Saturday, November 28, 2009

How do you get a high gloss finish on a stock of a rifle?

I'm wanting to know if there is anyone out there that knows anything about refinshing wood to a high gloss. I do know how to refinsh stocks in a satin finish, thjough i want to take it tpo the next level and go high gloss. What kind of finish i need?, are there any special steps to obtain a high gloss? Give me as much detail as you can wjoever is reading this, thanks a bunch.How do you get a high gloss finish on a stock of a rifle?
There are a couple of things you can use. I personally like Tru-oil--my dad introduced me to it 40 years ago. The key to a high gloss finish is preparation. The way I learned was to sand smooth, polish with steel wool, lightly water then lightly scrape with a broken piece of glass until the wood was ';glassy smooth';. Anyway--I'm going to include a link to a guitar finishing site that has very detailed instructions. I scrolled through them and they look like they're good. The second link is to another site (also guitar finishing) that I thought might be interesting. Tru-oil isn't the toughest or the glossiest finish out there, but if you scratch it, it is repaired with relative ease.How do you get a high gloss finish on a stock of a rifle?
Oil finishes are not high gloss, that's what militaries used to use and the last thing they wanted was gloss.





I have refinished several stocks and after staining, used a high gloss poly spray like Minwax spray high gloss Polyurethane. For the best results sand using finer and finer sandpaper, then spray several light coats. Let dry a day, buff with fine steel wool and spray again. Do this 4 or 5 times and you have a deep hard gloss finish that looks professional.
Use linseed oil and rub it into the stock. This is a long slow process, but the shine is well worth the effort. All quality rifles and shot guns use this process.
Several coats of Polyurethane.
Well you could do it the easy way and use a High Gloss poly urethane finish or if you want the traditional high gloss finish it is called a ';French Polish';. It is essentially multiple thin coats of shellac applied with a cloth soaked in boil linseed oil. It takes weeks to accomplish and it can take days to dry between coats but is magnificent when done right.





There are some commercial preparations (which I have never tried) that are supposed to come real close Just put ';French Polish'; you should get instructions about doing it the real way and a number of commercial preparations which should come close.


in your search engine.
I have a German 8mm Mauser, sporterized for hunting(Sorry military firearms collectors!). I had it laminated, and it has quite a shine and glow to it.

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