Restoration project

[Murf]

Unless the stock is cracked I would just re-finish it. I cleaned up a quite rusty 20 ga 870 last week for a friend. I used plastic pot scrubbers and slovent then the scrubber and oil to remove the surface rust. All that is left is very shallow marks which are hard to see unless looking for them . To remove the old stock finish I used acetone. Rub on, scrub off, again with pot scrubbers and then "sand" with fine steel wool. This way I did not remove the original stain only the finish. I left a few srcatches and small dents as my idea was not to make the gun look new but rather a clean example of a gun of its age. For a new finsish I applied several coats of Watco Danish Oil. This is an oil/varnish finish available in several shades. I like the fruitwood one best. Even though some say the Watco is not water proof enough I have several stocks i have done with this product and they stand up well. The Danish oil penetrates well and buffing the final coats with an old wool sock brings out a glow from the wood without a plastic appearing finish. In the past I have applied it to stocks which were later cut down and the finish is quite deep into the wood. It is supposed to polymerise with the wood. One nice thing about the finish is any new scratches need only a new coat for touch up.