The messed up kit stock for an investarms rifle (water damage) I recently received was never finished -- lots of mill marks, tool chatter, etc. Removing wood to get rid of those also gets rid of most of the water stain. The stock has a large beavertail type cheek rest that is heavily stained in places. I was thinking of squaring it off to get rid of most of the stain and make it a smaller cheek rest. Then I got to thinking about my GPR which has a huge cheek rest of that type and wondering if anyone had squared theirs off and how it looked/would look?
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Cheek rests
- Thread starter Oldnamvet
- Start date
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I suspect that after you've removed some material by sanding to remove the rough areas and smooth them that much of the water stained look will disappear.
Sure, you can change the shape of the cheekpiece but do it in small steps. That is, change it a little and then put it down. Walk away for a few hours and then come back and look at what you've done. If you decide you don't like it you can reshape it back towards what it originally was without making it look odd.
You may decide that rather than making a radical change, just reducing the overall size and height a bit will not only remove the stains but will improve the fit of the stock with your face.
As for the remaining stain, if there is any, wet the wood and take it outside in the sun.
What you see in the damp wood is what it will look like when it has the finishing oils applied.
If you don't like what you see you can always apply several coats of thinned alcohol based Walnut stain.
The Birchwood Casey Walnut stain will work great and you can thin it with some denatured alcohol.
Applying one coat and then looking at it in the sun before it drys will tell you if you need to add another coat.
Sneeking up on the best color using thinned alcohol stains is one of the tricks to getting the look you want.
Sure, you can change the shape of the cheekpiece but do it in small steps. That is, change it a little and then put it down. Walk away for a few hours and then come back and look at what you've done. If you decide you don't like it you can reshape it back towards what it originally was without making it look odd.
You may decide that rather than making a radical change, just reducing the overall size and height a bit will not only remove the stains but will improve the fit of the stock with your face.
As for the remaining stain, if there is any, wet the wood and take it outside in the sun.
What you see in the damp wood is what it will look like when it has the finishing oils applied.
If you don't like what you see you can always apply several coats of thinned alcohol based Walnut stain.
The Birchwood Casey Walnut stain will work great and you can thin it with some denatured alcohol.
Applying one coat and then looking at it in the sun before it drys will tell you if you need to add another coat.
Sneeking up on the best color using thinned alcohol stains is one of the tricks to getting the look you want.
Well here is a picture of what it might or could look like. The first photo is of a Cabella Investarms Hawken kit that I purchased for my son-in-law. The unfinished kit came from an individual who couldn't and them didn't finish it. The entire stock was in really rough shape and I was in pickle as to just how to rescue the cheek rest given what I had to work with. Instead of trying recreate the original beavertail shape I just decided to use what wood was left and square it off. The cheek rest may not be historically accurate but I like the finished look and it shoots really well - which is what it was intended for anyway.
Investarms Cabella Hawken as I received it:
Finished cheek rest:
Jim
Investarms Cabella Hawken as I received it:
Finished cheek rest:
Jim
That is really neat looking and an excellent job. You took really raw material and made it into a beautiful stock. Mine looks about the same as what you started with except the wood is some nondescript tan colored wood with no figure. It splinters easily and reminds me very much of the wood used for making the cheap ramrods. Can't remember the name of the wood but believe it begins with an "R". At least the hardware that goes with it is heavy thick brass.
Just remembered the name of the wood "ramin"
Just remembered the name of the wood "ramin"
Well, maybe you've got something special. I have never heard of an Investarms rifle stock that wasn't made out of European Walnut.
You may be right and perhaps your stock is made out of something else but, just in case you haven't worked with walnut before, it is a very light colored wood with open grain pores when it is unsanded and unfinished.
Walnut also splinters quite easily and if it is sanded against the grain sometimes long splinters will break out.
Before throwing your stock away, use some 60 or 80 grit sandpaper and sand an area with the grain until it is pretty smooth. Then re-sand the same area with 120 grit paper. When it looks uniform take a wet rag and the stock out into the sunlight and wet the wood with a rag.
I'm betting it suddenly becomes the nice, dark Walnut you expected to see. It may even have multiple bands of dark grain running thru it.
