Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing What Products to Strip Browning High Gloss Finish?

Bad plan with the Browning finish...

Not going to cut it with the Browning finish...

Guys you are all working way too hard.

I am a full time gunsmith and I have been stripping that kind of finish on guns for over 40 years.

Take a good knife and sharpen it like a razor. Now, use it as a scraper. I can take a Browning or Weatherby down to wood and ready for sand paper in 5 minute with a good knife using it as a scraper.

As someone with very good skills with a scraper I call bullshit.

Or you have serious issues with understanding what a stock should look like... or you have no experience with the Browning finish...

Never miss an opportunity to badmouth someone. When in gunsmithing school the carpentry instructor showed me a rifle that he had scraped the finish off using his pocket knife and refinished. If he had not told me I would not have known, cabinet makers and other woodworkers frequently use scrapers. So while not the above poster's preferred method, it can be done with good results.

I also heard of people using broken window glass that was concave and shaving hard finishes off with that

Maybe I should have been more direct... 5 minutes? And you believe that?

I have a ton of experience with scrapers and a ton of experience with hard thick finishes... if you buy 5 minutes... well, you know what I think...

Broken glass makes outstanding wood scrapers. They do not last long and they sometimes chip and cause issues right when you least need them... but they are great for wood...

The Browning finish is too hard and the glass will fail very quickly... too quickly, really.

You need to put your glasses on there Mr. Knowitall. Where in my post did I say anything about believing 5 minutes? Kinda went off half cocked there dontcha think?

I have stripped a few Browning stock finishes. The last was an 1885 repro. I have an assortment of steel scrapers. I takes me probably about three to four hours to get one to the point where I can sand it. The forearm goes pretty quick, a bit over a half hour. The butt stock takes a long time as the angles and edges are more difficult. I suppose the guys 5 minute comment was just talk.

As far as finish strippers go I have not found one that really removes a Browning finish without repeated applications and scraping sessions with the softened finish.
If anyone has found one I would like to hear about it.

Even the Browning Arms Co. gunsmith department had not found that stripper, the stocks still required extensive sanding after being soaked in whatever they used. I worked in the gunsmithing department right next to the finishing department. So I am speaking from actual experience/observation of their stock stripping process.

You were defending the bullshitter claiming he can strip a Browning high gloss stock with a knife as a scraper (much less effective than a properly turned scraper BTW) in 5 minutes.

Reading comprehension is a gift...

I too have used a sharp pocket knife (Swiss Army Knife to be exact) to scrape the old varnish off a 1920's vintage Savage. It took forever, but I was in no hurry- I was home recuperating from a heart attack. Personally I wouldn't want to do it on a Browning. Five minutes is ludicrous.

I stripped the finish off of a Browning BR-78 back around 30 years ago. The local hardware store stripper didn't touch it, so I got some industrial strength aircraft stripper from a buddy who used it in his body shop. I don't remember what brand it was, but it would take car paint off right down to shiny bare metal in one application. That poison took the Browning finish off like Grant took Richmond. In a fit of hubris I neglected to wear gloves- the stuff took about three layers of skin off the backs of my hands too. Scared the crap out of me.

Since then I left the finish alone on the couple of Brownings I owned. I merely rubbed the gloss out and merrily went about using them. When you stop and think about it there isn't a much better clear finish for a wood stock that's going to see inclement weather. 20 years and god knows how many hundred thousand shots at trap/skeet/SC's later, and the finish on my Citori Lightning Sporting Clays is darned near as good as new (but she's getting a little loose ) . Try that with your oil finish...

Well now. I have been doing gunsmithing for 48 years and I have refinished more Brownings than I can count. They are not really any more difficult than any other epoxy finished stock.

I know a little bit about stock finishing and re-finishing.
Here are a few I have done.













All these were just slightly more complex than refinishing a factory Browning.
Funny how I never knew that I didn't know anything. Thanks for telling me.

I have found that sharing information with people that want to know is fun and welcome by them, but arguing with idiots and fools is not worth my time.

Challenging the 5 minutes statement, period...

Also pointing out a sharpened knife is far from the best scraper. A properly turned burr on a true wood scraper will out perform a straight blade every time, period...

If you are calling me a fool or an idiot you are way off base...

You certainly have much to add, but blowing smoke is not a good starting point.

Great.
Make us a five minute video next time you do the task.
I'd really like to see it done.

Takes one to know one Mr. Knowitall, I was not defending anyone nor did I say stripping finish in 5 minutes was credible. You're the one with the comprehension problem. Now you're attacking another poster I see, you have absolutely no idea how to be a gentleman much less engage in civil discourse. No matter how much knowledge or experience you have it is no excuse for being rude, demeaning, nor talking down to others.

Who are you talking to?

He seems to think someone cares what he says...