• Hey All! Lately there has been more and more scammers on the forum board. They register and replies to members requests for guns and/or parts or other things. The reply contains a gmail or hotmail address or similar ”anonymous” email addresses which they want you to reply to. DO NOT ANSWER ANY STRANGE MESSAGES! They often state something like this: ”Hello! Saw your post about purchasing a stock for a Safari. KnuckleheadBob has one. Email him at: [email protected]” If you receive any strange messages: Check the status of whoever message you. If they have no posts and signed up the same day or very recently, stay away. Same goes for other members they might refer to. Check them too and if they are long standing members, PM them and ask if the message is legit. Most likely it’s not. Then use the report function in each message or post so I can kick them out! Beware of anything that might seem fishy! And again, for all of you who registered your personal name as username, please contact me so I can change it to a more anonymous username. You’d be surprised of how much one can find out about a person from just a username on a forum such ad our! All the best! And be safe! Jim

Custom Gunstock Checkering Finnwolf Project

Sako Collectors Club Discussion Forum

misako50

Sako-addicted
Recently, I recieved a custom Finnwolf stock back from Tim Smith-Lyon of Classic Checkering of Utica, Miss. The workmanship was outstanding and the communication was very good. I couldn't have asked for a better job than what this man did. I have looked it over carefully and cannot find a flaw.' Hope the pictures do it justice. Misako
 
Misako50

Nice job on your stock, looks very smart, clean and crisp. I also like the finish; was it like that when you gave it to him for checkering or did you have the stock finished in Polyurethane or some other finish?

Is that Rosewood?

Anyway, great checkering; can't wait to see the rifle assembled.

Jim
 
Thank you, Jim. The stock was finished for the most part in tru-oil. I had to finish the stock to near completion to have it suitable for checkering. It is American black walnut and was turned by Michael Kokolus of PA. from the original that had been badly broken and repaired, to use as a pattern.I'll post a few more pictures before long.-regards, Mike
 
Thanks Mike, so you did most of the hard work in prepping the stock. Again, a great job, I can't see any sand-papering marks you must have spent a long time working on it.

I look forward to seeing more images for sure.

Any tips on preparing the stock would be appreciated. I'm not happy with one of my SAKO's as the finish has always been a bit soft. Weird really, just seems to have never dried properly (Was purchased new in the box back 29 years ago).

Jim
 
Jim- The "hard work" was what I contracted out. If I lived to be 500 I couldn't checker like that. I don't find the finishing work to be hard. Usually relaxing. Just before the dark stock you have seen, I had another done. Here's a picture of both of them. The softness that you speak of is something I have run into, as have others on the forum. IMHO I think Sako was experimenting with some newer finishes that did not work well with their base coat. The one I bought and returned had a tacky surface. -Mike
 
Mike

WOW,
face-grin.png
nice work mate.

Those images are fantastic and the stocks are even better; you have certainly inspired me.

Your comments were very interesting; I didn't realise others had the same problem with the finishes that seem soft.
The 1979 SAKO had a fantastic finish and seems impervious to oils etc.
But, the other rifle, (1980) has soft paintwork, any oils etc seem to make it softer so I have to be extremely careful when cleaning it.
Even furniture polish makes the finish soft.
face-sad.png


I emailed a paint company "Wattyl" the other day after ed361 said the product used on early 80's SAKO's was polylac; they (Wattyl paints) replied and suggested I use a product called "Estapol Gloss" for the gunstock.

Having said that, after seeing your stocks I need to do some more research because I'd like to get a finish just like yours.

The finish on your rifle stocks look very hard, like a baked enamel and the grain looks fab.

I'm not sure of the species of wood used on my rifle? It might be walnut but maybe rosewood?
I think I read somewhere that rosewood bleeds or something like that, or it has lots of oil in the wood.

Do you think tru-oil would be ok to use if my stock is rosewood?

Anyway, sorry for hijacking this thread.

You truly have done a great job and obviously entrusted the checkering to a real professional.

Jim
 
Jim- You probably have a walnut stock and if deluxe- the forend and grip caps are rosewood. You are right, rosewood is oily and if not cured and finished properly, it can and will "bleed". Still easy to work with and seal. When I get into combinations of sealers and finishes it runs the gamut of danish oils to polyurethane to tru-oil. The durability is important (tru-oil is not real resistant to scratches and dings) but the more important aspect is the fact that , if done properly, it can be touched up without stripping all off and starting over. Lacquer got popular because it dries fast and can be used in mass production. The thinners I use are turpentine and refined (Nel-thin-ol) paint thinner. Mostly the later. Neither are "hot" like lacquer thinner and I don't suffer a "steroid" reaction like sticky or soft stock finish as the end product. I find myself in a constant learning process with some of the products I use. Just recently "learned" how to lessen the high gloss on a refinished stock using nothing more than Brownels 3F and 5F polishes. Much easier than steel wool and a jillion scratches on the finish. -Regards, Mike
 
Mike,Those finishes are beautiful.Nothing else but beautiful can be said. Wish I had your knowledge and skill in restoring finishes. I for the longest time thought my A 1 .222 stock had been contaminated with tick spray while groundhog hunting softening the finish,tryed everything to get it off,couldn't make better so cleaned it up with liquid sandpaper and sprayed with Burchwoods poly. Would like to get back to a proper finish sometime soon.This thread enlightened me as to the real cause of the problem and it was important info. Thanks Jim
 
Jims- There is a web site called [email protected] that sells a wonderful download for 10.00. He's having a half price sale for the next few hours for 5.00. Most of what he does is what I do when it comes to refinishing and finishing gunstocks. The only parts difficult are in the stripping of a base coated sako product and masking off the checkering. The easiest were the 1950s vintage sako standard grades and a few stoeger and garcia era. standard grades. I haven't refinished a Deluxe stock that was easy due to the base coat situation. Some of the FI standard grades were base coated also. A recently acquired Deluxe stock had blistering and peeling of the top coat and I proceeded to strip as if that was the only finish on it. Duh! Seven shots of stripper and some healthy scrapping later, The stock was naked. It was based with the same as the deluxes of old. Had I not gotten in a hurry, I could have used a tame stripper and just had a topcoat job to do. This one was an early Garcia stock and had been taken off the rifle when new and replaced with a composite stock. I trust that was true since no marks and a perfect pad. I am sure I'll treasure it when it is done in a few weeks.Turned the air blue at home when I started the project. So---- we know that there were some problems with sako stocks being done with the wrong combination of chemicals that don't "get along". There is nothing difficult about putting a good finish on a sako stock if you have average inteligence and a need to correct a problem. It isn't that time consuming either. Regards, Mike
 
Mike, thanks for the info. Have e-mailed for instructions . I actually have another stock an AIII that is sticky and soft,can't stand it i'll have to do something soon. Thanks again. Jim
 
Thanks for all the info; this has been a very good thread and very, very useful.

Regards Jim (Seems to be lots of Jim's on this forum)
face-wink.png
 
I just purchased an L61R deluxe stock that needs refinished. I purchased that down load and I'll post the results of my project. Thanks for the great thread - Joshua
 

Latest posts

Back
Top