frontier stock refinished! , but need tack help

[logandiana]

I really didn't care for the reddish varnish on the frontier I picked up a couple weeks ago on gunbroker.

The finish in my opinion was to dark, too red, and had to many spots and scratches. I wanted better finish where the grain of the wood would really show.


Here's before:





And here's after:










I am happy with the way it turned out, but I need help with something. The owner before me added these tacks.

I really didn't care for them and planned to repair them when refinishing the stock, but they weren't covering up very well and looked worse than with the tacks in my opinion so I decided I would just replace them with newer nicer tacks. Upon removing the tacks I found out that the really look more like little brass nails, especially compared with the new tacks that I just got in from track of the wolf.
New on the left, old on the right.

As you can see the shaft of the new tack is much smaller than the nail that came out in length and width. I don't mind the tack pattern that's on the gun, and had just planned to replace tack for tack, but as you can image the old holes won't hold the new tacks. I imagine I am going to need to fill them with something, but what would you suggest? I though about putting some glue on a toothpick and snapping them off in each hole but wanted to get some advice first.
Thanks

 

[Billnpatti]

Glue on a tooth pick is the way to do it.

 

[jamesthomas]

Yep, glue on a toothpick, or if the holes are to big go to the hardware store and buy a 3 foot length of dowel 1/8th or 3/32 thick if they have it and use it like the tooth pick. Btw, that is some very nice curl on your rifle, you did a good job on it :thumbsup: Looks like you slimmed the an elongated the wrist down also, very nice.

 

[F.G. Ford]

Great looking rifle!
Fred

 

[logandiana]

Toothpicks worked. I just rolled them in a bit of wood glue and then stuck them in each hole, then tapped each one a bit with a small hammer. I came back later and cut them flush with a razor blade an then used a punch to countersink a small dent in each one to accept the new tacks. As I said before I really don't care for the tack look, but I like the look over the holes anyday of the week and I do prefer the slightly bigger domed tacks over the smaller nails that were in there. Here's the finished product.

 

[jamesthomas]

Very nice! :thumbsup: You had some beautiful wood under all that junk, I wonder if it was factory or did someone stain over it?. The Domed tacks do look better than the other kind.

 

[logandiana]

Don't know. The finish as I received it was just a varnish or shellac top coat. There was nothing 'in' the wood. I just removed it with a few coats of citrusstrip and then sanded from 150,180,220,320, and finally 500 grit papers. I gave it about 4 coats of 100% tung oil thinned with mineral spirits and then a coat or two of Tru Oil. The true oil was way to glossy for my taste so I knocked it down with 500 grit and then sprayed on 3 coats of satin urethane. Finished with 2 coats of paste wax.

 

[Zonie]

This is just my opinion and since you have finished your gun, it's just something to keep in mind on your next one.

Sanding wood with sandpapers finer than 220 grit is a total waste of time.

Wood is a porous material and repeated sanding with grits finer than 220 grit will only serve to close the pores.

Sanding grits finer than 320 does not cut the wood grain fibers at all. It will only succeed in crushing the wood fibers together.

The smoothness of the woods surface before staining and applying the finishing oils has little or nothing to do with how smooth the surface will be after the oil is applied.
The oiled surface on a piece of wood that was last sanded with 180 grit paper will end up as smooth as a surface that was sanded with 1000 grit paper.

This crushing or closing of the woods grain on the surface will have a large effect on the staining process.

If the fibers are crushed together, the stain will not be able to penetrate the wood easily.
Worse, it will penetrate in some areas and not in others.
This will result in a ugly, blotchy looking color and applying finishing oils will not even it out.

The bottom line is do not use sandpaper grits finer than 220 to finish sand the stock.
180 grit paper is even better than 220 for the final sanding.

 

[logandiana]

I have refinished a bunch of stocks before and usually stop at 220, but on this one I had some small imperfections that I could still see after the 220. They were gone after the 320 though. Probably didn't need to go as high as the 500, but I figured I wasn't going to hurt anything. I didn't, nor would I ever use any kind of stain on a gunstock. The oil brings out the natural color of the wood.

 

[BrownBear]

Could be the photo, but it looks like you had a heck of a separation on the butt. If so, great repair. :thumbsup:

 

[logandiana]

Yes it came apart in shipping and the missing piece was found in the bottom of the box. I think the former owner weakend the wood with his brass nails and the shipping finished the job. I used a 2 part epoxy and probably could have done a better job as you can see the crack still on the bottom and on one side depending on the light, but it's good enough for me.

 

[Zonie]

I don't stain walnut either but if you ever work with maple you will find that stains and aqua fortis have their values. :thumbsup:

 

[Ken Cormier]

I do not know any thing about finnishing a stock. An I think that what you startd with then ended with NICE JOB.