I was just wondering about something, maybe
you can help. I just bought a Mossberg Ultimag-
835. Of course, the finish on this gun is more of
a matte finish. I want a more gloss finish like on
the 11-87s. Would I be able to get that from
simply applying a laquer or varnish? What do you
think?

 

trapper: i'm obviously not cslinger, but i gotta try. i think you would have to actually remove the current finish of the gun and then go through the blueing process. i would think regular varnish would be affected by the heat of the barrel or would possibly cause the barrel not to cool as effectively. hope that helps, but i would still wait for someone of a little more authority on the subject.

 

I must not have been clear. I meant
the finish on the wood. The wood has
a duller matte finish and I want a more
glossy finish. I don't plan to alter the
blueing on the metal.

 

oops. my fault. in that case i don't know, seems reasonable. seeing as the varnish doesn't really go into the wood it just stays on top and shines. probably want to do some light sanding first with extremely fine paper, then apply. again i would recommend waiting for the experts, but it seems like it would work.
you may not get quite as illustrious a finish as you would if you were to first remove the old matte finish then start over. sure would be less time consuming.

 

Dunno.

I really don't know that much about wood working and have never refinished anything, let alone a rifle stock. I do know that most of the imported AKs are just heavily varnished wood and they are very shiny but IMO just don't feel too nice in the hand. That could be because they must pour the stuff on by the gallon.

I'm sure one of your local gunshop gurus will be able to give you a much better answer. Better yet call a local furniture re-finisher, they would probably be able to tell you the best way to get a glossy look on wood.

Sorry I can't offer anything constructive.

 

Thanks anyway guys. I am gonna give it a try
this weekend. I've finished tabletops (for my wife)
before and as long as I sanded lightly with steel
wool between coats, it went pretty well. I was
somewhat wary about trying it on a brand new gun
though.

 

trapper: did you try that stock refinishing this weekend? how did it turn out?

 

I put the first coat on Saturday after some light
sanding with 0000 steel wool. It was still
tacky by Sunday though. I will sand that first
coat with steel wool when I get off work today.
The second coat will come later tonight. The
biggest problem was the stupid brush strokes
I kept gettting (cheap brush). I ran up to the
local Sherwin Williams and bought a better
brush and the results were much nicer. No
brush strokes. I knew better than try a cheap
brush, but I was just anxious to get the project
started. Our Season opens in two weeks.
My advise to anyone, don't use a cheap brush or
cheap laquer/urethane. I used a quality urethane
made by Helmsman and a china bristle brush($27).
To get the look I want, I estimate about 2-3 coats.
I will have to use thin coats though. I don't want
to glop on too much and end up with an excess.

Note: The guy at Sherwin Williams suggested a
spray type urethane, but I had already opened and
used some of the Helmsman spar urethane. I just
don't think I would have tried the spray. I think it
would have produced spotty results. Just my opinion.

 

sounds good. maybe we could see some pics when your done. who knows you may drum up some refinish requests from the group
that spray; was it in a spray can or to use with a gun. i would think a quality spray gun would be able to produce some nice results. out of a can, i don't know, have to agree with spotty results.
anyway good luck having it finished for the upcoming season.

 

It was a spray can. That's why I shyed away
from it. I would LOVE to post pics, but I have
no idea how. I'll have to get someone to explain
to me how to start a gallery and post pics like
everyone else does. I'm an idiot when it come
to computers. Not scared or anything, just don't
know what the crap I'm doin'.

 

If you can't post them but have them in electronic format I wouldn't mine seeing them. Could you E-Mail them to me. I might want to refinish my Mauser a little bit and would like to see how your's turned out.

 

can't help you with pics i'm in about the same boat as you when it comes to posting pics here.

 

Post them in electronic format? What the heck
is that? I told you I'm a computer newbie. If
it goes beyond point and click, I'm lost. How do
you send pictures in e-mail? I'm guessing you save
them somehow? From a digital camera? I kid
you not, I am computer ignorant. I feel so lame
sometimes because everyone else has these cool
pics of their trucks, and I can't even post one
picture of a flag. I tried that a few days ago, don't
even ask how it turned out. Sometimes I think I'm
the only person left in this world who doesn't have
a computer at home. The only way I can post from
home is if my wife brings home her laptop. Want
to know why she has a laptop? Get this, she is
a computer programmer. That makes me feel that
much more stupid. I just can't bring myself to ask
her for help. I guess it's sort of like a man asking
for directions when he's lost. Most men would
rather run around lost and figure it out on their
own rather than ask for directions. Wildchild,
it's nice to see I'm not the only one. That makes me
feel a little better.

 

trapper glad to see there is someone else like me. for the email question though. you have to either scan them in and then send it as a file. or have your pics saved on a disc at the photo shop of your choice then send it as an attachment.
don't feel bad i went to school not too long ago, i felt like a dinosaur around computers compared to many of the younger kids around me. they had a serious jump start over me when it came to computers.
true story; one day the prof told us he would not be there for the next days lab. he asked if anyone needed any help with the computers. i told him as long as they were already turned on i would be fine. most of the machines never got turned off, just touch the mouse and the screen would come to life. everyone in the class thought i was joking. next day we go to lab, and, there i am hitting every mouse i can find waiting for a screen to light up. after a few minutes i had to break down and ask someone how to turn the dumb thing on. when the kid cracked a joke though i asked him if he had any clue how to run cnc machines for metal fabrication, that evened us up.

 

Ok the easiest way short of a digital camera to get your pictures in an electronic format, such as a JPG or BMP file is to take regular pictures with a regular camera and when you get the film developed tell them you want the pictures on a CD-ROM disc. This usually costs about 10.00 I think.

Ok once you have these pictures on the disc all you need to do is simply put the disc in your wife's laptop CD-ROM drive, I am assuming here, and move the pictures around like any other file. In other words to email just write a new email and click on the attach button, the button that looks like a paperclip in outlook. From here find the picture you want, highlight it and hit ok. Send the email and you are done.

Your wife could probably do a much better job explaining this to you as she can converse directly with you.

Posting pictures on this sight is not much different. You just create a gallery and click the add pictures button and it will ask you to find the pictures you want to add etc. Again the wife would be a better resource.

Hey Wildchild, you work with metal? Just curious. I would love to be able to fabricate some of my own parts for things. Computer cases, gun parts etc. and so forth. What do you do?

Sorry for the technobabble, I tried to keep it to a minimum.

Car geek, computer geek, gun geek at your service. You know with some metal fabrication knowledge I could build quite the scarymobile don't you think?