Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles BRNO ZG-47 stock refinish project for Moose Mike.

I volunteered to walk MooseMike throught a stock refinishing project and figured this would go a little smoother on a fresh thread. Now for my disclaimer: There are probably a million different ways to refinish a stock. Just because your way is different from mine it doesn't make either right or wrong. This is just a method I've devised from talking to professional stock makers and trial and error.

Here is the project rifle, a BRNO ZG-47. The stock is pretty good shape but the finish is almost gone and it has a small crack in the toe. The crack will be fixed during the refinish and we should end with with a nicer finish when complete.






Here are the major things needed for this refinish project. I still need a small cheap paint brush for sealing and a toothbrush to work the finish around the checkering.



I imagine this will take about 1 to 1 1/2 weeks to complete. I'm out of town every other day and nothing will get done on those days. Most of the time involved will be waiting for moisture to leave or finishes to dry. Very little time is actually spent working on it.

OK, I removed all the metal from the stock and it's time to strip the finish.



I like using a spray on stripper. The brush on type does just as well though. I spray in on liberally and let it sit for about 10 minutes before I start brushing it.

IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT STRIPPERS: Do not do this in direct sun light! UV light and strippers don't mix. Something in it will have a chemical reaction and it'll make a gooey mess that's hard to clean up. Do your stripping in a covered area.



After it sits for about 10 minutes I start brushing it. For the brush you want something thats strong enough to abrase the finish but so strong that it damages the wood.



After each coat of stripper I rinse it off with a water hose then take it inside and wipe it down with a sponge and rinse off with warm water. This not only gets the stripper off but it also helps raise the dents in the stock.

Second coat. Things are looking good.



The stock came clean after 2 coats of stripper and is ready for the next step.



For the next step I'm going to fill the pours. I'll start by putting a coat of finish on so the filler has a good surface to adhere to.

The surface has been liberally coated. For this step I used Watco Teak Oil mix with about 10% Japan dryer. The Japan Dryer speeds up the drying process. The excess is wiped off.

I know some are probably thinking "he didn't let that wood dry long enough after he rinsed it" and "He never sanded the stock before he put the finish on."

Well, the outside finish is just temporary, sanding will happen and things start to get interesting on the next step.

Thanks TC. This will be a big help!

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OK, now it's time to fill the pours and things are gonna get ugly for a few days. In the end I think you'll like the results though.

When you fill the pours you can hide them if you want or you can accentuate them. For this project I want the latter. This stock has no figure and the black pours will give it a little character . The way I'm going achieve this is with two products from Miles Gillbert, Rotten stone and Bone Black. I'm going to mix these with a little Watco Teak Oil and make a "mudd slurry."



You mix these about 8 parts rotten stone to 1 part bone black.


I use an old Lee powder measure for this.


The measurement doesn't need to be exact but the rotten stone fills and the bone black is just for color. You want the mix to be mostly rotten stone. I use a cut Dixie cup for this.


After you get the ratio right or close to it (this ain't rocket science ) then you mix in the Teak Oil. You want a paste like consistency to it. Too runny and it won't fill the pours very well, too clumpy and it's hard to work with. Be careful, it goes from too clumby to too runny in the blink of an eye. You can always add more powder though to fine tune it.

After you get your slurry mixed up, then get an old T shirt and cut a few small squares out of it. Use the squares for the applicator. Wrap it around you fingure and apply the mud to the stock.



It's best to go in small circular motions. The idea is to work the mud into the pours.



After you get a section done it's time to wipe the excess off the stock. When ever possible wipe across the grain. and don't wipe too hard. You don't want to pull any out of the pours.

[img]http://photos.imageevent.com/lucky/zg47stockrefinish/large/20150212_082210.jpg[/img]

Keep going a section at a time until finished. Be careful around the checkering and any place thats going to be hard to sand this stuff out of. If/when you do get some in the checkering it's no big deal. Just get an old toothbrush and put a little paint thinner on it and brush it out.

[img]http://photos.imageevent.com/lucky/zg47stockrefinish/large/20150212_083838.jpg[/img]

[img]http://photos.imageevent.com/lucky/zg47stockrefinish/large/20150212_083947.jpg[/img]

This what it'll look like after the 1st coat. Pretty ugly eh? Don't worry, it's going to get worse before it get's better
[img]http://photos.imageevent.com/lucky/zg47stockrefinish/large/20150212_085003.jpg[/img]

I'm guessing on this stock it's going to take 4 coats to fill the pours. What I'll probably do is put one more coat on today and will that dry completely. After that there will be too much build up on the stock and it'll need a quick wet sanding before I do the last 2 coats.

This is a picture of the results we are after using this method. I really like the contrasting black pours. I think it gives it an "aged" look.


I'll be out of town tomorrow so nothing will happen.

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Tag, cool stuff !

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I am finding this very interesting. I have a question as to what is this Rotten Stone and Bone Black? Would it be some sort of powdered paint?

So how does one go about getting the old clearcoat off of a black foreend tip? I imagine the spray stripper would damage the plastic?

No, rotten stone is an abrasive something like pumice. Bone Black is nothing more than powdered charcoal.

I'd like to know where to find Bone Black.

I've never done one before but I would mask the tip and strip the wood and then wet sand the tip and feather the transition from wood to plastic. .

You could buy it at Midway at one time but I guess its been discontinued.

It's just powdered charcoal, here is a good substitute:
http://www.dickblick.com/products/generals-powdered-charcoal/