Refinishing a stock

[StangGT]

Hi folks, the stock on my beretta 682 o/u is looking a little sorry for itself.
I'm fairly confident I have the skills to refinish it but I have a couple of questions:

1) how easy is it to separate the woodwork from the metal? Any tips/tricks?
2) any tips for the grip (grooved wood)?

Much obliged

StangGT

[legs748]

Hi folks, the stock on my beretta 682 o/u is looking a little sorry for itself.
I'm fairly confident I have the skills to refinish it but I have a couple of questions:

1) how easy is it to separate the woodwork from the metal? Any tips/tricks?
2) any tips for the grip (grooved wood)?

Much obliged

StangGT

Hi, I did my 682 gold E six months ago, the job is not hard but tedious. The woodwork comes off easy enough, the forend has two screws through the foreiron, remove these and the metalwork then screw them back into the metal collars to knock them out. For the butt stock remove the two recoil pad screws and remove the pad, this will expose the hole for the stock bolt, use a long 6mm hex wrench t bar to remove the bolt then it's just a case of wiggling the stock till it comes off.
The trick is to get the old finish off easily. The varnish beretta used is nearly bullet proof, nitromors wouldn't touch it. I used a CCL gunstock refinish kit and couldn't fault it or the instructions provided. During the job I had cause to contact them and Clive recommended their own lacquer remover "it's quite aggressive" he said, I've used it since and it's bloody lethal! I doubt with that you would have any problem cleaning out the grips, I had to resort to using nitromors on wire wool.
One thing you can't rush is the wood prep, take your time and have the patience to go down through the grades of wet and dry, there is nothing worse than looking into your new deep lustrous finish after two months work to see little scratches.
Other than that it's just a case of building up layer upon layer of oil leaving a day or more to dry between each, I think mine had six coats of oil, six of oil and hardener flatted back after drying and four coats of oil and hardener palm cured as the top coat and it came out beautiful. Set aside plenty of time to not use your gun, I think mine took over two months in all, mainly because the old finish was such a sod to get off, but putting the oil in the wood needs 24hrs between coats and a good week or more after you finish for it to harden off.

Good luck, it's a very rewarding experience!

[StangGT]

Interesting stuff, many thanks!

to be honest, I wasnt planning to use any stripping chemicals on the old finish, just sandpaper and elbow grease... do you really recommend chemicals?

[johngarnett]

I've tried to re finish a couple of stocks. May I suggest you take it VERY easy with sandpaper as you can remove wood and mis-shape an area.

I've used Nitromors, wirewool , a scraper, elbow grease and patience. I refinished one with TruOil, the other with just Linseed Oil. Both worked OK for me

Good luck

JohnG :cornwall:

[ovenpaa]

A scraper and wire wool are the way I approach such things, sandpaper tends to leave marks unless you are incredibly careful.

[legs748]

Interesting stuff, many thanks!

to be honest, I wasnt planning to use any stripping chemicals on the old finish, just sandpaper and elbow grease... do you really recommend chemicals?

Yes, if you can get hold of it use CCL gunstock lacquer remover, but be VERY careful with it, use some rubber gauntlets cos the little splashes start to sting bare skin within minutes, I wore a tshirt and had to leg it to the shower when doing my BSA martini international.

[Polchraine]

You will never get all of the existing finish off with sandpaper alone. It will fill ever pore in te wood and soak in below the surface. As already said, sanding will remove wood - which you don't want.

By all means use sandpaper to smooth down after raising any dents then wire wool and scrapers to clean up the surface.

For the chequering/checkering you should really buy or borrow a chequering tool - you need to know how many lines per inch the chequering is: 16, 18, ... 30, 32 and a single finishing cutter at 60, 75 or 90 degrees. Use the wrong one or try to do it by hand could result in it not being crisp.