doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Swelling a butt stock for refinish

I have a butt stock that is in need of refinish. But the wood is dead even with the metal. Anyway to swell the wood for me to sand lightly to not have the wood below metal?

If you strip the finish chemically, you might be able to swell the wood a bit with a damp rag and a steam iron. It won�t swell much.

It�s a oil finish. I�ll soak in acetone.

I once had a forend machined in the Pacific NW. When I got it back in Alaska [dry air] what formerly fit well had dried and twisted. I soaked the forend in a damp cloth and it returned to shape. Then I applied some stock finish on all sides and it stayed in the proper original shape.

Battle
You should refrain from sanding those areas, always respect the edges of the wood when sanding.

If its even now, that's good, it most likely stay that way.
If you "swell" the wood and sand it flush, with time it will most certainly shrink back and you'll be below the metal

See it all the time.

CJ

What he said. Swelling gains you nothing in my opinion.

This is what I�m dealing with...

I agree with the above posters, these days on most of my restoration work I hardly use abrasive paper. I usually soak in solvents, whisker with very fine paper and build my new finish leaving most of the character marks in the stock. Sometimes you have to sand things but I avoid it whenever possible. You do not have enough material there to sand and re-finish, proceed with caution.

Steve

battle,
This is not a recommendation, but an observation; I have known of people "lowering" the edges that stood proud of the wood. This would be difficult when engraving is involved. My personal vote goes with the "stay away from the edge" crowd.
Mike

This gun is a Darne rotary breech. The stock is bolted with a through bolt. This would be a easy re-stock, may be my best option.