finishing a stock

[blipelt]

I will soon acquire a laminate a5 and I am wondering what the best way to finish it would be. My experience in finishing is quite limited, if anyone can give me a few pointers I would be very thankful

brent

 

[James Jones]

I'd call Joel and talk with him about it his top secret grain filling stratigy works great, depending on what kind of finish you want , for a realy nice deep gloss probably the automotive clear coat is the best , but I have had great resulys with simple rattle can urythanes they just atke alot more coat and s bit more sanding but you can have a great finish with them.

Shoot me a PM and I'll show you a few pics of Joel's stock I've done this way

 

[Kevin Cram]

Blipelt,
In the photo atached is my own rifle of which I used 4 sealer coats and 7 top coats of Dupont Automotive Clear to get a high gloss luster. A picture's worth a thousand words, but you almost have to see and feel the finishes I get to really get appreciate them. Automotive clear is the way to go if your looking for a high gloss luster finish. If you don't have a spray gun or experience using one you can always finish the stock in Tru-Oil, which will give a nice finish but not as glossy and will give the lighter colors like maple a yellowish look. Linseed Oil works almost the same as Tru-Oil and you can usually get it in your local hardware store. I've done a couple also with Polycrylic aerosol. It works but you'll get a orange peel effect which will need to be sanded down each coat. They also make the Polycrylic in a brush on which should work well too, but I've never used it since I started using automotive clear. If your looking for someone to finish your stock give me a call, $150 for just what you see here.

 

[James Jones]

Thats a beutiful gun those colors work great together.

 

[whitely]

I recently finished one of Joel's A5 stocks with Minwax Helmsman Spar Urethane (satin) in a spraycan. My gunsmith suggested that product, and it worked out well. I worked my way from 220 to 400 grit paper, using both a large sanding block, and a small rubber eraser to back the paper. After sanding, I like to take a slightly damp rag, and wipe down the whole stock, which "raises the grain" in places. You can then sand off these little whiskers, and when fully dried, start applying the finish. One thing I tried this time, was to hand rub in the first coat (from a can). I found that I was able to do this in a few areas to see where I needed to do a better job of sanding, or filling the grain. After that, I applied 8 coats from the can. The first few coats seemed a little rough at first, but it seemed to fill in. I put on light coats for the most part. I let this "cure" for two weeks before I put the rifle back together and went shooting. Note that the urethanes will darken the color a little, relative to a clear coat.

 

[blipelt]

Stock

thanks for all the information I am sure this will help me in not screwing up a work of art that Joel spent many hours on.

Brent

 

[Freebore]

Tru - Oil finish

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn109/Freebore/002.jpg
http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn109/Freebore/001.jpg

 

[fireball10x]

Here's a couple pics of my 6mm ackley finished with dupont chromaclear automotive clear 3 coats then wet sand then 4 and wetsand then 7 and finished

tobucket.com/albums/j211/fireball10x/Picture1197600x450.jpg[/IMG]

 

[fireball10x]

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[fireball10x]

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