I stripped the wood with Minwax Antique Furniture Refinisher. Then plugged the off-center drilled rear sling mount and steamed all of the dents to raise the wood grain as much as possible. Then I sanded the stock with #120 until I got most of the damaged areas cleaned up and shaped my plug job. Then I finish sanded both the stock and forend pieces with #180 grit paper.Dr. Marneaus wrote:Wow, finished product came out great. the stock and forend look awesome.
Mind sharing what you did to refinish them?
From there I mixed some Fiebings dark brown leather dye and denatured alcohol to about 10/90 ratio, and started staining the wood to get some color. It took two coats to get close to where I wanted to be. Then I used Fairtrimmer's Military Ox wood oil following his product directions as the final finish.
The finish is not glass smooth and that is what I was looking for. I like the Fairtrimmer's because the wood isn't glossy or slick. I have used the same process on M1 Garands and other old military surplus rifles and like the end product a lot. It's not hard to do and the process is very forgiving. If you get done and don't like it, strip it and try again, no harm done.