Wonko’s brew, milsurp stock restoration

[five.five-six]

I’ve been on a milsurp kick lately. One of the guns I’m working on now is A Schmidt Reuben1898/11. For being 124 years old, the stock is in remarkably good shape, but I’m having a heck of a time getting all the oil stains out of the wood. I’ve tried a bunch of different things, but I stumbled across mentions of something called Wanko’s berew and some older threads on other forums. I think the actual concoction is supposed to be denature alcohol or isopropyl mixed with acetone but a lot of people are using just straight acetone. I mean there’s not a whole lot of discussions about it, but it seems to be working pretty good.


I’m looking to see if anybody else has been using this that I can get some experience in knowledge from


I created a soak pan out of some rain gutter material I bought from Home Depot

 

[five.five-six]

Welp, I’m putting a pin in this project untill I can get some practice rust bluing some less expensive guns. I slapped a quick coat of BLO on for storage and use until I get back around to it. Doesn’t look half bad. In fact I am quite happy with it.






Top: sporterized SMLE for rust blue practice
Center: K31 awaiting restoration
Bottom 1896/11 midway through restoration.

 

[shroom]

You really shouldn't be doing this. You're harming the collector value of the rifles by stripping the stock. That middle K31 doesn't need any restoration. It's a Swiss firearm that was used lightly then stored well.

All you're doing is destroying the original wood finish.

 

[five.five-six]

You really shouldn't be doing this. You're harming the collector value of the rifles by stripping the stock. That middle K31 doesn't need any restoration. It's a Swiss firearm that was used lightly then stored well.

All you're doing is destroying the original wood finish.

Well, you should buy it from me and save it from destruction. Also, your opinion is in stark contrast to that of most experts. Using solvents is controversial, but only if you’re soaking it. That’s because it can lead to cracks and warping. It didn’t in my case. Sanded in finish is controversial, sanding out dents is a no-no. Raising dents is standard restoration but it cannot be done until the original finish has been removed. Use of oxidizing agents and acids is frowned upon, but restoring correctly is pretty common and if done well, improves value.

What I did was remove a century’s worth of grit, grease,rust,oil and grime that had worked its way into the wood. None of that was original. We do, however, have the original recipe for the original finish. Boiled linseed oil is pretty darn close and not that difficult to remove and replace with the original recipe. Also, it protects the wood for future generation because as the finish fails, the wood is prone to environmental damage.

FAQ | Swissproductsusa

swiss products is located in kalispell montana. we manufacture high quality firearms accessorise for swiss rifles. As time goes on we will be adding to this FAQ page in the hopes of answering any questions you may have.

www.swissproductsusa.com

 

[shroom]

I don't know what experts you're referring to or what constitutes "most". Go ask on gunboards.com (biggest milsurp forum) or k98kforum.com or even on r/milsurp.

What you're doing is called bubba'ing. Nothing you're doing is increasing value, but removing value.

 

[five.five-six]

I don't know what experts you're referring to or what constitutes "most". Go ask on gunboards.com (biggest milsurp forum) or k98kforum.com or even on r/milsurp.

What you're doing is called bubba'ing. Nothing you're doing is increasing value, but removing value.

OK, well thank you for your opinion. It has been duly noted.

You should buy it from me and save it.

 

[shroom]

No thank you sir. There are plenty of unmolested swiss firearms on the market. Your destruction of a handful of them is meaningless in the long run, good luck with your bubba projects.

 

[five.five-six]

No thank you sir. There are plenty of unmolested swiss firearms on the market. Your destruction of a handful of them is meaningless in the long run, good luck with your bubba projects.

I feel like you’ve said this before.

Try saying it again, but be even more angry this time. Have you tried stomping your feet?

 

[shroom]

If anything you're the one upset that I called out the milsurp butchery thats going on in your garage, bubba.

 

[five.five-six]

If anything you're the one upset that I called out the milsurp butchery thats going on in your garage, bubba.

