Well, I finally got the gusto built up to redo my first rifle. I refinished my T/C hawken .45 caliber rifle this week. I wanted to go with something a little bit darker than the factory look, and I really don't like the feel or look of the shiny smooth look of the factory gun. I stripped the finish off of it using Citrisrip spray, and let that sit overnight. Then, after stripping and sanding with 220 grit sand sponges, I removed all the hardware (I posted previously about trying to remove the patchbox). After sanding and rubbing down with tack cloth, I put two coats of minwax dark walnut, rubbing down with #4-0 steel wool in between coats. After that, I rubbed in 3 coats of Homer Formby Tung Oil, again rubbing down with #4-0 steel wool in between coats. In between coats 2 and 3 of tung oil, I took all the brass and degreased it and clean and polished with #4-0 steel wool and Flitz polish. Lastly, I blackened the brass with Birchwood Casey's Brass Black. It took many coats of that to get the deep color that I wanted. I really like that it looks a bit more aged and has a "warm and used" look to it, which is exactly the look that I wanted. The only piece that gave me absolute fits is the Lock bolt washer. For whatever reason, the Brass Black would not work on this piece. Overall though, I am happy with my first attempt. I am going to attempt my CVA Hawken in the next few weeks. This was my first attempt, and any advice on this would be completely appreciated.
