Refinishing Chinese sks stock

[Stalingrad]

I picked up a pretty rough Chinese sks from palmetto for $350. The stock is in absolutely terrible condition but has some pretty cool trench art. On one side of the stock someone has etched “Albania” and on the other side it looks to be initials “dVV?”. Wanted to know if any of you guys have any experience refinishing stocks AND keeping the trench art... I wanna fix it up a little but I also wanna keep some character. I just finished cleaning the cosmoline off of everything and now I’m having a tough time deciding on what to do... I’m thinking of going the boiled linseed oil route but wanted to get other opinions about what worked best for you.

Also, can anyone explain the “Albania” etching? I know that China made some rifles for Albania but I thought those were different than these.

The pictures in the box are before removing cosmoline.

 

[Deleted member 97214]

alleycat

 

[BLIP]

Remove all the metal and wipe that baby down with acetone. Then give her a nice light sanding with 320 apply some Walnut stain and immediately wipe it off. The Walnut stain will pick up your trench art and you can start adding those coats of BLO...
With your first light coat add a little bit of acetone to the b l o.

 

[Stalingrad]

Remove all the metal and wipe that baby down with acetone. Then give her a nice light sanding with 320 apply some Walnut stain and immediately wipe it off. The Walnut stain will pick up your trench art and you can start adding those coats of BLO...
With your first light coat add a little bit of acetone to the b l o.

Thanks for the recommendation. I’m assuming the acetone won’t do any extra damage to the stock? It’s already been doused with mineral spirits for most of the day LOL. I like that technique with the stain, I might try it.

 

[alleycat]

I picked up a pretty rough Chinese sks from palmetto for $350. The stock is in absolutely terrible condition but has some pretty cool trench art. On one side of the stock someone has etched “Albania” and on the other side it looks to be initials “dVV?”. Wanted to know if any of you guys have any experience refinishing stocks AND keeping the trench art... I wanna fix it up a little but I also wanna keep some character. I just finished cleaning the cosmoline off of everything and now I’m having a tough time deciding on what to do... I’m thinking of going the boiled linseed oil route but wanted to get other opinions about what worked best for you.

Also, can anyone explain the “Albania” etching? I know that China made some rifles for Albania but I thought those were different than these.

The pictures in the box are before removing cosmoline.
View attachment 2746251 View attachment 2746252 View attachment 2746253 View attachment 2746254

I’ve had some success in cleaning with Murphy’s Oil soap, then scrub with odorless mineral spirits and rub with steel wool. From there I give the chinese versions a couple coats of yellow shellac, then rub her down with several coats of BLO.

 

[Stalingrad]

I’ve had some success in cleaning with Murphy’s Oil soap, then scrub with odorless mineral spirits and rub with steel wool. From there I give the chinese versions a couple coats of yellow shellac, then rub her down with several coats of BLO.

That sounds pretty damn close to what I was going for! Do you have any pictures of the finished product by chance?

 

[BLIP]

Thanks for the recommendation. I’m assuming the acetone won’t do any extra damage to the stock? It’s already been doused with mineral spirits for most of the day LOL. I like that technique with the stain, I might try it.

Just wipe and keep the rag movin...

 

[alleycat]

That sounds pretty damn close to what I was going for! Do you have any pictures of the finished product by chance?

I think I have a pic somewhere....I’ll check

 

[Stalingrad]

I think I have a pic somewhere....I’ll check

would appreciate it! Removing original stain now.

 

[alleycat]

would appreciate it! Removing original stain now.

I wanted to keep that “been there, done that” look. Really didn’t want to sand her down and refinish her