Pre 64 Facelift

[JLS]

My Pre 64 Model 70 suffered in the elements this year. The factory shellac finish really took a beating the rain and was peeling like a bad sunburn.

I did some research and found a Model 70 restoration stock oil. The original finish came off very easily with Citristrip. I lifted the grain, lightly sanded, recut the checkering, and went to work with the oil.

I did a total of eight wet sands, four with 320 grit and four with 400 grit. I did eight coats of oil, buffed with 0000 steel wool, then three more coats of oil. I'm going to let this cure for a couple of weeks, then polish it out with oil and rottenstone.

Can't wait to get it rescoped and do some load testing.

 

[Straight Arrow]

Nicely done!

 

[Ben Lamb]

Nice work, JLS! Thinking I need to refinish mine. Also thinking I want to refinish my #1.

 

[pabearhunter]

Beautiful.

 

[noharleyyet]

Very nice..beautiful grain.

 

[earlybird]

Very nice. Great Job.. I'm a sucker for the ol winchesters.

 

[MTClacka]

That turned out really nice! I am also in the process of refinishing the stock to an old Remington 1100 Skeet B that my grandfather gave to me. He got his money's worth out of his guns, and needless to say this one was a little rough. Can you elaborate on final polishing with oil and rottenstone? Will the finish end up glossy, or more of a satin? I am on coat 5, and am just starting with 0000 wool to buff in between coats.

 

[LopeHunter]

Beautiful! I love wood stocks. I will never again buy a gun with one. My guns end up on mountains in really bad weather conditions where wood can swell, finishes can crack and the wood dents and scratches during tumbles and falls.

If I lived where could go quail hunting on bluebird clear days then would much rather have a nice shotgun with walnut burl and deep checkering. But, alas I do not.

 

[JLS]

My guns get beat to hell. I call them character marks.

 

[emrah1028]

Beautiful!

Emrah

 

[mtmander]

great job , nice wood , nice gun , the pre64 M70 are nice guns

 

[JLS]

That turned out really nice! I am also in the process of refinishing the stock to an old Remington 1100 Skeet B that my grandfather gave to me. He got his money's worth out of his guns, and needless to say this one was a little rough. Can you elaborate on final polishing with oil and rottenstone? Will the finish end up glossy, or more of a satin? I am on coat 5, and am just starting with 0000 wool to buff in between coats.

The rottenstone polish is just a very fine polish procedure. It will give a little more of a satin finish.

I only did the one buff with steel wool. I've found that the wet sanding is the biggest key to getting a nice finish, as you are making an oil/sawdust slurry that will fill the grain of the wood and give you that gorgeous smooth grain luster.

 

[fulldraw]

Very nice !

 

[hank4elk]

Beautiful job and rifle!
Being a woodworker I'm partial to them for sure.Wood stocks.
But as someone who does bad things in bad weather with his , I use synthetic stocks on my hunting guns.
Most of my furniture has a satin oiled finish or wiping vanish rubbed out.
I am feeling the urge to get a back up -06 in a woodstock.
Too bad the Tiger Maple 700 -06 I see @ the local store is a lefty,or it would be gone......

 

[Dave N]

That's purty!

 

[choc dogs]

Yeah, I'm gonna need an address to send the 375. I'm way challenged artistically on stuff like that. Nice work, it looks great.I especially like the cleaned up checkering, and the way the grain came out.

 

[golfer]

How did you go about doing the recutting of the checkering?

 

[sbhooper]

That turned out real nice! That is a great piece of wood. I am not a wood-stock guy, because of the issue that caused you to refinish it. My rifles take too much of beating to have wooden stocks.

 

[Flying Forester]

Does rebluing harm the value of a Pre-64? Someone told me it would. I have a 1947 M70 Alaskan in 30-06. The stock needs to be re-done, and that's all well and good, but the metalwork is weathered as well. I kind of like the look of it, but I want to maximize the rifle's health as well as it's value.

 

[JLS]

How did you go about doing the recutting of the checkering?

A single point checkering tool from Brownells

Time

Cold beer