Someone knowledgeable about early Chinese SKS's

[Wolf six]

fast306stang
http://chinesesks.weebly.com/

The finish should be tung oil. BLO works well though

 

[fast306stang]

fast306stang
http://chinesesks.weebly.com/

The finish should be tung oil. BLO works well though

Thanks! Checking that out now...

 

[fast306stang]

Hit it with some 0000 steel wool and even the finish out. Wipe it down real good then put another light coat of shellac on it to bring out the shine.

Dry, it's gonna dull the finish and possibly chip some of the "runs". Go slow and check it frequently.

I should have definitely heeded your advice. Since I'm impatient, I started hitting it with some denatured alcohol and some 0000 steel wool. I immediately went through the shellac in a couple of spots...which would have been fine but I also went through the original finish which was underneath.

So then I had to completely strip the whole stock. The shellac was thick in some places and required scraping vs sanding to get it off. I had to use coarse grit sandpaper to take the stock down to bare wood. It wanted to splinter in some places, so I had to sand in one direction. This is the worst piece of wood I've ever seen. But China made millions of these things so I guess they couldn't be picky on trees lol...

I used Tru Oil to refinish it, no stains, just oil. I really thought I screwed up when the stock was bare. It looked horrible. But the Tru Oil worked well and I like the finished product...it just was a lot more work than I anticipated.

I've left it shiny for now...i think I'd like a satin finish but I'm afraid of messing it up if I try to dull it...i don't want to wind up with a bunch of shiny spots where all the dings and character marks are...


Before:

After:

 

[TapcoFan]

it's pretty cool being able to see some of the grain in the wood

 

[fast306stang]

it's pretty cool being able to see some of the grain in the wood

Thanks! You definitely couldn't see it earlier because it was so dark. But there were times I thought I was going to have to throw it in the trash...it was looking pretty bad for quite awhile. I was thinking, "What have I done???" As soon as I put the first little bit of Tru Oil on it, it looked 1000 times better. I got lucky lol...

 

[bambam]

Looks a lot better. Good work.

 

[fast306stang]

Looks a lot better. Good work.

Thanks!

 

[palmettomoon]

Like Bambam said. Looks better. Don't fret over it. It is a cave critter and thousands were sold to C&R holders for $289 or less. That was only 4 years ago. You cannot hurt the value by cleaning the oil soaked stock. The ones I've handled were icky.

 

[fast306stang]

Like Bambam said. Looks better. Don't fret over it. It is a cave critter and thousands were sold to C&R holders for $289 or less. That was only 4 years ago. You cannot hurt the value by cleaning the oil soaked stock. The ones I've handled were icky.

Thanks! I definitely like it a lot better now.

 

[Wudee]

Turned out pretty cool. Looks good.