Refinishing a wood corncob

[sixbennetts]

Hi gize!

I'm refinishing an old walnut corncob forend for my soon-to-own Shockwave. It seems to have had a darker colored finish in the grooves. Like the poly was tinted darker.

Rather than trying to match it and touch it up, I'll remove it and redo it.

I prefer a semi-gloss because I want to be able to see the pores in the wood when looking in reflection. In other words, no clear plastic coating!

As you can see in the picture, it's very dark reddish already. I'd like to add just a touch of yellow in the finish.

Any suggestions?

 

[nitesite]

My restored 590 stock was very lightly scorched after sanding by using a flare tip on a propane torch. That may bring your outer surfaces closer to matching your grooves.

Have you looked at the Minwax web site? Walnut may be tough to add yellow.

 

[sixbennetts]

I think I'll try that, thanks! Scorch, then sand will leave darkness in the recesses. And if I use some kind of faint tint in the finish, I should be good.

I used Minwax antique oil finish on an old Thomson Center arms caplock kit. Thanks for the reminder!

 

[John A.]

nitesite is correct. You'll probably never get the grooves/valleys the exact same shade as the outer portions that you can reach.

I have lightly scorched some wood before sanding and refinishing, but I still don't know exactly what you're trying to accomplish. Just that it's a little different shade isn't really a bad thing to me.

I think a little darker contrast looks good in those old handguards.

I did lightly scorch the handguard on the Rommy G so they better matched the stock on my AK build. But they were probably 10 shades different to start with. The handguard that came in the demilled parts was the original donkey dong, and the one that I put back in its' place was almost a blonde when I first started. I ended up using a torch plus probably 8 parts chestnut stain combined with 2 parts walnut. As nitesite mentioned, walnut is about as dark as it goes and a little goes a long way.

 

[Dixie3gun]

Refinish by removing old finish with a stiff brush and denatured alcohol.
Takes some scrubbing, but it works.

You can use stripper, but also scrub with alcohol.

Then let dry a day or two inside climate controlled (heat/AC) room.

Liberally apply a stain (not poly) like dark walnut and wipe off the excess leaving only in the grooves.

Let dry 24 hours, then wipe with alcohol soaked cloth.

The only finish I would ever use is either Tru-Oil or boiled linseed oil.

Apply tru-oil as directed and demonstrated in many youtube vids.

Many stocks done, and all came out great.

Hope this helps.