Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Moisture damage to wood

My dad and I have been going through my grandfather's guns after he passed away. He left them a wood/glass gun cabinet and pretty much all of them have some type of moisture damage to the stocks. Mostly white and clear haze type residue as you can see in the pictures. Is there an easy way to repair this?

Looks super easy to fix with Formby's Furniture Refinisher... do not try to remove the finish, just move it around. It should soften the finish and make the surface smoother again. Adding a bit of oil-based varnish, even Tru-Oil should help quite a bit after the Formby's. Quick and easy.

Howards Restore-A-Finish will probably do it. It's quick and easy to use. Just follow their directions.

What you're looking to do as suggested by the above posters is what woodworkers call a "solvent refinish", either of the products suggested will do this. Another product that I have used is Behlen's Qualarenu, it is available at woodworking stores and online. It produces excellent results and I can recommend it highly.

Thanks guys

The three mentioned solvent solutions are similar... Qualarenu is essentially the "hottest" solvent mix of the three and will work the fastest. And it will work. I find it takes finish off too fast and is more tempermental that way. Be careful if you go this route. It is a good product.

Howards is the tamest of the three and there are quite a few finishes it will not touch that the others will. If the finish in question is cut by it, it will work just fine.

Formby's is the middle of the road option and my favorite...

A dealer friend once gave me a rare Newton rifle whose finish was severely alligatored from either being set to close to a woodstove or dried out too close to a campfire. I used Qualarenu to restore that stock, the results were astounding, The key to using this product is to apply sparingly, don't flood it on else you'll dissolve a lot of finish too quickly to spread it evenly. Formby's as Art suggests is a good product for someone doing a solvent refinish for the first time, it is more user friendly that Qualarenu and more readily available.

Anyone know who sells Fromby’s?

You may have trouble finding it if you spell it that way...

Formby's is found in most big box hardware stores... everywhere i have looked for it.

Ha, just a typo. I spelled it correctly when I googled it, but it didn't show a listing at Lowe's, Home Depot, etc. I'll have to look around.

They carry it at both here?

I went to Lowe's website and its not available at my local Lowe's. Shows that shipping is currently unavailable too. I don't have a Home Depot close by. I'll try Ace's Hardware next.

Thanks

Only 16oz bottles I can even find on internet are on eBay.