Aww man.. It's fricken varnish...

[Paper]

I shoulda known better..

I stripped the CMP Winchester Carbine of all metal parts tonight and figured I'd start prepping for a refinish job.



The handgaurd and stock are both walnut, and the handgaurd was only oiled and cleaned up perfectly, but somewhere along the line, someone put a shiny finish on the stock. Hot water did nothing to it, nor did rubbing alcohol, or mineral spirits.. Hell, if nothing else, those things just made it even shine even more!!

So, now I have to strip the sucker.. Other than the typical crap from Formby's, what's out there and where can I get it?

I'm to blame.. On top of the Winnie receiver and barrel, and excellent bore/muzzle wear, the stupid thing looked nice in the rack.. Oh, Shiny!! Pretty!! Must buy!!! Pretty!!

Crap...

The finish is "crazed" with age in several spots, and the coating wasn't even, with a few heavy areas and one or two sags in whatever it is that's on the stock.. Below the "shiny", I can see a great stock with wonderful grain, but I need the "shiny" off so I can just BLO it and make it like it should be..

I've never had to deal with a finish like this, and am open to suggestions.. PLEASE!!!

[ArkansasHunter]

Sounds like Poly Urathane is on it. Theres quiet a few strippers available. A good place to look is a paint store and WalMart.

[Paper]

Thanks AH!! Strippers at Walmart?? I guess I need to go more often..

Is there anything that's readily available and does the best job with the least mess??

[texnmidwest]

Dawn power dissolver, easy off oven cleaner or even brake cleaner will take it off with out much if any residue. I stripped a Marlin stock with DPD and it did a good job with out stinkin' up the house or causing a mess. wet the stock, spray it down good with DPD, rub it in wait 20 minutes and rinse off. Repeat. Soon the finish will scrub off with a dish washing scrub pad.

[Paper]

Well, commercial quality oven cleaner didn't touch it, but non-clorinated brake cleaner will break it down.. Of course I didn't have enough of it..

Tomorrows projects are lining up.

[roverboy]

I really hope you get that crap off. Thats a great little rifle.

[stickhauler]

Originally Posted by Paper

Thanks AH!! Strippers at Walmart?? I guess I need to go more often..

Is there anything that's readily available and does the best job with the least mess??

You REALLY don't want to see strippers at WalMart! Their hiring practices leave a bit to be desired. At least don't go with a full stomach!

[Paper]

Well, after some work, I'm done with the stock on the Winchester Carbine. I'm really happy with the quality of wood on this rifle. Both parts are IO and although they are two seperate pcs of wood, they matched very nicely!! The handguard was very new, and the stock's got some age, but after a couple of deep coats of BLO rubbed into the wood, they came out better than I could have hoped.

Here's a couple from tonight, after I reassembled the rifle.

Photo of the stock and handgaurd matching.



Photo of the overall gun.



Stock wood grain.



I'll get some photos in daylight and see if I can show the grains better.

Now to see how it shoots!!! Muzzle wear came in at just under .5 on my gauge. I've purchased new guns that weren't that low..

[Dookiebutt]

Nice carbine . . . and I see a Garand back there too.

[Paper]

Originally Posted by Dookiebutt

Nice carbine . . . and I see a Garand back there too.

Yep. That's the carbine's Fedex travelling partner. Found both down to the South Store a couple weeks ago and had them shipped to my home.

Just finished on that one, too..

[texnmidwest]

Dan you sure brought out the beauty in those rifles! Now we just need to see if they can shoot!

[roverboy]

Yeah they both look good. Did you put boiled linseed oil on
the carbine?

[Paper]

Originally Posted by roverboy

Yeah they both look good. Did you put boiled linseed oil on
the carbine?

Yes. I sanded them down with 220 paper and then OOOO steel wool. Two coats of BLO, that I rubbed into the wood for about a half hour each time and then wiped off what was left for excess. I let it dry two days between the two coats.

[nathangdad]

Check with a good paint store. You may be dealing with the need to remove a polyurethane layer then some type varnish underneath.

Hope not - but you never know what some unknowing people do along the life of a gun.

Anyway, a good strip down to the wood will allow you to refinish as you wish. Pesonally, I would go with boiled linseed oil then rubdown with ultra fine steel wool, the another coat of boiled linseed oil as so on until I hade a glass smooth, waterproof stock. But that would not be historically accurate so, best wishes on your choice.

[frenchy]

Beautiful Paper, my two favorite guns!! [that are legal]
frenchy

[Paper]

Originally Posted by nathangdad

Check with a good paint store. You may be dealing with the need to remove a polyurethane layer then some type varnish underneath.

Hope not - but you never know what some unknowing people do along the life of a gun.

Anyway, a good strip down to the wood will allow you to refinish as you wish. Pesonally, I would go with boiled linseed oil then rubdown with ultra fine steel wool, the another coat of boiled linseed oil as so on until I hade a glass smooth, waterproof stock. But that would not be historically accurate so, best wishes on your choice.

nathangdad,
The photos above are of the rifle after removing the finish. Still not sure what the heck it was, but brake cleaner did a good job of breaking it down and sanding was minimal.

As I mentioned, I'm done with the finish, being 2 hand rubbed coats of BLO.. It looks good, and still is correct.. I still need to see how it shoots, and since I have my final CMP match of the year next Sunday, I need to find out how it shoots quickly!! I still have my normal Inland Carbine that I shoot for matches, but I'd like to use the Winchester..

And thanks Frenchy!! I sure enjoy them, too!!

[gbear-48]

Some of the Bavarian/Austrian M1 Carbines coming out of of CMP are showing oddities like special finish , marks , bayo bands removed , etc. The 7,000 that came back through commercial import in the early 1990's had some of the same weird stuff.
www.thecmp.org

Go to the M1 Carbine sales page.
Scroll down to just under the picture of the reciever marked " Bavarian Rural Police ". Click on the link for tons of info....

[PfcDavid_Kocher]

get a product called Kleen Strip or something along them lines it comes in a light brown spray can and is VERY strong you cant get it on your skin ( did a little spot and it burned intensely for awhile) you let it foam up on the wood for about 15 minutes then using a plastic scrapper or any scrapper with a flat edge and just scrap the foam off you will notice it going from white to a brown color that just means its pulling the stain or varnish off after this lightly sand paper and it will be down to original wood.

[Sgtsquid]

Originally Posted by ArkansasHunter

Sounds like Poly Urathane is on it. Theres quiet a few strippers available. A good place to look is a paint store and WalMart.

@#$% Walmart!

[Paper]

Originally Posted by roverboy

Yeah they both look good. Did you put boiled linseed oil on
the carbine?

Kinda funny, now that this topic was brought back to life. After 3 good, rubbed in applications of BLO, I thought I was done..

Then, I noticed with the stock sitting around for a couple weeks, the stock again looked a little dry. I ended up steel wooling the wood again and applying BLO 3 more times, with a steel wool job between coats..

When that was done, it looked very nice, but I wanted some sort of water protection in case I'm shooting a match in the rain..

So, I rubbed in a coat of Formby's Tung Oil Finish, and let it dry for several days, and THEN gave it one more steel wool treatment..

Very, very happy with the outcome!!!

Oh, and it shoots better than it looks!! I ended up with a silver medal in the first CMP carbine match I entered with it.. 6 points away from Gold, and I know it was shooter error, not the rifle that kept me from a gold.