Refinishing a Mosin

sweed

sweed

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My Saturday project while my gf is at work. I used Easy Off to get most of the finish off. I just started to sand the rest off and prepare it. This is the first time I've done a project like this. I'll find a picture of my before pictures. I figure I would document this project. My products I'm using is:
Easy Off
120/220 grit sandpaper
0000 steel wool
Minwax pre-stain, red mahogany 225, and clean satin poly.

I'll take pictures of my progress.

image.jpg image.jpg image.jpg image.jpg
 
I would use 100% pure tung oil or even minwax tung oil finish vs poly.
IMHO poly just looks wrong on a mosin. Even the flat/satin stuff.
Heck even true oil is nice. Apply in thin coats and it comes out great.
Everytime I think of redoing my mosin I talk myself out of it......by going shooting instead....love to see the progress.

Also instead of steel wool I use the 3m super fine pads... usually gray for the between coats.
Also I get a bit more finer grade paper for a really slick look.
After 3 or 4 coats of minwax I sill wet sand with 400 grit. New coat then wet sand with 600...
my next stock redo I'm going to try useing rotten stone and pumis to polish out the finish.
 
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russian mosins (at least ones that were russian production) NEVER used any kind of oil finish.
only tinted varnish or lacquer. no stain either.

finns on other hand preferred oiled finish instead.

anything other than glossy finish on russian mosin looks wrong and non-authentic to me.
 
Looking good.

I've used shellac on the last couple of stocks I refinished. It's nice to work with because the time between coats is pretty short, like 20-30 minutes.

I'd pull the butt plate, sling grommets, and cross bolt out before refinishing. They are all easy to remove, and you really don't want to finish over them.

Can't wait to see the finished product.

Edit: Even the front retainer clips are pretty easy to remove. You just punch the pin out from the opposite side. It's no big deal if you leave them on during refinishing, but it's a potential drip point that is pretty easy to avoid.
 
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dnepro-mike said:
russian mosins (at least ones that were russian production) NEVER used any kind of oil finish.
only tinted varnish or lacquer. no stain either.

finns on other hand preferred oiled finish instead.

anything other than glossy finish on russian mosin looks wrong and non-authentic to me.
Click to expand...

I agree my rifles are shellac. Glossy not so much. My only thing is poly to me just looks out of place. shellac takes on a nice glow and at least for me will look better than poly.... poly looks like plastic .
All you can do is try stuff out. I do agree though to strip all the metal parts out. Just be carefull not to fill those areas with a thick coat of finish.

If you hit the wood with alcohol or mineral spirits you will get a idea of what it will look like with just a finish applied with out stain.....oil based poly brings out more tones of color than water based.
 
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You could also go fully bonkers and use a dye for stain with a bright crazy color.
I have been tempted to buy a boyds factory secound for one of my M1s and water dye stain it blue or deep red just to see some of the guys at the club get their nickers all bunched up. Trans tint dyes are great for colors.
 
image.jpg
This is with 1 coat of the stain. Plenty I think, maybe even a tad darker than
I wanted. The darker spots in the pic are definitely accented. There are some darker spots where it was tough to get that finish off. This is just a test run, as I've never done this before and didn't expect it to be perfect.
 
If you're anything like me then you may benefit from a reminder to take your time and don't get into a rush to finish.

Looking good, cool project!
 
I saw a video of a guy redoing a mosin......used the oven cleaner like you did.....then sanded......and used boiled linseed oil. While I like the look that linseed oil provides.......it looks out of place on a mosin nagant.

Yours will look good if you put the poly on it to make it shine a bit! Nice project.

I've thought of refinishing my 91-30 or my m38 but.......I kind of like the nicks and scratches on em......
 
dnepro-mike said:
russian mosins (at least ones that were russian production) NEVER used any kind of oil finish.
only tinted varnish or lacquer. no stain either.

finns on other hand preferred oiled finish instead.

anything other than glossy finish on russian mosin looks wrong and non-authentic to me.
Click to expand...


Indeed, Izhmash typically did 3 layers of varnish which was reduced to 1 layer during WWII to speed up production. Aside from authenticity, I really like to see the beauty of wood come out, so oil finish is not a bad idea.
 
The finish which can be observed on most Russian Mosin Nagant rifles is shellac. Nearly every refurb has it.

But in my observation, and many other Mosin Nagant gurus agree, an ORIGINAL Russian finish is oil.
 
sweed said:
View attachment 109334
This is with 1 coat of the stain. Plenty I think, maybe even a tad darker than
I wanted. The darker spots in the pic are definitely accented. There are some darker spots where it was tough to get that finish off. This is just a test run, as I've never done this before and didn't expect it to be perfect.
Click to expand...
you will always have trouble getting a even stain on a old refinish. It will look good. Staining can be a MFer. I darn near chucked one of my CMP new wood M1 stocks in the fire because the "paint/stain" they use just hides the mismatched wood under it. took me about 8 different combos of stain to get it to look half way decent. you will also never get the deep finish out of the wood... I am new to playing with wood ans stain but lucky enough to watch my grandmother refinish many pieces in my youth. Slow and take your time.
SWEED did you use the prestain treatment ?
 
