doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DIY Gunsmithing @ doublegunshop.com not refinsh but freshen up

I'm curious how you could smooth out dings and dents without refinishing.

I steam dents and dings and add finish on top regularly, not a big deal.

I use steel wool to clean old grime off but not during a re-finish process. Michael used raw linseed which acts as a solvent on the grime but does not harden or effect the original oil finish.

Not sure. That�s why I was I asking. It may require a complete refinish. Would rather stay away from that. I�m not trying to achieve a complete new look. I�d rather massage the dings to minimal.

That would be great if it was possible. But I have never seen or heard of any method of dent and ding removal in gunstock wood that doesn't involve removing the old finish.

That may not be a bad thing if the stock is fairly beat up. A good job of steaming dents can work wonders, and avoid a lot of sanding. But if it isn't all that bad, or oil soaked, you may be better off to just do a light cleaning. Follow up with a light coat of tung oil sparingly rubbed in, and then a coat of Johnson's paste wax after the finish is well cured.

Post a couple of photos. Fore-end, stock, left, right, stock head. These would be helpful in providing advice. Keith gave great advice on raising dents for my Lefever. Also get the Flexner book on Wood Finishing and read it cover to cover, twice.

You can remove dents and dings from a stock without removing the finish from the dent, though it does require some lateral thinking and like many things extremely simple when you know how.
To raise dents without removing the finish you will need the tools in the photographs plus some Alcohol as high percentage as you can obtain and some pure Cotton Wool, it must not have any man made fibres in its make up.
First clean the dent in the wood thoroughly then use the needle to make as many fine holes through the finish into the wood as you can, from the photograph you will see that I prefer to use a sewing machine needle because they are extremely sharp and very strong. I like to hold the needle in a British pattern pin vice because it adds some weight making it far easier the push the needle into the wood, one word of caution do not wiggle the needle you are after small nearly undetectable holes through the finish.
Next shape a piece of Cotton wool to cover the dent I aim for about a quarter to three eighths of an inch thick, then saturate with Alcohol then press with a finger to drive the Alcohol into the wood through the holes you have made through the finish. Keeping the cotton wool saturated with Alcohol and forcing it into the wood the more successful will be the outcome.
Now the heat source that does have to be really hot and small the Item I have never found to be bettered is one of the tools of my Trade the Soldering Iron and a man can not survive with only one as you see, because they are available in many sizes and wattages though I will say that no larger than 150 Watts over you stand a good chance of scorching the wood. Because of the heat in such a small area this causes the Alcohol to vaporise very quickly forcing the wood fibers to swell. I have found that the heat also makes the surface finish pliable so enabling it to move so choose the size of the Iron to match the size of the dent, I must say that if you dont use pure Cotton Wool any man made fibers will just melt and stick to everything as well ad holding the Alcohol the Cotton keeps the hot iron away from the surface.
To repair the area I just rub the area with a small pad of 000 wire wool soaked with Linseed finishing oil into the area filling the holes.

if you can find one, pick up a copy of tony treadwell's book, "an english gun making heritage"...his chapters on wood working are wonderful...

Do you use water for raising dents when there is not finish in the way? Or is alcohol your preferred dent raising medium on an unfinished stock as well?

I have always used Alcohol/Water mix for dent raising and raising the grain on bare wood when the finish is removed. My usual all round mixture is 75% Ethanol 25% Water for the following reasons, the Ethanol lowers the waters surface tension allowing it to penetrate into the wood more easily and deeper. also when heat is applied to the mixture the alcohol causes a more rapid production of vapour deeper in the wood lifting dents without needing a second try. The reason I prefer to use high percentage Ethanol for spot dent raising without removing the finish it vaporisers a a lower temperature without the water I prefer to use Ethanol rather than Isopropyl Alcohol though for purely personal reasons firstly I do not like the smell and I have used Ethanol from the beginning and know how it behaves. One small point I have in resent past started to use discount store low price Vodka because purchasing Industrial high strength Ethanol is starting to become more restricted so I keep the high percentage for this type of dent raising and the Vodka for the rest, there is very little difference in cost and far easier to purchase .