Thread: Stock stripping

Hi, putchased this remington made marlin 336. All works smoothly and shoots fine but the stock varnish looks shit, has been applied to thick and clogged up the checkering. Any recomendations on how to strip back and redo.

Remove butt and forend. Take off butt plate. Put in sun to warm up and then cover with thick layer of paint stripper. Leave 15 minutes and then scrape with edge of hard plastic strip. Repeat as many times as it takes. Every time after scraping I use fine steel wool and water to wipe off all the loose varnish. For the checkered parts use an old toothbrush to clean it out. Follow the line of the checkering. When all removed wash the stock with warm water and dry in the sun. When dry use fine steel wool to go over the woodwork. Oil finish.

garyp is onto it I would and do exactly the same- opinions vary on oils but boiled linseed is what the traditional English makers use - you could add a few drops of true oil for a slightly darker shade - first coats add a little turps - helps to soak oil into stock - I use a piece of rough old towel - dont use raw linseed or Birchwood Casey gun stock oil ( horrible stuff looks and acts like raw linseed ) leave out in sun between coats - do 4-5 until the stock appears to not take up any more - hand rubbing then is the way to go - the only trap with this Marlin is if it is a beech stock and could well be - what that means is it could be very very pale wood underneath the varnish - so if it looks pale after removal of varnish then use more Birchwood Casy True oil and you could even use a little walnut stain with the first few coats of oil and turps - I have done that with a beech stock and results were good - you will be given no doubt a number of oil recommendations boiled walnut works

make sure steel wool is not soap covered!!

I prefer to scrape the varnish off without paint stripper. But when I use stripper I use Citrex cause its way safer to use.
I also dont use steel wool at all - I dont like the way bits of steel embed into the stock and rust later.
Dont forget to raise any dents in the wood with your wifes iron and a wet cloth

Originally Posted by garyp

Remove butt and forend. Take off butt plate. Put in sun to warm up and then cover with thick layer of paint stripper. Leave 15 minutes and then scrape with edge of hard plastic strip. Repeat as many times as it takes. Every time after scraping I use fine steel wool and water to wipe off all the loose varnish. For the checkered parts use an old toothbrush to clean it out. Follow the line of the checkering. When all removed wash the stock with warm water and dry in the sun. When dry use fine steel wool to go over the woodwork. Oil finish.

Use Nimrods recipe for your stock finish. Use it for the tomato stakes. They dont rot.

I use a small cabinet scraper to remove old finishes. If you don't have one you can easily make one from an old hand saw blade.
Paint stripper works well but I don't like working with it, and the scraper is very satisfying and makes for an easy job sanding.
I like tru oil on stocks. I use it on guitar necks too.

I’ve built what some would consider high end custom stocks, and I’m going to give you a different perspective.
I’ve seen a lot of gunstocks ruined in the refinishing process due to people using mechanical methods of varnish/oil/finish removal. Parts of the stock that are supposed to be straight become wonky, and stock ‘features’ become rounded off if you’re not careful and know what you’re doing.
Use paint stripper and any scraping very carefully. Research about raising wood grain- this is a critical step before applying finish. Then research about sanding in a finish. I would strongly recommend NOT using boiled linseed oil- as it takes forever to dry and tends to yellow with age. Many people use truoil, but I’ve yet to see a really classy example. I use a home made brew of equal parts: Pure Tung oil, vegetable turpentine, spar varnish and boiled linseed oil.

It’s a far bigger job than you think if you want to go it really well. Patience is a virtue here