TC Renegade stock refinish

[Ken Rummer]

When I shoulder this rifle my cheek hits the stock and my eye position is too high to align the sights. I want to remove enough stock wood to get my eye in the right place.

After removing the wood I want the repair area to match the rest of the stock. I don't know what the TC finish is and don't think I could find it in a hardware store.

What finish does TC use on their stocks?
Can I buy it somewhere?
Is there an easy way to remove it?

I could always sand it off and refinish with oil but sanding tends to round off the edges if not careful. Stripping would be great.

I would appreciate your recommendations for the best way to go with this project.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Its one of the spray on acrylic lacquers or varnishes. I don't think you are going to be able to " patch " the stock finish with anything you buy.

So, plan on stripping the finish off the stock, stain the stock after you reduce the comb, and then finish the stock with a better stock finish. Jim Chambers markets a good finish, as does Homer Dangler. I use Birchwood Casey Tru-oil, hand rubbing on many thin coats to get the desired finish. Tung oil works well. Laurel Mountain Forge markets a stock finish, also.

When I go into the field hunting, I use a wax on the stock to give me a much better seal against rain and moisture than any of the stock finishes do.

 

[Ken Rummer]

Thanks for the feedback.
Can you recommend a product to strip this finish?

 

[Zoar]

Any paint store or even home depot has 'paint and finish strippers'. Just use one of them. They work.

 

[Little Wattsy]

I will be posting pictures soon:
Just finishing the same objective on my 354 Renegade..What I found ((after much work on the factory stock))was that it was easier and better to replace the stock with one that has the prooper drop VS being cut to accomidate a scope. I ordered a precut from Pecitonia and its working out VERY well. Just a thought

 

[paulvallandigham]

I have a quart can of Acetone that I use to strip the finish off stocks. You don't want to inhale the fumes of this stuff, so do it out of doors, and stay UP wind of the stock and chemicals. Wear rubber gloves to protect your hands. I use a very cheap( usually a worn-out) paint brush to slog the acetone on the stock, starting at the top( front of the stock as it stands) The excess acetone drips down but removes the finish it touches instantly. I wash the acetone over the stock, as I rotate it around, with the butt of the stock in an aluminum pie pan. That catches the drips. If you leave the pan out doors, it evaporates, and leaves you very little to throw away.

Most of the Chemical Strippers you buy in hardware stores, or home stores will work, and they tend to contain acetone in some kind of chemical binder to make them less toxic to handle. I throw away the pan and the brush when I am done, BTW.

 

[NJStricker]

I picked up a TC Renegade recently that had the stock painted camo. I stripped it down with Formby's varnish remover, let it dry real well, then hand-rubbed 8 coats of Danish oil. That worked very well, and gave the walnut a nice old feel to it, unlike the modern glossy look.

 

[boar]

In 82 I did my TC Hawken, a kit with white gas and linseed oil, still good. White gas is no more around here. You probably could use sprits of turpentine instead? Dilly

 

[paulvallandigham]

That's fine. Just be sure just how much water protection that oil actually gives to the wood stock. Most oils don't actually seal the wood. I like the finish of hand rubbed oil, but before taking my gun out into rain, I spray it with a furniture wax, and rub a couple of coats of wax into the finish. The wax wears off quickly, so I re-wax the stock daily.

Use a piece of scrap wood that you finish with the same oil, in the same way as you did your stock. Put it under the shower sprayer and see how well it beads water. Then let it sit damp for an hour or 2. Check to see if the wood has absorbed water, and has swelled. Typically, you begin to feel " whiskers" coming up through the finish if the wood is taking on water.

On a similar piece of wood, stained and finished, wax the wood before testing it under the shower, and letting it sit wet for an hour or 2. See how the results compare.

Be sure that you have put stock finish in all the mortises- and cover the end grain, too. I not only do the end grain under the buttplate, but make sure that the lock mortise is also coated with a thin layer of stock finish.

With the barrel, I will put grease in the barrel, and coat the bottom flats with grease before putting it back into the barrel mortise. I wipe off any excess grease that oozes out. That keeps water from getting between the barrel and the stock where it can and does swell the wood, doing nasty things to my POI.

Oh, and don't forget to wax your wood ramrod, too. I had one swell inside the stock on a rainy day hunting deer, and had to put the gun next to a heater at a motel overnight to free the stick so that I could remove it. Never again! :shocked2: :surrender: :thumbsup:

 

[BrownBear]

I gotta toss in a vote for Formby's satin tung oil finish. I learned to do linseed finishes when I worked for a gunsmith as a teen over 40 years ago, and have the linseed and its variations well figured out. I finally got around to trying tung several years ago, and I gotta say it was about 35 years too late. Much easier to get a good job done, and a whole lot more durable.

Just don't add layers too heavy or too soon, or else it take forever to dry without added heat. I do a first coat heavy, basically as much as the wood will soak up, wipe off the excess and put it someplace warm for a couple of days to really dry. Subsequent coats, just put a drop on your finger and spread or "stretch" it as far as it will go, working your way over the stock one drop at a time. Let each coat dry 24 hours in that same warm spot. Looks as good as linseed to my eye, and I'm here to tell you that it's a whole lot tougher against knocks and more weather resistant.

 

[ebiggs1]

I have refinished over a dozen Thompson Center stocks over the years. I have found they used different finishes over the years, also. Some are more difficult to remove than others so it depends on which you happen to have. They generally use very nice walnut, however so you can make them look beautiful. I use tung oil exclusively. I also burnish between each coat with 0000 steel wool. Lately I have been using Minwax stain in a Maple color. It adds just a hint of red to the dark walnut. This is a personal preference but the folks I did the work for are pleased with the look. They always ask what I used!