Very nice. Plus great lines too. Congrats on a great job and nice rifle.
Though defensive violence will always be “a sad necessity” in the eyes of men of principle, it would be still more unfortunate if wrongdoers should dominate just men. - St. Augustine
I did essentially the same thing awhile back on my 81. The metal finish was near-perfect, but the wood finish was badly scratched (more so on the fore end than the buttstock). I removed the factory finish with Acetone, and the wood itself was in good enough condition that only a little bit of sanding was needed. Mainly I went over it with very fine (0000) steel wool and paint thinner, then finished it with several coats of Tung oil with steel wool rubbings between dried coats. As yours shows, the wood appearance is much better, and mine also has pretty good grain which was not visible under the muddy-brown factory finish. I don't know if I decreased its value, but at least I like it better the way it is now.
DWalt wrote:I did essentially the same thing awhile back on my 81. The metal finish was near-perfect, but the wood finish was badly scratched (more so on the fore end than the buttstock). I removed the factory finish with Acetone, and the wood itself was in good enough condition that only a little bit of sanding was needed. Mainly I went over it with very fine (0000) steel wool and paint thinner, then finished it with several coats of Tung oil with steel wool rubbings between dried coats. As yours shows, the wood appearance is much better, and mine also has pretty good grain which was not visible under the muddy-brown factory finish. I don't know if I decreased its value, but at least I like it better the way it is now.
The forend on mine was not too bad. I went over it a couple of times with 220 grit but as you can see from the pics the stock was in bad shape. I might have decreased the value as well but none of my guns will ever be sold and I can not stand to have an ugly beat up gun in my safes. I just finished the last coat of tru oil on an old Model 12 tonight and will be putting her back together in the morning. It has been over 100 here everyday so I figure what better way to spend the day but out in the reloading room where it is cool.