Re-finishing Wood Checkering

[AzRednek]

I'm going to attempt to refinish some old S&W grips and am wondering if anybody can offer any insight or advice in how to keep the finish from building up in the checkered area. I will be using diluted rub-on, either tung or poly (haven't made up mind yet) applying several thin coats over a few days.

[Ron J]

I haven't used poly, but most thinned oil finishes can be "scrubbed" into checkering with a soft toothbrush. Now the deep wide groove around the pattern on SW grips might be another story. I guess do everything and dig out any build-up in the groove before it starts drying. Maybe an old t-shirt piece tight around a flat needle file will fit. Or just do what's done on most stocks. Finish everything, re-cut the checkering and just toothbrush some boiled linseed oil into the diamonds.

[AzRednek]

Thx Walnut, the toothbrush worked pretty good and I used a busted needle file that seemed to fit near perfect I had laying handy on my desk with piece of an old t-shirt to clear the excess out of the groove. Have to admit to missing the Arizona heat. In the summer I'd be applying the second coat in 2-3 hours. With temps in the 60's and raining I can't leave the grips in the sunlight and looks like I'm going to have to wait 24 hours for them to dry before doing to second coat.

 

I decided to go with the poly. It seems to me, in my experience anyway to be a bit more durable than the tung oil. Grips and stocks I did 20+ years ago with tung and Tru-oil didn't stand up as well as I expected. The downside with poly is the plastic look and feeling it has. The worn grips I bought used and they show their use. They are going on an old S&W Model 1917 Brazilain export that definitely shows it's age so the grips can be less than perfect.

[Ron J]

Good AZ. Glad it worked. Here in Clevelandville all my stock work is done in the dead of winter when my basement is kept 70 deg and almost no humidity. Oil finishes and humid air is a bad mix. No doubt the poly will hold up much better than tung oil as it is much harder. I've read where a "varnish" finish can be dulled with rottenstone for a more oil like finish, but I've never had luck with it. It gets hazy and clouds the grain. The Soverns finish seems to have both sides of the spectrum. If you didn't get 20 yrs out of an oil finish, then someone forgot to pass on the old oil finish adage:

"Once a week for a month, once a month for a year and once a year afterward!" Or "When one fingertip drop of oil will cover the whole stock, it's done." I've done it, it's beautiful, but it's only worth doing to a high dollar pc of wood. It's about like trying to spit shine an asphalt driveway.

[AzRednek]

Or "When one fingertip drop of oil will cover the whole stock, it's done." I've done it, it's beautiful, but it's only worth doing to a high dollar pc of wood.

 

Some of the work I've seen displayed in this newsgroup it would definitely be worth it. Especially these stocks that they spend weeks doing even going as far as spending days de-whiskering it. My guns all get banged around in the vault and to and from the range. My best looking finishes are the ones still having the original factory finish intact. The Remingtons and Marlins seem to me anyway to have the most durable finishes.

 

When I sold guns I used to use spray furniture wax to keep them looking new. I was told by one of the factory reps that wax is used by all the manufactures to give the brand new look and shine. The furniture wax touches up both the metal and wood and restores the factory shine after being handled and removes finger prints.

 

[donmarkey]

When I sold guns I used to use spray furniture wax to keep them looking new. I was told by one of the factory reps that wax is used by all the manufactures to give the brand new look and shine. The furniture wax touches up both the metal and wood and restores the factory shine after being handled and removes finger prints.

And depending what brand you use, you guns will smell lemony fresh!

-Don

[AzRednek]

And depending what brand you use, you guns will smell lemony fresh!

-Don

 

OK you got me!! I used industrial grade Pledge, the type specified for metal ash trays. It really made the guns look good, new and used both. Trick was to spray it on the rag first to keep it from spotting. Between the leather goods and cedar blocks I kept around to chase moths to the ceiling you couldn't have smelled a lemon tree if it had been growing in the middle of the store. During the summer months with the air off at night, the cedar was almost over powering when we opened up in the morning.

 

[AzRednek]

got her done!!

 

 

and lemony fresh for Don

 

[Clemson]

Wow, AR! Those cleaned up great!

 

Clemson

[donmarkey]

Smells great!

-Don

[Ron J]

Those came out cool. They really reddened up. So what is a Brazilian export? Is it a Smith of some kind or something else that the grips just fit? Some things on it look S&W and some don't.

[AzRednek]

Those came out cool. They really reddened up. So what is a Brazilian export? Is it a Smith of some kind or something else that the grips just fit? Some things on it look S&W and some don't.

 

The red color comes out from the camera's flash and in direct sunlight, to the naked eye it isn't so red. The grips I picked up on Ebay a couple if years ago, misplaced them, found them recently and decided to refinish them. The grips are likely off of a 60 or 70's N-frame revolver. They came in a Pachmeyer box, so I assume the owner sold the originals to cover the cost of the new Pachmeyers.

 

Smith and Wesson contracted with the Brazilian govt to produce the a copy of the US M-1917 revolver in the 30's. Pictured below is the Brazilian Crest, next picture and on the other side of the revolver is the S&W emblem. It may not look like a modern S&W but bear in mind these are model 1917 made in the 30's. It is a near carbon copy of what S&W made for the US Army in WW1 and shoots 45ACP ammo. It is the same frame still used today by S&W for their 41-45 caliber revolvers and the grips are interchangeable with any 41, 44 or 45 with a square butt or the 50 and 60's N-frame 38 and 357's. Some other parts are also interchange with modern but most the innards have changed progressively over the years to a stronger and safer design.

 

 

 

 

In the late 80's I was in the uniform business and sold guns out of the store. Davidson's was selling these Brazilian imports dirt cheap and I was selling them like crazy. I paid apx 80-90 a piece in lots of 12. Most were in bad shape, rust and pits but Davidson's guaranteed them to shoot and replaced any that arrived DOA with no questions asked. A few needed mainsprings and to Davidson's credit, they sent them with no questions other than how many. I got one with a bulged barrel and another with a cracked cylinder that were promptly replaced. At the time for an extra $15.00 each they would arrive arsenal re-blued and with cheezy rubber grips. I cherry picked one of each for myself and sold them for about $150.00 for original and about $200 re-blued.

 

This one is completely original with the exception of the Brazilian arsenal replacement grips. I robbed the grips off another revolver. Out of all the originals I ordered this is the only one that arrived that wasn't brown in color.