Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Around the Campfire => Topic started by: Josh B on January 12, 2020, 09:00:38 pm
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I bought this rifle 25 yrs ago. I've hated the ugly wood since day one, but it's been a fine rifle in all other aspects. About a year ago, I finally decided to do something about the wood. I've been saving off cut scraps of curly Maple for awhile, but I didn't have any scraps big enough for the stock itself. I went to the lumber yard and picked out a curly maple 1x6, cut it in half and glued the halves together to get my thickness. I then epoxied in ringed brass pins in the places that would have screws trying to separate the two halves. Once that cured, I traced another stock onto my blank, did some adjusting on LOP and drop to fit me and cut it out and shaped it. Here's the original wood and the progress of the new stock.
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I then shaped and fitted the handguards and pistol grip and sanded to 150 grit. To make the grain pop, I used a water based black wood dye to lightly darken all the pieces. Once that dries, I sanded to 220 grit and applied the red color in two coats. The red dye is alcohol based and is 2-parts red, 1-part yellow, and 1-part brown. You can really see the grain pop with the additional coat.
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The next step was to apply 8 coats of tru-oil and really work it into the wood. I let it cure overnight and then steel wooled everything smooth. I used a tack cloth to remove all the dust and debris and applied 3 more coats of tru-oil. Once dried I buffed the tru-oil with my clean finger tips to give it a nice matte luster. Reassemble and the rifle looks way different!
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Very nice upgrade, Josh. Beautiful wood.
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Heck of a Nice rebuild! But how the heck do you stuff the load down the muzzle??? >:D (lol) (lol)! Good to see you are still kicking!
Hawkdancer
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Nice job Driver :OK ! Bob
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Beautiful work Josh, very nice. :)
Pappy
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Thanks fellas! I'm really pleased with how it turned out.
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Looks tremendous, Josh! Very nice.
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Nice job.. vast improvement :)
Del
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Very cool Gun Doc! That is a true aesthetic improvement. dpg
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It looks like your patient has made a complete recovery.
Nice work Doc.
Bjrogg
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Thanks fellas! I have to admit that putting fancy wood on a rifle like this seems a bit foolish at first, but it took little more effort to go with nice wood rather than plain and it didn't cost me much. Of course, it will probably never be used as it was meant to be used (abused and battered) ever again. That's okay though. I still have rough and ready rifles for that purpose.
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Very nice weapon! The wood is beautiful!
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A vast improvment
Thanks Leroy
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Excellent work Josh...Looks like the gun doctor came to town on tha one!
Don
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Nice work Josh! I should send you the wood and my old pre 64 Winchester. I've had that project on the back burner for quite a while myself.
P. S.
I've shot many of those guns and that but stock being almost straight back kinda sucks! I've you ever shot one you know what it feels like to go have your thumb break your nose!
Patrick
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Thanks fellas! If I ever get caught up, I'd be happy to make you a stock. I just don't see that happening in the near future.
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Patrick,
How old is your '94? Mine is apparently from the mid to late 1940's. I would say keep the old wood if it isn't a total wreck, the more original it is, the better it holds value, and they are getting very expensive. They used very high quality walnut back then. If you do put new wood on it, keep the old to reconvert it. Hope to see you at MoJam!
Hawkdancer
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Very nice upgrade. Looks great!
Mike
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Thanks doc! It's a project I've got on my back burner as well.
Hawk, I plan on keeping the original wood but it's pretty rough and before I had it someone tried to install the wrong sling mounts and done a bad job to. Mine is a 49. The walnut I have for it I cut off my grandpa's place. It's a crotch section of the tree. The guy at a hardwoods shop said it's high quality enough to sell to Henry arms. He should know, he sells thim walnut for their guns.
Dang it, now I want to throw that project into the works!
Patrick