Refinished Auto 5 lumber

Discussion in 'Browning Auto A-5' started by win7stw, May 13, 2020.

  1. Bill Idaho

    Bill Idaho .270 WIN

    It usually means the wood is soaking it up, which means therefore your prep was good. It will start to take on a gloss after a few coats. Fear not.
  2. rcatastrophe

    rcatastrophe .270 WIN

    Well alrighty then. I’ll take all y’all’s advice and carry on. Thanks!


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  3. win7stw

    win7stw .30-06

    The pores will probably fill nicely on your stock if I had to guess
  4. rcatastrophe

    rcatastrophe .270 WIN

    Ok it’s been 5 days and y’all were correct. The dull spots gradually got smaller and smaller and as of today the whole stock is shiny and is taking coats of oil nicely. In the meantime I’ve started over on the fore end, resanding it to do a better job.

    Learned inward irregularities tend to fill and get better but any protrusions or fibers/dust/grit get worse and feel like boulders when applying new coats. I’d also developed some patchy areas that were lots of tiny cracks, like a broken windshield or cracked egg shell.

    My new starting point is much better than my first, which I thought was pretty good. Will take pictures in a few days. This is definitely an exercise in patience.


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  5. win7stw

    win7stw .30-06

    Good deal, glad to hear it’s working out. That cracks are interesting to me. Did you take pictures of that?
  6. rcatastrophe

    rcatastrophe .270 WIN

    I didn’t. An oversight on my part. If it happens again I will. I’m expecting it shouldn’t because I’m trying to control for the things I think caused it (too much oil per layer, temperature, and time between new coats). I don’t know the culprit so I’m just staying”by the book”. Here’s some progress on the stock, before and now. You can see on the right side in the now photo an area where it’s still not taking oil.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]


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  7. win7stw

    win7stw .30-06

    Damn that looks amazing
  8. rcatastrophe

    rcatastrophe .270 WIN

    Thanks Justin. You know, it’s funny. Some people refuse outright going through all it takes to do these and others look at it like a labor of love. I fall into the latter. I’ve not yet tried my hand at recutting the checkering but I have the links you sent me. Just getting the tape off the checkering is a process. I’ve I play with that I’ll know more but I’m quite sure, at this point, that I’m going to be doing this again


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  9. Ranger6

    Ranger6 Administrator Staff Member Administrator Global Moderator Forum Moderator

    Looks damn good.
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  10. Auzzie

    Auzzie 20g

    it’s come up beautifully
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  11. rcatastrophe

    rcatastrophe .270 WIN

    It’s way too quiet here lately. Hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year. Found a spot I missed when sanding so I’ll put it up to show the cracked appearance of my oil finish but mostly making this post to ask a very basic question. Why does the wood look so different over the years on the auto 5? I guess an easy answer would be that Browning changed wood?

    Going back to the very first picture in this thread Justin showed three sets all done with Art’s French Red and oil. The middle set is so light compared to the others. What years/decade/era was the wood dark and when light colored?

    I’m close to finished with my first set and am contemplating picking up a beater with ugly wood to see if I can work magic on it. I see some 1950’s-ish ones with wood that’s as dark as chocolate and then others with super light colored wood. Are they all done the same way, with French Red?

    [​IMG]


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  12. Bill Idaho

    Bill Idaho .270 WIN

    I think (!!!??) because starting way back from the 1900s until the 1960s (and again--I think) FN used a nitrocelluose finish, which turns a hint of red over the years ( decades?) which gives old Auto5s a red shade.
    I have mixed a handful of various stains and can darn-near replicate the hint of the red, but becasue of the variations of the wood used originally, I have to alter my batch accordingly.
    I read where you can still buy actual nitrocellulose finishes, but it is expensive.
    The last photo where I can see what looks like cracking in between the checkering and the wrist-for some reason looks like a contamination of some sort.
    As far as what years they used lighter wood as opposed to darker wood, I don't know, however, I have never seen original wood earlier than about the 1930s or so that was very light. After about the 60s I see numerous sets of wood that are actually pretty blonde. ( IMVHO, not very pleasing to my eyes, but thats just my preference.)
  13. Rudolph31

