Tips for refinishing maple??

[blueridge]

Anyone have any tips on how to refinish a maple stock without blotchiness? I sanded the old finish down to bare wood, by hand, with the grain (80, 180, 220, 320), cleaned with cloth and mineral spirits, applied minwax wood conditioner, then stain per the manufacturer’s instructions. Wanted a darker walnut finish. Ended up horrible. Applied a second coat with no improvement.

Did I sand too fine? Would stopping at 180 expose more wood grain? Raise the grain with water instead of wood conditioner? Anyone have any ideas, tips, or tricks to make this turn out?



The tease:

The disappointment:


Pictures are almost too embarrassing to show, but I’ll get over it.

 

[Dougfirtree]

If I had to guess, I'd say that the initial sandings you did, with rougher paper, were inconsistent/patchy. Either that, or there's some layer of stain, grease, etc. that you didn't get out of it completely. I'd probably sand again and really go at it.

 

[rwc101]

I showed this to my dad who is a pretty accomplished woodworker. He recommends 180 grit paper and sanding with the grain. Maple is too fine a wood to sand over 220 grit.

 

[Dsnow9]

I don’t remember the product but there is a citrus based stripper that will pull all the old stain and oil out of the stock

 

[MT_Chad]

I would use a wood stripper such as citristrip instead of just sanding, then to make sure you have all the oils and finish off soak it in lacquer thinner.

 

[rwc101]

The blotches are patches of really fine sawdust from the higher grit paper that have embedded into the stock.

 

[Laelkhunter]

I know nothing about wood, but are you sure it is Maple?? I refinished a wood stock on a pellet rifle that was given to me almost 60 years ago, and the wood looked a lot like yours. The wood on my pellet rifle was Birch, but it looks a lot like your bare stock and even resembles the finished one too (mine even has blotches). I left it as is. I just tried to doctor it up after being submerged in Katrina water.

 

[blueridge]

Thank you all for the advice. I really appreciate it. I will sand it back down and start over, making sure I get below the old stain/finishes and stop with 180.
I will (maybe) post pictures of the results.

 

[blueridge]

I know nothing about wood, but are you sure it is Maple?? I refinished a wood stock on a pellet rifle that was given to me almost 60 years ago, and the wood looked a lot like yours. The wood on my pellet rifle was Birch, but it looks a lot like your bare stock and even resembles the finished one too (mine even has blotches). I left it as is. I just tried to doctor it up after being submerged in Katrina water.

No, I am not 100%. I should be able to look it up. It’s an old Sears & Robuck shotgun that my dad got on his 21st bday back in ‘77. I will see if I can find an old description of it.

 

[MT_Chad]

Thank you all for the advice. I really appreciate it. I will sand it back down and start over, making sure I get below the old stain/finishes and stop with 180.
I will (maybe) post pictures of the results.

Be careful not to sand off too much material or your metal transitions will have a ridge. You want to remove as little material as possible, which is why most will recommend a chemical stripper.

 

[p_ham]

That looks like birch to me. Whenever I have had finish problems on used wood it has been due to oils or old finish trapped in the wood. I will echo others recommendations to use citrustrip.

 

[HandgunHunter]

90% alcohol will pull the oil out and raise the grain.

 

[blueridge]

Update: I sanded both back down with 80 then 180, cleaned with air compressor and mineral spirits. Tested on just the forend and the results were noticeably better but still very blotchy. I will go pick up the citristrip recommended.

 

[blueridge]

I would use a wood stripper such as citristrip instead of just sanding, then to make sure you have all the oils and finish off soak it in lacquer thinner.

Define “soak”.

 

[Gut Shot]

From a woodworker friend of mine. "Maple is a pain in the ass and usually stains unevenly." Probably why it is so often left "blonde" or unstained. The wood in the picture looks more like birch to me. Either way the solution is to strip it, sand it to around 200 grit. Then apply a sealer to it, use a wax free shellac sealer. Then re-sand and stain. Finally put a top coat of varnish or poly on. Not ideal for a rifle stock finish but that should give you an even finish.

 

[MT_Chad]

Define “soak”.

submerge it in thinner for at least a few hours.

 

[CB1]

I agree with @Gut Shot. I have had good luck using a coat of dewaxed shellac to prevent that issue. The stain won’t be as dark since the shellac will “seal” the wood so you may need a couple coats of it or let it soak longer.

 

[blueridge]

Just want to give a quick update on what I did and what eventually worked.

In the end I followed every piece of advice I got here.

I applied citristrip liberally, wrapped it in plastic and let it sit overnight. As I had previously sanded through the outer varnish, nothing visible was able to be scraped, rubbed, or brushed off, but maybe it got some of the deeper oils out. Surprisingly to me, it didn’t do anything to the oil stain that I had applied, so I ended up sanding it back down with 180 grit paper, then soaking it in lacquer thinner for several hours.

There were still small stain specks (like 5 o’clock shadow) in several areas. I tried using a nylon brush with both lacquer and paint thinner, but neither had any affect.

So I let it dry completely then did another light sanding with 180, raised the grain with water, then a light sanding after it dried with 220.

Here’s where I think the major difference was made:
I applied Zinsser’s Bulls Eye Seal Coat (wax free shellac), let it dry for 45 minutes, did a very light sanding with 220, cleaned with air and a tack free cloth, then applied a Gel stain with a cloth, rubbing it in then wiping the excess off immediately. Wow, what a huge difference from the previous blotchy hyena look.



I want it darker, so I will let it dry 6-8 hours between coats. Will post a final picture when I am done.

 

[blueridge]

As an aside, here’s the work I did on the barrel:

Stripped it with naval jelly and got what rust I could with gun oil and steel wool. Was worse than I thought so I put it on the fine wire wheel. Pitting was still showing so I put it on the lathe, wet sanding with 300, 400, 600, and 800.
Blued with the basic Super Blue. I am very pleased with how it turned out.

 

[matt0550]