Instead of Red Mahogany, try Gunstock, also made by Minwax. It matched the color pretty close. Of course I lightly sanded the entire stock prior to applying. After I let the stain cure overnight, I applied a THIN coat of satin then rubbed it down with 0000. Looks real good!
 
I will be following progress on this. I picked up a t53 that may be getting refinished.

i was considering leaving as is, but after giving it a good cleaning the stock is looking pretty sad. I know that's part of the appeal on t53's so I don't know if I'd do nothing, or a minor refinish to keep the worn look but protect the wood or just do it up nice, well as nice as it'd get.
 
I was going to poly it yesterday, but after playing in a volleyball tournament for 7 hours, I'll wait until next weekend. It's at my gf's place.
 
Looking good so far. I like the color.


Shellac was the original finish. You can get it at Lowe's or Home Depot. Mix some of it 50/50 with denatured alcohol and rub it on. When it dries put a second coat on. It'll look really nice.
 
I know it's not authentic in any way, but here's a refinish I did a few years ago. Stain is Minwax Gunstock. Finish is 5 coats of pure tung oil that I had hanging around for my Garand. I really like the tung finish, gives a nice lustre but isn't too shiny and it's easy to rub in a new coat when needed.

mosin.jpeg
 
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basso said:
I know it's not authentic in any way, but here's a refinish I did a few years ago. Stain is Minwax Gunstock. Finish is 5 coats of pure tung oil that I had hanging around for my Garand. I really like the tung finish, gives a nice lustre but isn't too shiny and it's easy to rub in a new coat when needed.

mosin.jpeg
Click to expand...
damn you guys are posing me off with these refinished mosins! They look awesome.......I own a 91-30 and an m-38......and am soooooo tempted to refinish them when seeing these pix........but like the dings and dents they have as they have the character......omg what to do?
 
whacko said:
damn you guys are posing me off with these refinished mosins! They look awesome.......I own a 91-30 and an m-38......and am soooooo tempted to refinish them when seeing these pix........but like the dings and dents they have as they have the character......omg what to do?
Click to expand...

Pick up another mosin since they are cheap and refinish it?? [grin]

basso- that refinish looks awesome!

I'll be finishing my project this weekend down at my GF's.
 
image.jpg

I was going to actually finish this today (actually weeks ago, but got busy), but I need a new brush, so I'll do it tomorrow. I have 3 coats on and was thinking of another 1 or 2. It's not the best finish, as I'm very new to this, and the steel wool actually seems to stick to the poly. Maybe wait longer to dry?
The color looks nice, but dark in some spots where I don't think it was stripper completely and/or there is still cosmo in it.
 
sweed said:
I was going to actually finish this today (actually weeks ago, but got busy), but I need a new brush, so I'll do it tomorrow. I have 3 coats on and was thinking of another 1 or 2. It's not the best finish, as I'm very new to this, and the steel wool actually seems to stick to the poly. Maybe wait longer to dry?
The color looks nice, but dark in some spots where I don't think it was stripper completely and/or there is still cosmo in it.
Click to expand...

I don't know what the stock is made out of but in softer woods (pine especially) you'll benefit by putting wood conditioner on before staining to allow the stain to absorb evenly.

And sounds like you should definitely wait before using steel wool if it's sticking to the poly.
 
Snora said:
I don't know what the stock is made out of but in softer woods (pine especially) you'll benefit by putting wood conditioner on before staining to allow the stain to absorb evenly.

And sounds like you should definitely wait before using steel wool if it's sticking to the poly.
Click to expand...
This year 91/30 is birch I believe. I used a conditioner first. I'll get back to it tomorrow, hopefully!
 
I'm a bit torn on that but he likes it. That's enough for me. Also that barrel was fine.....still had grooves and lands. Once he fills those pits back up with jacket material....his groups will get better.
 
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bumping an old thread here, but I just started a second refinishing project (m44 I picked up from Tommy last week). I was going to try and leave it as it was, as the quality of the wood is very good, but the finish was bubbling in a few places and was uneven. It also seems a previous re-finish attempt had been made as there was finish covering the metal sling mounts (they looked like brass). I hit it with a 20 minute soak with citrustrip and was able to get most of the finish off. Next will be a second round of citrustrip followed by some minwax Mahogany 225 and a shellac finish. I hope to have this be the final result.

hrc5ki.jpg


Pictures will be added this evening.
 

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