So, the guy I traded with sent me some wood furniture that he had got to put on this rifle and just never got around to it I guess. Anyway the guy sent some milled furniture that is brand new laminated stuff. It is really good quality stuff with the trap door in the butt and has never been drilled for screws. When I saw the quality of this, I wanted it to look nice, so I decided to try Shellac. I went to Lowes and bought some Bullseye Amber Shellac and put 6 coats on it and here's the results:
Next is to decide if I want to put a cleaning rod on it. I've spent $100 for a HG Retainer, gas block and FSB and it'll cost $100 labor to have those swapped out. I've never really been a fan of cleaning rods and don't even own a bayonet but what do you guy think?
What do I think? I'm thinking deja vu................................I've seen those pics before....somewhere.
That does look sweet Randy. That lower HG just looks so.....so.....(looking for words here).........well cool. Very vibrant maybe. The butt stock looks great!
Dressed to kill? If'n I had one looking like that, I prolly wouldn't get it out to play much. Might just build a nice cabinet for display in my living room. Seriously. Love that wood on it, but I'd be having a fit taking it to the range (my back yard).
Randy. I want to run this by you before you put more of that shellac on it. I'm sure you're happy with it now the way it is....but you can still sand it down and Lowes also carries this
I can't say enough about this product, but I did a custom Boyd's Bumble Bee Barracuda stock that I bought unfinished with this stuff and some 24 coats and came out sweet. Once that stuff cures it's almost bullet proof.
Just sayin
The deft without any color? Just blond? Or does it color? Also there are some lacquers you can spray over Shellac, but they say you have to hit it with no wax shellac. I'm dumb as dirt about finishes. I am so very glad the Shellac is so easy. There's 2 rules, work fast and go with the grain.. Easy.
You're right about one thing though. I'm hesitant to take it to the range, so I need to hurry up and get there. Still got the rear tang to put on in the morning and an ALG trigger should be here tomorrow. Ordered it from AKOU cause its only way I can $upport them.
The DEFT will actually darken the wood coat after coat.....maybe yellow it a bit in the process. Like in shades. Coat it then sand it and repeat until you like it. Let cure about 4-6 hours between coats/sanding depending on temperature. If it aint tacky to the touch....go for another coat or sanding. I swear that stuff has got to be fool proof and one can of it could do 12 coats easily, likely more. Laminated wood is lovely I think. Especially with colors or highlights. I wouldn't recommend the product if I didn't have good experience with it. I have actually used it at or slightly below freezing. Of course that's usually when humidity is very low as well.
I am today. I just got the tang from Apex last night in the mail. I'm torn on how to install it. I will probably use screws. Part of me wants to weld it in there and part of me wants to go pay a gunsmith $100 to set two rivets. but the real me is either gonna weld it or screw it!
And the stock with the single tang will definitely not suffice. It feels a little loose and hasn't even been fired.
That's looking mighty nice. Dewaxed shellac is preferred because the hand guards get hot easily under continuous fire and regular shellac will bubble easily. Really, most hardware store finishes aren't made for the heat they experience.
I was too impatient and used screws, lockwashers and loctited them. Can see them and they went really smooth. So if ever I decide to take it back to the thumb hole I can really easily.
But now I have the FSB and gas block in, I'm really on the fence about swapping them out just for the sake of the cleaning rod. A WASR is the only thing I've ever had with one on it anyway. But for looks It's growing one me (seeing the rod on there)
That's gonna be a $100 too for swapping those out and I got $100+ in the parts, but can get my money back probobly pretty quick.
Provided you aren't mag dumping, it shouldn't, but the possibility is there. I've used it on a lot of my AK's as well, but most of them don't get shot that much anyway. Although, I used it on my M70 and I've run that thing pretty hard and haven't had any bubbling yet.
I don't do mag dumps. I value my rifles too much. But shooting 120 rnds about 1 second apart really heats up my hand. I've never seriously heard about shellac bubbling, so maybe it's not really an issue. I do like the looks now!
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