TC Hawken stock re-finish

[Eric Krewson]

I used the Citristrip inside, it is very benign stuff, no fumes. I used the Clean Strip outside as was recommended in the instructions. I wore rubber gloves and a face shield because the Kleen Strip is very caustic.

I forgot to mention that along with the putty knife scraping I went over the wood with a stiff brush as well to get into all the nooks and cranny's to get all the stripped finish off before the next coat of stripper.

 

[morehops52]

Here is the one I did earlier, I reinletted almost everything to be tight and flush with the wood as well as rounding all the slab sided parts like the wrist and forearm which made these parts slimmer and more graceful.

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Here is what I did for the transition of wood from alongside the tang to the barrel.

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Very nice work. I am envious

Here is the one I did earlier, I reinletted almost everything to be tight and flush with the wood as well as rounding all the slab sided parts like the wrist and forearm which made these parts slimmer and more graceful.

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Here is what I did for the transition of wood from alongside the tang to the barrel.

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Very nice work. I wish I had 1/2 of your wood working tallent.

 

[RIDE-RED350R]

Ok,,, and then ??
I didn't see a question,, or request,,
Uhm? Follow the directions? It's a commercial stripper,, use it.(?)

p.s. Follow directions.

No real question or request persay. Just sharing what I got.

I'd like to do it outside, but would need to wait for warmer weather to get here in NY. I don't want to wait that long so I'll figure something out.

 

[RhinoDave]

As Eric mentioned, there is a lot of extra wood on these rifles that can be removed to make them slimmer and more slender in their appearance. The forearm , wrist and cheek/comb can be reduced quite a bit. Removing wood along the top of the forearm so it tapers into the barrel instead of the stock 1/8 inch flat along the top will greatly reduce the slabsided appearance. Reducing the height of the wrist will also give a more rounded look and easier grip. Reducing the thickness of the cheek and lowering the height of the comb will reduce cheek slap when shooting, (TCs are known for this due to the small drop). I am including a few pictures of my Hawkin for examples.

 

[Jay Templin]

I would like to do a similar project with my Hawken. The finish looks like plastic and although beautiful, I would love to make it look a little more authentic. What stripper do you use to get down to the base wood? I would prefer to do as little sanding as possible as I know it can ruin the looks of a piece. Thanks in advance.

I used Citru-strip on mine. It works great and it’s non-toxic. Don’t stink, neither!

Took it from factory finish to bare wood in about an hour with almost no sanding.
Jay

 

[RIDE-RED350R]

Think I might try to get some of that since I kind of have to do it indoors. Non toxic and no stink sounds like a winner.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I put this black plastic tent over my stock and had the stock very warm to the touch in the 1/2 hour I let the stripper work. It was a sunny but cold day and the wind was really whipping so I had to weigh the plastic down to keep it from blowing away.

The stripper was a foam, very sticky when mixed with finish so I couldn't hold a camera to take a picture of the finish bubbling up on the stock, I had to leave my sticky rubber gloves on.

 

[RIDE-RED350R]

I just ordered a quart of Citriclean.

 

[sdilts]

Instead of a chemical stripper, I use a utility knife blade as a scraper. It peels the finish right off.

 

[TScottW99]

I like using a soy gel called Blue Bear. Works great without any strong smells.

 

[frankie]

I am redoing a Hawken stock right now with a bunch of upgrades, the stock was pretty rough and I never liked a TC Hawkens over built stock profile so I am changing a few things.

Here are a few pictures of what I am working on and one kit stock I did the same shaping on in the past.

I stripped the stock with Kleen Strip from Lowe's, it took several applications. It was below 30 degrees so I had to make a black plastic tent to get the stripper to work.

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Pretty good strip job, I even found some curl under the TC plastic finish.

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I plan to make lock panels like these;

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Shape the ugly TC cheekpiece like the slender one in the picture.

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This stock needed some repair so I fixed a crack between the lock bolt hole and the sear hole and added a hickory dowel to the lock bolt hole for strength where it cracked. The two lines from the lock bolt hole are replaced wood where it was cracked.

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The tang screw holes were wallowed out so I replaced them with a hickory dowel and treaded bushings in the trigger inlet so I could use regular tang bolts.

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With all that done I started working on the stock, yesterday I inletted the wedge pin escutcheons down to the surface of the wood.

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OOPS! left out a biggie, I used an old thrift store steam iron to pull out all the dings and dents in this stock and there were many.

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very nice

 

[edw.marshall]

Here is how she sits now.
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Very nice!!! Great job!

 

[R Ellis]

If you like polished brass you can coat it with one of many clear coatings that will keep it looking good for years I use it a lot and it works I have a double shotgun that has polished barrels and coated it. never needs oil on outside of barrels and look great I also use it on my aluminum wheels on my antique truck

 

[RIDE-RED350R]

I've been working on the Hawken this evening. The Citristrip showed up today and on the first application it removed at least 80% of the old finish. The few remaining spots are soaking as we speak. Stuff works very well

I finished cleaning up all the brass and got a coat of Renaissance Wax on it. The lock and trigger assembly are cleaned and lubed. Sanding and possibly stain will be done tomorrow.

 

[RIDE-RED350R]

Got the stock sanded and steel wooled today. I didn't get too crazy trying to re-shape anything, just smoothed some sharp edges that I didn't care for. It cleaned up pretty well.

As for stain, I went with the Birchwood Casey stuff at full strength. It looked amazing when wet! And I think that's the look the Tru-oil will yield. It's currently hanging to dry overnight as per the included instructions. Been hanging for about 6 hours. It seems dry as a bone now but I don't want to take any chances on jumping the gun (hee hee) Should be getting the first coat of Tru-oil tomorrow.

 

[Eric Krewson]

Did you seal the walnut first before you put on the Tru-oil? I find this is a necessary step to have a slick finish on walnut with no grain pores showing.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Because this thread deals with a stock refinishing project, that would apply as well to a rifle stock or a smoothbore stock, I moved this to The Gun Builder's Bench area...

LD

 

[RIDE-RED350R]

Did you seal the walnut first before you put on the Tru-oil? I find this is a necessary step to have a slick finish on walnut with no grain pores showing.

I have been following the instructions included in the kit to a tee. It is my understanding that the Tru-oil is the sealer?

 

[RIDE-RED350R]

Snapped a couple pics of it as it sits now with one application of undiluted Birchwood Casey walnut stain that has cured for just about 24 hours. The pics make it look lighter in color than it actually is, but it's a nice dark walnut color and I really like it. First coat of Tru-oil is going on in just a few minutes.

When the stain was wet it looked awesome. Had a hint of a red-ish hue to it, almost like a vintage Winchester lever rifle, but not as bright.

 

[RIDE-RED350R]

First coat of Tru-oil applied and curing. I had to take a closer pic as farther away it comes out alot darker than it really is. Getting a good pic that accurately conveys the color is proving a bit difficult. But so far I'm really liking how this is turning out.