Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing sand down and paint old birch stock

New member would like to pick the brains of the experts. I have a spare birch Savage stock and I want to paint it but the issue is the checkering. I HATE pressed checkering, so my questions are: 1) can checkering be filled in reliably and if so what is the recommended filler material, bondo, jbweld, solder, concrete? just kidding. 2) should I just sand down through the checkering and reduce the wrist and forearm dimensions? Is this advisable?

Any answers greatly appreciated. Mechanicuss.

I'd be concerned that anything you fill the checkering in with would end up popping out over time and it would be very time consuming to rough up the area between the checkering to get a good bond. I'd say just thin out the grip and forend to remove the checkering.

I bet Bondo would work, sticks pretty well. So long as the wood is oil free anyway. If you're patching may as well Dremel the area ever so little to clean up and make a continuous patch instead of a myriad of little ones. One issue is matching the texture to the wood close enough so the patch doesn't show through sanding primer/paint, not so sure JB or the like is fine enough.

Or if you're feeling all gunsmithy-like and not bad with tools try cutting new checkering using the impressed spots as a guide. Stained birch done right doesn't look too bad, and if it all goes wrong you're no worse off if you fill and paint.

I would consider using Acraglas or some other epoxy product, then rasp/sand it down however you want it. I guess Bondo would probably work, I just don't have any experience with it except to build up gun stock patterns they aren't subjected to much abuse.
Phil

These people will tell you to use putty-cote:
http://www.6mmbr.com/stockpainting.html
That works for me.

These people will tell you to use epoxy, not bondo:
http://www.hightech-specialties.com/installation_instructions.html
That works for me.

If it were me, I would be tempted to sand the checkering off.



This pic sort of shows some epoxy bedding in a laminated birch stock for a Sav 110, with Aluma-hyde II one part epoxy paint over that.

Pressed wood is not missing, only squashed a bit... Hit it with steam after chemical stripping and most of the wood will pop right back up.

Japanese netsuke carvers will dimple a grape-shaped smooth-sanded piece of wood with a rounded punch. Then sand it smooth again. When wetted/steamed the dimples jump right back up, turning the grape into a carved raspberry... Same trick here and it works quite well. If nothing else it makes it a quick sanding job rather than a mining expedition.

I would either raise or sand down the checkering if you are after a slimer look or feel. Probably the faster way would be to just fill with epoxy rasp it to shape then use a body filler. Ill bet bondo alone would bond just fine by itself. When doing modifications to fiberglass stocks I use a glazing putty befor final finish sanding.

Epoxy and really fine sawdust is what is used to repair checkering, and would work well for this.

If sanding off the checkering won't make the stock too thin in those areas, that's what I'd do. And if you want to do something other than paint it, birch (in my experience) is hard to stain with anything other than a wipe-on surface stain. It blotches real bad if you use a water based or alcohol based stain. I made the mistake of volunteering to refinish a birch stock. Took me several tries to find something that worked. I used a walnut wipe on varnish/stain and I 'painted' it on with a rag and a brush. Took a while to get it right, but when I was done, it looked like a walnut stock with decent grain.

A $10 spray can of Aluma-Hyde II on a hot day will put one part epoxy on a rifle stock that can stand up to serious abuse. It may get dirty, but the dirt can get scrubbed off with soap and water.


223 Sav 110 Lothar Walther Boyds

7mmRM Rem700 Shilen Bansner

260 Mauser Shilen Bansner

I have an older 110 with the birch stock. It's been sanded to bare wood and painted twice over the years with no issues. The checkering is a bit shallow after the second painting, but no issues at all with paint adhering to the wood. I'm no expert by any means, I just sanded, cleaned, primed 3 coats, stenciled in tiger stripe, and put a matte clear coat on. When it gets beat up, I'll redo again.