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Posted: 12/22/2010 7:10:31 AM EDT
| I recently purchased two rifles from the CMP, both service grades, a Springfield and a Winchester. Both came with new CMP birch stocks. What’s the best method for finishing this type of wood? Or should I simply leave them alone? |
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Kampster,
I would also suggest running a search of the CMP forums. I have seen a few birch re-finish jobs that seemed to pretty closely match walnut (at least in the pictures), if that is what you are looking for. Based on what I have read on the subject birch is rather hard to stain because it doesn't soak in evenly. Quite a few people recommended Chestnut Ridge in the posts I read. The other option is to strip the ugly CMP stain and oil finish it. Some people seem to like it. I don't like the light color that results from no stain on birch myself. If you are looking for a dark colored stock your best bet is probably to simply buy a walnut replacement stock, but that is always an option if you can't get the birch to look the way you want it to. |
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Alcohol based stain will penetrate better. Dont sand it at all as you will sand off the stain that has been applied to it and then you will have light wood exposed.
They do look very striking when you strip the stain off and finish them in their nature yellow color...its not USGI. But it is very good looking. |
Not sure about the "new" CMP birch stocks, but here are some birch stocks (no markings left on these) that I refinished on a CMP Garand and Carbine. I basically followed Johnnyrebs process from M14rifles.com except I used BLO and a final coat of furniture wax since Im in the Midwest.:
And a USGI stock on an M1A: 
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I would use a furniture stripper and get that heavy opaque deck paint stain crap off the wood and start over. I found that stuff to be hideous. Reminds me of the outhouse stain at the state park.
After that and a thorough cleaning to remove the traces of the stripper I would use either the military stock stain mentioned above or make your own. The make your own can be made with a denatured alcohol from the hardware store and that RIT clothing dye found in the grocery or craft store. I prefer the cocoa brown but have also used the RIT dark brown. Others have added a touch of the RIT red to one of the browns to give it an instant oxidized red linseed oil look. After letting it dry for a few days to a week seal with linseed oil, tung oil, or other desired finish. Heck you got a modern stock so no real reason to not use a modern finish that still appears good. You'll like the alcohol based dyes, they penetrate better than stain due to smaller color particle size and a deeper penetrating solvent carrier. Much better than the wood pore clogging stain in a thicker oil base like you'll normally find. |
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I used lacquer thinner to strip finish off nooks/crannies will require detail sanding
after finish is removed start with120 grit then depending on how smooth/good of a finish 400/600 grit or finer might be a waste for a shooter I left mine natural then applied 3 coats of Tung/ Danish Oil Watkins or Minwax both make thisfinish it's easliy touched up and OO/OOO between coats and it's a fast finish as well 2 days max |
Here's mine. Stained it with brown rit dye mixed with denatured alcohol, followed up with lots and lots of BLO. If I were to do it over again, I would have taken better care with the stain as it is a little blotchy, but it looks pretty nice. Mine was so bad when I got it that nothing fit right and I got splinters from holding it. Also cut my finger on a sharp corner.   |
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