You don't have to take it off to re finish the stock as long as you don't let any paint
stripper get on it.It is some kind of plastic and does not react well to solvents.
Mask it off real good and once you remove all of the old finish remove the tape and
sand the tip with very fine steel wool and buff to bring back the shine.
If it is a nice piece of wood I like to use tongue oil or birchwood casey true oil and
xxxx fine steel wool to hand rub the finish on .It takes 6 to 8 applications to get a
really nice hand rubbed Finnish but it is worth it.