The Lyman/Investarm GPR I bought in 2020 wore a very heavy dark oiled finish which hid whatever nice figure and grain might be hiding beneath it. In attemps to rectify that, I occasionally rubbed in a few coats of GB Linspeed, but that just compounded the problem. I decided to do a refinishing using Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil products. My goal was also to reduce or remove the perch belly and to sand the stock to bring the metal parts closer to the wood surface. Lacking tools and expertise, I wanted to improve it, not to remake it. I didn't want to attempt anything beyond what my abilities would allow, so the results you see here are modest, but I really like how it turned out. Thanks to the several guys on this forum who gave good advice when asked. Phil Coffins' sage comments helped very much. A huge shout out goes to Eric Krewson. I asked him a ton of questions and he replied with a ton of spot-on detailed answers. Thank you, Phil and Eric. FWIW here's the method I used. Stripping was done with Citri Strip. Then a heat gun and Klean Strip odorless mineral spirits were used to remove all the old finish. Leaching out fingernail sized spots of oil was tedious and it took many hours and dozens of Q-tips over several days. After working the wood and sanding, I put on 5 coats of sealer/filler, then 8 coats of Tru-Oil, then about 5 applications of sheen and conditioner. I still want a lower sheen but want to handle and shoot it a while to see if that helps, and if it doesn't I'll do more sheen and conditioner. Thanks again to everyone here who offered advice.
