Simple QB-78 Stock Formula - pic heavy

[SpiralGroove]

Hey Guys,
I know I promised no more posts on refinishing the QB78 stock, but I completely scraped the "plum sauce" method (too dark & streaky); came up with something that may be useful to some members.  I used about 5 coats of this ($10) , after sanding down stock to 220 grit paper.  Sanded the dried finish, rubbed out for about 2 hours, but could have easily spent more time.  This finish can be polished to your hearts content .



I used 5 coats in 3 spray sessions, so put in on thick.  In hindsight, this stuff is TUFF (hard) to sand and 5 coats is unnecessary.  Also, the paint is pretty thin, so will run easily unless you spray from about 12" or more, misting the stock.  I needed to use about 2 sheets of 500 paper to smooth out before buffing with Mothers Mag Polish and waxing with Johnson past wax.













Bottom Line:
I'm now happy with this finish, because it has a nice color and shows some grain.  I think this is a very legitimate alternative to anyone who wishes to modify the factory stock and needs to re-finish, or one who wishes to re-do the stock because of dings.
In my mind, looks way better than OEM

[WildCJ5]

Looks great!

[N6CRV]

Looks GREAT!

[vigilandy]

Thank you!  I did some minor sanding to my AR2079 stock to make it more comfortable and was looking for an easy way to refinish it.   It's a nice alternative to bedliner.

[stretch]

I might try that Varathane spray on my Disco stock.  Yours came our really nicely.  Thanks for sharing!

[SpiralGroove]

Yeah Guys,
This method of finishing "cheap" Chinese wood is simple, fast, not very expensive and Works .
I forgot to mention, I had stained this stock a few weeks ago when trying Minwax - Pre-stain conditioner, and Minwax - Cherry stain.
When this didn't work (very blotchy - even the Pre-stain), I sanded the stock down again, but wasn't able to remove all the stain.  So my Varathane highlights this old Cherry stain.  Hence, if you want to have some grain showing through this finish, lightly stain the stock with something like Pine or Maple color to get some grain to pop.  The Varathane itself doesn't stain, it only covers like transparent paint.
Using regular stain on these Chinese stocks with anything dark, spells endless frustration if you are as anal as me