Refinishing a Sheridan Stock -- Part 3 Final

Back to the Sheridan refinish.  The grain filling was the longest step in the process.  Next time around, I'll probably use a commercial grain filler instead of using the oil finish itself.














The finish process I used went like this:  Coat the stock with an oil and let it dry completely.  You can use Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil, Arrow, Boiled Linseed Oil...

Then buff it off with a synthetic steel wool pad.  Clean, then put on another coat of oil and repeat the process.  The oil oxidizes (dries) and gradually fills up the grain until eventually becoming level with the surface.

Depending on how open the grain, it can take from a few oil/sanding steps to over a dozen.

Here, the grain is finally filled and has been scuffed with steel wool.

After a couple minutes of polishing with a superfine scotchbrite pad and a little paste wax.

Gonna try to use one of the old orange Pachmayr recoil pads.  The base of the pads were not even close to being flat.  Bending them is a guaranteed way to snap the plastic base in half.  I made Pachmayr soup and boiled each of them for a few minutes to soften the plastic.  Since I was doing one, I figured I might as well heat the second one.



















Then set them on the (flat) counter to cool.  Putting something heavy on top to weigh them down would also be a good idea.

Selected the thinner of the two and sanded the base truly flat on a granite plate. 

Razor knife cut the holes for the mounting screws.  Coated the screws in dish soap to slide through the rubber.  Transferred the hole locations to the stock and drilled. 

I had big hopes that the screw holes would simply disappear after being run home, but there are small marks.  Probably the age of the pad had much to do with that.   Pretty sure based on the boxes, that these pads were NOS and at least 25 years old--or more.




















Wrapped the stock in electrical tape and ventured out to the garage.  It's an understatement to say this is a dirty job.  The rubber dust goes everywhere.  A mask and (of course) eye protection are mandatory.




















Between the disc and belt, it worked well.

Just carry the stock angles through the pad.  A deft touch keeps from burning through the tape.  Many use masking tape for this, but I find that it doesn't follow the stock contours very well. 

In a few minutes, the pad was within a couple thousandths of the wood.

Did some spot sanding by hand then polished the black plastic base with ever finer steel wool.

I've happy with the angles.  Not thrilled with the marks at the screw holes.  Picky, picky...





A few parting shots.

Not sure what's up next.  Check back in a couple days.