    Rudolph31 .30-06

    I think that, with two world wars, it's a wonder there is any walnut left in Europe at all. Millions of rifles to make and millions of acres of forests destroyed. I think FN used what was available.
  14. win7stw

    win7stw .30-06

    So the left stock and the middle stock on this thread are from the late 40’s. The stock on the left was a later stock and the guy I bought it from said it was off a 63 I believe. I have a theory but I don’t have much to back it up. I think the stocks were finished with a toned or tinted finish. I have stripped sets that are matching and once they are soaked in acetone the bare wood is a different color. Anybody that has spent time woodworking knows that some pieces of wood won’t take stain like others will. Sanding too much can cause it to not take stain or grain structure can affect it too. That’s why I think a tinted finish was used so they didn’t have to worry about matching forearms and stocks before they were finished. I am currently working on a set that matched perfectly before I stripped them. I had them all prepped and applied the French Red. They are not even close to being the same and looked like shit. So I stripped them again. They are currently on my bench waiting while I ponder my next move.
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  15. antman73

    antman73 .410

    Really enjoying this. Mostly paying attention and learning. I do have one thing to add about the use of Nitro. My other hobby is vintage guitars and in the 50's and 60's most guitar makers used nito. Those guitars all showed signs of "checking" and waring off easy. I don't see many stocks that check but I have seen a few. Perhaps they were mixing some plasticizer into the nitro to give it flexability (something the guitar companies started at some point and continue today) My 2 cents.
  16. win7stw

    win7stw .30-06

    My buddy builds houses and he claims he has a guy that can match any stain. I want to have him replicate the rich dark brown color of the early guns. Then I’ve been debating using this over the stain

    Pacer Technology (Zap) Z-Poxy Finishing Resin Adhesives, 12 oz https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006O8ESK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_uUq9FbW91YZA9

    Then I’d apply the ProCustom oil as the top coat
  17. rcatastrophe

    rcatastrophe .270 WIN

    They get darker and darker with each new coat of Pro Custom. Ive long lost count of how many coats I have on these. I get 1-2 coats per 24 hours depending on how busy I am and I have to factor in the fact that I stripped the fore end and started over. They matched initially but they look pretty different now. I’ll go some extra days to get more darkness onto the front to see how well I can get them to match but I’m also feeling pretty satisfied with where they are now.

    Here’s the butt after the French Red

    [​IMG]

    And then one coat of oil

    [​IMG]

    Here’s now

    [​IMG]

    And here is the original before I started

    [​IMG]

    That picture doesn’t display the true horror of what it looked like up close so here’s a close up of the worst area.

    [​IMG]


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  18. rcatastrophe

    rcatastrophe .270 WIN

    Question. If a person is using a single line cutter why would the lines per inch matter? I looked at these and figured since I’m going to need a handle I’d buy a set. The sets come in several different LPI but all cut in a single line. That prompted 15 minutes of searching and reading posts from all over the place and I read several times LPI doesn’t matter. Looked at these again and no mention of LPI.


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  19. win7stw

    win7stw .30-06

    Lines per inch doesn’t matter when you are re-cutting because you want to do one line at a time. That’s why you want a single line cutter. I can also tell you that a 90 degree cutter doesn’t match the factory browning checkering
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  20. rcatastrophe

    rcatastrophe .270 WIN

    Excellent! Thanks. You’re saying I’d cover everything I need with the two blades you suggested and a handle then. I’ll place an order today. I wasn’t going to worry about the checkering because it looks pretty good but the edges need a lot of attention from masking tape residue and oil from refinishing the non checkered areas, that transition from smooth to checkered.


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