy]

Very nice job. Makes me want to finish mine!

[EastBayRidge]

Sweet - got me working on my beech-otch...

[savasyn]

Excellent work, there! Thanks for sharing

[8200rpm]

Now, go sell it on Gunbroker for $400.

[cwa14509]

Great job! I began refinishing a nasty Big-5 mosin, but had no idea how to remove the darker stains. (Ya I guess I should have searched a little harder)

Thanks for the materials breakdown, now I can finally finish!

[Alvin Tostig]

Thanks for the comments everyone!

But if this one looks so nice, why do I feel the need to get another one? The urge struck me the night I finished...

[Full Clip]

Looks great -- refinished but not "refinished."