Refinishing Blemishes

[SuckLead]

Hey all. I've finally begun work on my poor little .22. He's been completely sanded down, I filled in some gashes, and his first coat of stain has been applied.

Here's the problem. The stuff I used to fill in the deep gashes and rotted areas was suppossed to be stainable. It even matched the wood. You couldn't tell it was there once I sanded it down flush. But I put the stain on tonight and it doesn't appear it wants to stain.





What do you think? Is it something a few more coats of stain will cover or should I learn to live with it? It does need at least one more coat anyway, possibly two coats. Is it something the oil or wax will hide better? Any thoughts appreciated.

[gunney_m]

I would try another coat, if that dosen't work live with it.

[toolman]

How deep are the areas that you filled? FWIW, no matter what it says on the container, I've never found a pre-packaged filler that will actually match the original wood. My suggestion is to sand the stock until the filler and original dings are gone, stain, and finish as desired. If the dings are too deep, try using the sanding dust and Watco teak oil to make your own filler. Sand or scrape out the filler, spread the oil on the stock and let it dry. Take a small amount of the teak oil and gradually mix in the sanding dust to match the stock color. Use this mixture to fill in the dings and let it dry (may take several days). Then, resand the complete stock to remove all the high spots, apply you stain and sand it in, leaving the sanding dust\stain mix on the stock. Let it dry, resand, and repaet until you get the color and surface texture you desire, then apply the final finish material and finish out however you want it. Let me know if you have any questions.

[lefty o]

i dont think you'll ever find a filler that will take stain the same as wood will.

[ezearln]

Steaming the stock sans the metal works often can raise the dings and dents, as long as all the original wood fibers are there I'd suggest trying to raise the dings/dents with a lil steam before filling them

[ArkansasHunter]

S-L can you find a darker stain to put on the filler ? And as ezearln said you can steam some dings with a damp towel and an Iron,,,Place the towel over the ding and then the Iron to the towel...A.H

[Oxford]

My technique to use when a ding or more exists in the surface of a gun stock is to ignore the holes completely...until after the coat of finish has been applied. (The exception being holes that can be steamed out and then sanded smooth)

Then head to Ace Hardware, etc, and buy a tube of wood filler stain which matches as close as possible the final appearance of your gunstock. Then rub that tube of stain into the hole(s). And finally, rub a generous coat of linseed oil over the completed surfaces.