Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Refinishing and staining Rem laminated stock

I have a Rem 700 Laminated Mtn rifle stock, brown color, and would like to make it a darker color. Something similar to walnut instead of the plywood look. Can the stock be stripped, sanded, stained and refinished to give it a darker color? Has anybody done this before? Does anybody have any pictures of one that you did?

Thanks
Mark

Not sure you could ever get through the finish. I believe the wood is thoroughly impregnated with the glue, which becomes the finish. And if you could, I'm pretty sure the glue lines would not take stain.

Mark,
Yup, what McMurph said...

However, you can get the look by spraying on clear coats with a hint of dark brown... Stock prep would be a bummer and a coat of shellac would probably be needed between the CAT resin finish and whatever you put on over it.

Easier would be picking up a take-off walnut...
art

Thanks for the advice.

I seem to remember that when Remington first came out with their laminated stock ADL they were a lot darker than the current laminated stocks. I saw an article in Shooting Times where Layne Simpson took one of these dark laminated stock and put a stainless 338 barreled action in it. It looked really nice.

That image is where I got the idea of a darker laminated stock from.

Does anybody know how they darkened it?

Thanks
Mark

The plys were darker to start... either darker wood or stained, or both...

It is still just plywood...

It is getting harder and harder to get quality, dark walnut, so many manufacturers are using lesser grade walnut for laminated stocks. Once the individual thin slabs are bonded with resin (laminated), they become a very tough stock. But it is impossible to remove the finish (which is actually the lamination resin). Enjoy the rifle as it is.

djs
"(which is actually the lamination resin)"

It is similar, but the resin in the plies is not the same as the finish coat. It is glued up into large sheets and then cut down and "turned" into blanks/stocks.

The finish is a sprayed, catalized resin that will bond to the resin in place, but is virtually impossible to get anything else to bond well to it, even another coat of the same stuff. If they were the same the bonding issue would not be there... Machining the stocks shows a differenece in heat tolerance between the resin and the finish. The finish melts and screws with the cutters.
art

Contact http://www.boydsgunstocks.com/, I think that you will find what you are looking for at a very reasonable price. They have finished and unfinished laminates. I have many of their stocks, first class quality and service...just ordered two more.

Your stock is worth $125 if in great condition, you will be money ahead after you buy the Boyd's.

Good luck!

Thanks,

Once again this site may have saved me a lot of headaches.

Mark

A while back I did a Boyds stock, one of their "Nutmeg Laminates" (unfinished) It was a bit too light for the guy, he wanted it darker. It stained OK.

Craigster,

What type of stain and finish did you use? You don't have any pictures of it do you?

Mark

I used a plain 'ol oil based stain, can't remember the brand. Finish was 3 or 4 coats of Minwax Polyurethane (satin) in the rattle can. And no, didn't take any pictures. Came out nice, guy was/is quite happy with it, the finish has held up fine.

No love for the laminates, Sitka?

None whatsoever!!!!!!!!!

All of the deficits of plywood, none of the benefits of plastic and ugly as a mud fence...

Too heavy
Too ugly...

YMMV
art

How can you not like this!

The Boyds I mentioned earlier came out just about like that (+/-).

One more!

There is nothing there I like beyond the action and barrel... None of it would be appropriate for ANY of the hunting I do.

Well, I do like fluted bolts...

Well at least I tried!

You are a wealth of knowledge and I appreciate all the information!

Thanks
Mark

This thread is ages old, but I'll add my 2 cents anyway...

When I first got it, my Feinwerkbau 601 RT was ugly as f... I mean duck. Something had to be done, so I came up with this. Be gentle with me, this is the first time ever I have attempted to do something to a rifle stock.

I don't know how to embed images, so here's a link to the folder with some pictures of the process. They are not in chronological order.

Feinwerkbau