How to Refinish an AK stock

[AIMSMALL]

Ok guys, this is my first ever tutorial I've done on anything, ever so I hope it turns out ok and you guys are able to use some of the info provided here. This is only my second stock that I've refinished, the first one came out so nice I wanted to share with everyone so here goes.

[AIMSMALL]

It has been recomended by another member that you not use your wife or GF's toothbrush, do so at your own risk! Personally I like my wife when she's mad, it's kinda hot.

[AIMSMALL]

[AIMSMALL]

After this 30-40 minute "soak period" I recommend scrubbing the entire surface with the toothbrush to loosen up and remove any remaining varnish that didn't come off the first time around. THEN rinse with HOT water as before and the stock should be completely clean.


If you have any dents in the wood this is the point where you would steam them out. Steaming is a simple process, you will need a bucket of water, a nice, clean, cotton rag (I use the ones from Costco), and an iron. Just completely soak the rag in the water and then fold the rag in half so you have two layers and set it right over the dent, press the hot iron onto the rag and hold it there for 20 seconds or so. Check your progress and repeat as needed untill all dents are lifted out. Remember to keep the rag wet so it will steam every time and set the iron to the highest setting too. Allow to dry for 24 hours after this step before sanding. Here's some pics of the process.

[AIMSMALL]

Here it is after it has completely dried for 24 hours, it has not yet been sanded at this point.


Here's a side by side with the first one I refinished.

And another of the first one I did.

I should have taken pics while working on that one but didn't know how it would turn out so I didn't.

Sand the entire stock going with the grain with 100 or 120 grit being very careful not to remove much wood near any edges where metal buts up against the wood and also near the vents of the handguards. If you aren't careful you could cause the wood to not line up nicely with the metal parts and it will be noticeable. If you are going to refinish the metal parts you may want to put them back on for the sanding stages but beware, they will need to be refinished if you do this.


After sanding the entire stock with 100 to where the colors, grains and imperfections are how you want them switch to 220 grit and again sand the entire stock going with the grain as much as possible. If you try to just sand problem areas with 100 and then the entire stock with 220 it will not look as good when your done.
Once sanding is done remove all dust with a clean rag or compressed air.

[AIMSMALL]

Next step is to pre treat the wood for staining, for this I used the Minwax wood conditioner. The idea is to make the wood absorb the stain more evenly. Apply with a strip of an old t shirt and let soak for at least 15-20 minutes and then apply the first coat of stain within 2 hours (directions on the can).



For the stain I used minwax Gunstock #231 but there are lots of different shades available. I used another strip of the t-shirt to apply a nice heavy coat of stain to the entire stock.


After 20 minutes I used another clean strip of the shirt to wipe off the excess stain and then allow the stock to dry for 6 hours before the next coat of stain.


Just wanted to point out the numbers here, if you have numbers you want to preserve be very carefull around them while sanding or tape over them with painters tape. It is ok to sand over them a little but just be very gentle and only use the finest sandpaper you intend to use on the rest of the wood. I think the numbers are actually easier to see/read after the refinishing process.

[AIMSMALL]

I did 5 coats to get it to the color I wanted. For the clear coat I used Minwax wipe on poly.

For the wipe on poly it went like this, first coat with t-shirt strip then wait at least 3 hours.




Here it is with i nice thick wet coat of the poly.


After each coat of clear is completly dry, sand entire stock with 0000 steel wool.
Steel wool sanding pic here....Notice the dull finish after the dried poly has been sanded.


Next blow off with air and wipe down with clean t-shirt strip then apply another coat of wipe on poly. I did 5 coats and I really like the way it looks.
Applying 2nd coat of clear here.....

[AIMSMALL]

Please note that there are other options including true oil from birchwood casey and lin seed oil which are both highly recommended from others who have used them to refinish stocks. Whatever you choose, just follow the directions and you'll be fine.

UPDATE
Here's a Bulgarian AK74 stock I've been working on. One thing I'll mention is I was able to skip the scraping with the buisness card step on this set. I went straight to the tooth brush and did the citristrip twice.

Original used condition


After stripping and sanding




After 4 coats of stain and 4 coats of poly




Completed Rifle

[AIMSMALL]

First time using Tung oil, this is after 4 coats. The process is a little more tedious then the wipe on poly in my opinion and I think I like the way the poly looks a little better too. For the Tung oil you do everything the same up untill the staining is all done then you wipe it on and wait 5-15 minutes then buff it off with a clean strip of an old t-shirt. I found that the tung oil would get very tacky after 6 or 7 minutes making it really hard to buff off so I immediately added a fresh coat of tung oil and then buffed it right away. That made buffing easy and worked very well.





The thing I liked better about the process for the poly was that you just wipe it on and let it dry, no buffing off wet sticky oil. The trade off is that you will need to buff the dry poly coats with steel wool before each additional coat can be applied, with the tung oil you just add another coat. The poly process seemed to be easier overall because I was able to work for a few minutes then walk away and come back to it whenever I wanted. With the Tung oil you have to commit to the time it takes to get thru first coating the furniture, then waiting 5-15 minutes, then re-coat to break the stickyness, then buff.

[8bitnintendo]

Curse you, this makes it look easy enough (though time consuming) that I want to refinish my stocks now! I was content with them originally, but they've got a few dings to the finish...

[Rem222]

Thanks for the information. I have a old stock I will try this on.....

[WTSGDYBBR]

Good thread . I want to re stain my Draco to a cherry deep wood color . Thanks for the pictures.

[NorCalDustin]

Great tutorial! I wonder if this could count as a 922r part now that you have made a good deal of changes... Probably not... dunno


Also, for those who want a custom finish or different finish on their AK Stock but dont really want to carve out a new set or strip what they already have... Checkout this CA based company: http://www.ironwooddesigns.com

[Z ME FLY]

Great tutorial! I wonder if this could count as a 922r part now that you have made a good deal of changes... Probably not... dunno


Also, for those who want a custom finish or different finish on their AK Stock but dont really want to carve out a new set or strip what they already have... Checkout this CA based company: http://www.ironwooddesigns.com

No it would not count as 922r parts because he is just refinishing the stock and not making a new one. If he had make a new one out of a piece of wood then I can see it being used for the 922r parts.

[NorCalDustin]

No it would not count as 922r parts because he is just refinishing the stock and not making a new one. If he had make a new one out of a piece of wood then I can see it being used for the 922r parts.

I figured... So, is there anything that I should do to the stock I am making to prove it was made in the US? It may sound silly, but how would I prove that I made it in the US? Thoughts?