I read somewhere a while back a way to get dings and such out of wood using steam, but can't find it to save my life.
Anybody have any techniques on how to make that stock look good as new?
I read somewhere a while back a way to get dings and such out of wood using steam, but can't find it to save my life.
Anybody have any techniques on how to make that stock look good as new?
the easiest, if not best, way to raise dents from a stock is by steam. take a wet rag/washcloth and put it on the affected area and then lay a hot iron on the cloth. the resulting steam will raise the dent. repeat as needed. most dents will come up but some of the deeper ones will not, or only partially raise.
once you are done let the stock dry and then buff the raised grain with 0000 steel wool and/or refinish as necessary.
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If you're talking about the standard axle grease finished wood that comes with Turk, Yugo and some other weapons, the oil-soaked wood may not respond to steam or anything else. I've had a metal trough 48" X 6" X 6" built that I filled with water and cooked a stock over a coleman stove for 4 hours, but it didn't get all that oil out. I then used the trough to cover the stock on the patio during the near-100 degree heat all day for about a week and there's STILL oil seeping out. I used paper towels to intermittently dab-off the surface oil, and sometimes hand cleaning towels (the wet ones that dissolve oil).
None of the dings came out in all that treatment at least, by the way. Best of luck.
Actually, it's my PKM stock. Not exactly C&R, not cosmo soaked, just some dings I want out to refinish. Thanks for the help, will post pics when I'm done!
I used the wet cloth and steam iron method before on non-cosmolined stocks. Worked great, depending on how bad the dings are.
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You can also use a soldering iron, (use the broadest tip possible) instead of a steam iron. More concentracted heat source and I think it gets hotter than a steam iron, not sure though.
I've also used the little steam jenny you see advertised on TV. You fill it up with water and use the steam to clean grease and grime. Bought a Spyderco Bushcraft knife a while back (factory second as the spalted maple scales had cracked). After a few goes at it with the steamer the cracks pretty much closed up to smaller than hairline.
Something like this
http://www.nextag.com/Steam-Fast-Han...91/prices-html
IIRC mine was purchased at Bed Bath & Beyond. They seem to carry all the crap you see on those TV informercials.
Last edited by Richard Simmons; 09-15-2010 at 01:26 PM.
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Just be sure not to leave the heat on their to long least it start to leave a burn mark.
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