doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Old Crescent refinished

A friend has an old Crescent shotgun that he wants to refinish the stock himself. After taking the finish off with Citristrip he wants to just soak the stock to get it to a point where he can restain it. What would be the best stuff to use? The checkering is worn to just an impression in the wood on both the grip and forearm.

Stripper will remove all old finish. Unless it is oil soaked there is no need to soak it in anything. Just sand enough to get to clean wood and apply finish. After sanding rub some paint thinner on the new wood and that will show you what the wood will look like without stain, it may not need stain. Don't forget to whisker
(raise the grain) before applying finish. I left out many steps as they were not asked for, just offering some advice.
If it is oil soaked you can soak it in acetone. Acetone will also sometimes dissolve old glue repairs etc etc.

Is there any way to get to bare wood with out sanding? Will soaking the wood in acetone or mineral spirits remove the old stain or get it down to bare wood so it could be restained?

you will end up shrinking the wood

I agree. It will sometimes remove the stain, but extended soaking will shrink and, on occasion dry the wood so badly that it splits/cracks. I've had it happen.

SRH

That's some old wood too.

Any other suggestions how to get it down to bare wood so it can be restained?

Without measuring, the firing pins seem to protrude properly with the barrels off. Remember that the cocking rods/dogs recock the hammers when opened. With the barrels off, the cocking system is not operating and the firing pins look right, but may be restrained by the cocking rods/cams. The forend generally activates the cocking system. Using a long rod down each barrel, check the firing pin protrusion in each barrel with the forend on, and off.

Well, thank you kindly Dennis for that.

Thank you!!! I'll take your advise and just apply some Citristrip to get the old finish off and go from there.

I scrape a lot of old finishes off prior to refinishing Just don't like using paint/finish stripper.
It goes very fast and with a nice sharp edge you can do a stock in very short time.
Nothing more than a knife blade is needed,but so is some practice in it's use to avoid digs and marks.
I've used a regular furniture scraper, but like a plain knife blade better using my thumb against the blade as the guide for it's depth and angle against the surface of the wood.


Rounded areas are easily covered by going slightly accross the grain and no it doesn't leave marks because there is no grit involved.

I admit I do clean up the entire stock w/320 when done but it too goes quick as you are working on clean smooth wood w/no old finish to clog the paper.
Back the paper up of course w/a block.
Stain it if you like,,I always do. Then finish.

Just another way to do things.

If there's oil soaked into the wood, start by removing that with what ever method suits you or the best finishing job on top of it will be all for nothing as the imbedded petro oil pushes it right back off.

I use whiting powder mixed w/ alcohol to layer it on and let it set till it turns yellow/brown (might be a week). Brush off and recoat till it's clear of oil.
Most say to use acetone & whiting powder, but cheap rubbing alcohol works fine.
It's purpose is just to get the whiting powder into a wet texture so you can apply it to the wood. The liquid evaporates in a minute or 2, the whiting powder works over the course of (many) days.