Quote:
Originally Posted by Soul Performance Products
I acquired this 1948 Mosin Nagant M44 with bright metal but tarnished by a flaking, beat up shellac finish. In search of a good Covid project I wanted some experience with wood refinishing that would honor the original armorers without tarnishing the "history" too much, rather embellishing it. First step was using Citristrip and acetone to pull remove all finish from the wood. I then went over the stock with 400 grit then 1,000 grit sandpaper. The stain is one coat of Minwax 225 Red Mahogany 225 put on very thick then wiped off 20 minutes later. I applied a total of 7 coats of Tru-Oil by hand. After the 4th coat I wet sanded with 2,000 grit sandpaper between coatings. One issue I ran into is witness lines showing up on the 6th coat after what was intended to be a final aggressive leveling wet sand and then polish - I'm not sure if it was from not waiting long enough to dry or just the nature of the product. A 7th and final coat was applied and left to dry for a week. To finish it I used 0000 steel wool to remove runs and imperfections then hand polished with a light automotive polish followed by Mothers Micro Polishing Glaze to bring out a mirror shine and remove swirl marks. The last step was a coat of Adam's Americana carnauba wax - which seems like blasphemy for use on a communist rifle but hey look at the times!
-Mike
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Very nicely done
My ex-wife got mine in the divorce...
Wasn't half as nice as your finished product, however.