Give it a try.
PS: If the stock was made from the 'heartwood' of the tree it may indeed stay light colored. In that case, several coats of an alcohol based stain thinned with denatured alcohol will darken it to a rich brown. If you really want to get carried away with stains you might also try a coat or two of Mahogany for a red/brown color.
I would only recommend staining walnut if it was indeed made from heartwood and had prooven itself to be too light after the "wet test" with water.
Any stain, if overused, will cover the woods natural 'grain pattern' and make the stock an uninteresting uniform color.
You may be right and perhaps your stock is made out of something else but, just in case you haven't worked with walnut before, it is a very light colored wood with open grain pores when it is unsanded and unfinished.
Walnut also splinters quite easily and if it is sanded against the grain sometimes long splinters will break out.
Before throwing your stock away, use some 60 or 80 grit sandpaper and sand an area with the grain until it is pretty smooth. Then re-sand the same area with 120 grit paper. When it looks uniform take a wet rag and the stock out into the sunlight and wet the wood with a rag.
I'm betting it suddenly becomes the nice, dark Walnut you expected to see. It may even have multiple bands of dark grain running thru it.
Give it a try.
PS: If the stock was made from the 'heartwood' of the tree it may indeed stay light colored. In that case, several coats of an alcohol based stain thinned with denatured alcohol will darken it to a rich brown. If you really want to get carried away with stains you might also try a coat or two of Mahogany for a red/brown color.
I would only recommend staining walnut if it was indeed made from heartwood and had prooven itself to be too light after the "wet test" with water.
Any stain, if overused, will cover the woods natural 'grain pattern' and make the stock an uninteresting uniform color.
Thanks and I understand your pain. I’ve done three of these kits for my son and son-in-laws (it’s a long short story) and I swear that I’ll never do another one.
I’ve worked with wood all my life and the wood used for these stocks is the absolute worst wood I’ve ever touched. If this is European walnut then I’ll let the European’s keep it. Just as you said it’s hard, and it splinters. I’ve compared it to a dry overcooked chicken breast. The grain is just so stringy. This last one even had some sort of white, hard, “calcified” buildup in the dark streaks in the grain that just loved to “eat” my chisels.
My advice to you for finishing your stock would be to just keep at it, don’t let the wood win. Use a heavy hand with new sharp rasps where you need to remove a lot of wood. Keep your tools as sharp as possible by stropping them constantly. Then a lot of scraping and sanding to the finished surface.
I had quite a bit of tan colored wood on the other side of the stock also. I used LMF’s American Walnut stain to attempt to even the color out over the entire stock.
Good luck and when you’re done you’ll have the nicest rifle you’ll ever have hated to build.
I’ve worked with wood all my life and the wood used for these stocks is the absolute worst wood I’ve ever touched. If this is European walnut then I’ll let the European’s keep it. Just as you said it’s hard, and it splinters. I’ve compared it to a dry overcooked chicken breast. The grain is just so stringy. This last one even had some sort of white, hard, “calcified” buildup in the dark streaks in the grain that just loved to “eat” my chisels.
My advice to you for finishing your stock would be to just keep at it, don’t let the wood win. Use a heavy hand with new sharp rasps where you need to remove a lot of wood. Keep your tools as sharp as possible by stropping them constantly. Then a lot of scraping and sanding to the finished surface.
I had quite a bit of tan colored wood on the other side of the stock also. I used LMF’s American Walnut stain to attempt to even the color out over the entire stock.
Good luck and when you’re done you’ll have the nicest rifle you’ll ever have hated to build.
Zonie - I do quite a bit of woodworking and this is definitely not walnut. I have a GPR so am familiar with the European walnut. Not even close to the same. The kit is better than 25 years old, based on when my friend received it in the sorry state that it was in. Slapped together without finishing or even sanding the stock, screws all buggered up, brass not filed to remove the mold marks, etc. He didn't want to mess with it and threw it in a closet for many years. Maybe they used some different woods back then. Hardware and barrel seem to be all first rate. I'll finish the stock and see what the rifle is like. I am sure it will be a shooter and pretty heavy. That 50 cal barrel is 1" on the flats -- which I just finished draw filing.
