Space,
Very nice work, you should be very pleased and proud too. If any of my MN looked that good they would be in the safe.
About a year ago at a show in Tallahassee, FL, a walk-in came up to my table and wanted to know if I was interested in his rifle [MN M38 with a M44 stock], It was ugly, cosmo all over it, stock was dinged up the shellac on the stock was peeling off, however the metal looked to be good condition [97%]. He wanted to know what it was worth, I told him it was worth $35 to me, but to go around the show and see what he could get, about a hour later he came back and wanted to know if that was my best offer......well duh.....if he had gotten a better offer he wouldn't have been back at my table, I came home with a $35 M38.
Recently I decied to clean it up and see what I could do with it. Got all the cosmo out of it, and decided to strip the finish on the stock. I know some will say I am nuts, but I have done this before, I used Oven-Off to stirp the shellac and stain off, hosed it down and soaked in water for a day, let it dry under my deck, didn't want sun light directly on it. Let it dry really good for two days. This took out nearly 98% of the dings, then I used 0000 steel wool to smooth out the grain. Hosed it down again and used the 0000 steel wool again after it dried. Wiped it down with rubbing alcohol and let that dry and applied 4 thin coats of BLO letting each coat dry before applying the next coat. Let the BLO set up a few day [7] and the applied Johnson's Paste Wax and polished, repeated with the wax again and buffed.
It doesn't look as good as your does but from the condition it started out as it looks beautiful in comparison,I wish I had a before pic, but at the time I wasn't concerned to much about that, kinda wish I had now, anyway, here are the after pic. I think the lighting makes the last pic look darker but its not.
click on to enlarge
papabear
