Russian Red Shellac Blues

[Cheezle56]

Hi guys, I'm trying to refinish the wood on my AK kit and the consesus is to use amber shellac with iodine and maybe a little red dye to get the "Russian Red" finish. So obviously before I go all paint happy on the stock I'm going to test on some scrap first. That was when I noticed that when I added the iodine to the shellac, instead of mixing in, it formed clumps in the shellac, without changing the tint , and when I applied it to the scrap it simply left clumps stuck to the finish. What I used was BullsEye amber shellac from Home Depot, drugstore iodine antiseptic, McCormick red food coloring, and Denatured alcohol. everything excpet the iodine blends in just fine. Am I using the wrong iodine? or is there some thing I'm supposed to do like keep stirring longer, add more alcohol, add more iodine, or burn incense and dance around it wearing a goat's head to make it blend in?

[S470FM]

how about just buying it from com bloc customs? it would save you from having to do the goat head dance

[hellayella]

nah, bro...just go on AKfiles and get the straight 411...no need to spend $$$ when we at a recession

[kcstott]

Either that or go to Rockler and get some dye. They have a bazzilion different shades

[hellayella]

haha u da man

[NoHeavyHitter]

Birchwood Casey Tru-oil worked perfect for me.

[bigbob76]

I use Rit dye and isopropyl alcohol.

[Ytisfedup]

I use Rit dye and isopropyl alcohol.

Rit, de-natured alcohol, and a couple coats of linseed on a beat up BFPU stock.

[Cheezle56]

Nah, but I heard the way it's done at izhevsk was lots of cheap shellac and sometimes a little iodine, so no BLO, urethaine, stains, or likes of that. (I want my first build to be soviet "milspec") I don't want to go buy a set since I'm trying to "build" as much of it as I can so ComBloc Customs is not an option. I tried a scrap by swabbing with iodine first and that seems to possibly help a little. I'll also try straining out the shellac and see if that helps.

[kcstott]

Soviet mill spec means use what ever you have and lie about it.

[Alex$]

Just use garnet shellac chips from shellac.net, they have mixing instructions. If you want a good smooth finish, google french polish and go to town.

No need for dye, poly, urine, iodine orbeezwax. Just enough coats to hit your color prference, (use a light cut and 3-4 coats).

Have fun

[hellayella]

haha, Stott u da man!

[Cheezle56]

Thanks Alex$, I just put down my first coat today and it looks like enough coats of the amber shellac would do the trick.

[Garand1911]

Just use garnet shellac chips from shellac.net, they have mixing instructions. If you want a good smooth finish, google french polish and go to town.

No need for dye, poly, urine, iodine orbeezwax. Just enough coats to hit your color prference, (use a light cut and 3-4 coats).

Have fun

+1
Garnet shellac from shellac.net

Let the shallac flakes dissolve in the denatured alcohol about 24 hours, shake it every few hours. Use an old tshirt to strain it into a bottle with a CAP, then use a clean rag to apply it. Once the alcohol goes away its dry, and you can reapply.
To keep the shellac mix from drying out, USE THE CAP, and a zip lock bag for the rag you use, to keep it from drying and hardening.

I did two mosins, applies dozens of coats to get the thickness and color i wanted.
If you mess up, remove it with plain denatured alcohol.


Use this method and make Ivan proud