It’s even funnier when you try to sound like you’re not angry.

nothing permanent has been done to the rifle… or should I have left the cosmoline on so shroom didn’t get sad?

 

[shroom]

You're so confidently wrong its pretty amusing. What do you mean nothing permanent? You stripped the original finish off of the wood using acetone. You can oil it up afterwards but it will never be original again.

If you ever look at auction houses like Rock Island or Morphy or Poulin or others you might notice on some item descriptions things like "refinished". Or "stock has been re-oiled," "metal finish is non original rust blue." I wonder why they'd do that?

It's your property, do what you want with it, you're obviously beyond persuasion. My only hope with this thread now is that in the future someone might see it and think twice before dumping a collectible rifle's stock in a vat of acetone. All that does is reduce it's value.

 

[five.five-six]

Yawn

 

[five.five-six]

You're so confidently wrong its pretty amusing. What do you mean nothing permanent? You stripped the original finish off of the wood using acetone. You can oil it up afterwards but it will never be original again.

If you ever look at auction houses like Rock Island or Morphy or Poulin or others you might notice on some item descriptions things like "refinished". Or "stock has been re-oiled," "metal finish is non original rust blue." I wonder why they'd do that?

It's your property, do what you want with it, you're obviously beyond persuasion. My only hope with this thread now is that in the future someone might see it and think twice before dumping a collectible rifle's stock in a vat of acetone. All that does is reduce its value.

The only traces of shellac on the gun were a few traces of it in the finger groves. The bulk of the finish was removed with mpro7

The solvents were for leaching the oils out of the wood so I could raise the dents and repair an 4” crack in the forend before I apply the original finish again.

As for my K31 that’s been “used lightly and stored well” the stock cartouche is all but sanded away and the butt plate stands proud and the comb is rounded so please, go be angry and ignorant someplace else.


You call it bubba, I call it a poor restoration job. I can 100% guaranty you this isn’t the original bluing either.








The original Swiss stock finish recipies... From the Landesmuseum in Zürich.

For walnut, clean the stock first;

30 % Turpentine30 % Linseed oil30 % Fruit (wine) vinegar10 % Bees wax

Fill the mix in a plastic bottle and put that one in hot water (60 degrees celcius) for 15 minutes till the bees wax has dissolved in the mix, apply with a piece of cloth.

And for beech;

45 % Denatured alcohol (high percentage 95%)45 % Shellac flakes10 % Parafin-oil (in the US called kerosene ?? not sure there).

Get the old shellac layer off with help of fine steelwool and alcohol (95% ).Apply with a piece of cloth starting at the top;

Guisan.

 

[sugarfoot57]

I still have that exact recipe for walnut in a glass jar in my garage somewhere when I owned an old K31 that I sold sometime ago. I used it to freshen up the stock and couldn't give a rat's a$$ if it lost or gained any value. I sold it for more than I bought it for so I'm happy. If I sold it for less, I'd still be happy.

 

[Chameleon Loco]

0000 steel wool and a light rubbing of linseed oil will only help get rid of the contaminants in the wood and push them to the surface. OP knows what he is doing and is not harming value, just cleaning up any contaminates that are naked to the visible eye

 

[AR15barrels]

naked to the visible eye

hmmm...

 

[five.five-six]

0000 steel wool and a light rubbing of linseed oil will only help get rid of the contaminants in the wood and push them to the surface. OP knows what he is doing and is not harming value, just cleaning up any contaminates that are naked to the visible eye

I actually use bronze wool. Little bits of steel wool tend to break off and get caught in the grain. I’m always trying to learn new things.

Perhaps you can help me on this question: in 2 months, how much do you think I just destroyed the value of my $400 gun?

 

[Chameleon Loco]

I actually use bronze wool. Little bits of steel wool tend to break off and get caught in the grain. I’m always trying to learn new things.

Perhaps you can help me on this question: in 2 months, how much do you think I just destroyed the value of my $400 gun?

Nothing about what you were doing was bubba-ing the gun, the value of the gun is staying the same and if not, being increased