Refinishing Mosin stock...high gloss style!

[danerd]

Hey guys, im refinishing my Mosin M44 stock, and i was wondering what i should do (on the cheap) to get a super high gloss finish on the stock, id prefer to use products i can get at a local hardware store.

[jandmtv]

a spray on lacquer of some sort would work if you are looking to go the easy route, ask the paint dept. at HD and they will help you pick the right one.

[danerd]

hmm im lookin for a quality long lasting high gloss finish, would laquer deliver this?

[alpha_romeo_XV]

I'm by no means a wood working scholar, but have redone a few mil surplus stocks. If you don't get all of the mositure and oil out of the wood, then a simple lacquer coat would probably blister in the sun as the trapped volatiles try to escape. Natural wood is a porous material, and if untreated will adsorb and release water as temperature and humidity change. Even if you spray lacquer the external suface, the barrel channel is still exposed to humidity.

If you search in the Curio & relic forum, there are several threads about how to refinish a stock. First "prepare" the stock ( for example after sanding some recomend wrap in aluminum foil and a towel and leave in the back seat of a hot car for a few days to leach out all the cosmo and oils) then you get to "finish" it.

Mosin wood is not as hard as american walnut, so may never get that high a luster. But most recommend boiled linseed oil, cut mixtures are available at HD for a few bucks. Several coats applied over days, even weeks. BLO will get down into the pores of the wood and displace moisture, it then cures (cross links by reaction with oxygen) and forms a tough film at the wood surface that can be buffed to a shine.

[Draven]

Mosins aren't meant for BLO. Try zinser shellac with a little red food coloring it it, thats a close reproduction of the original finish and gives you a high luster.