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Anyone Refinish an IAC 97 stock


Dee Mak Jack, SASS #55905

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Did one that I had a few years back, and it turned out pretty good. That orange AK-47 varnish the ChiComs put on there was just ugly.

 

I used a spray stripper to peel off the finish, and scraped it down with a metal putty knife. Plastic ones melt. Steel wool isn't a good choice either - the whiskers embed themselves in the wood pores. Nitrile gloves are a must - that stripper is quite aggressive on flesh.

 

After all the finish was cleaned off, I gave the wood a good rubdown with Minwax English Chestnut. It's best to use a rag instead of a brush. You get better and more even coverage. The color I used gave a nice coloration, and really made the grain pop. Even mystery wood can be made to look sharp.

 

Finished off with a couple of light coats of the matte finish spray urethane. Protects without being all glossy and plastic looking, and provides a good grip surface too.

 

The guy I sold it to was quite impressed.

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How it comes out is going to depend on what type of wood it is. Some are pretty nice walnut and after the original finish is stripped they come out pretty nice with a TruOil finish or such. Others are some type of Chinese weaselwood and might need staining to look decent. Had one that was finished in some sort of red goop; when it was stripped the wood underneath was white with a coarse grain. Stock filler, stain and a finish with Minwax poly made it look pretty good for Chinese weaselwood.

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I re-did my IAC '97 a few years back, as the original finish was flaking off pretty badly (Painted Orange Mystery Wood). Didn't use any stripper, just scraped the painted on finish off (did all the scraping with empty primer trays...the Winchester ones worked great). Sanded the stock down, re-stained it with Olympic "Special Walnut" Oil Based Wood Stain. After two coats of stain, I rubbed in several coats of Lin-Speed Gunstock Oil by hand. The shotgun turned out looking great, and has held up well.

 

IAC 97

 

IAC Buttstock

 

IAC Slide

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