Refinishing My 97K Stock

[jusanothajoe]

I bought my 97K used and it had some water damage from a flooded basement.
The finish was flaking off and it always bothered me.
After seeing some of SpiralGroove's  refinished stocks, I thought I might try my hand at it.
Should have taken some before, during, and after pics but I forgot.
After stripping off the old varnish I found some great grain hiding underneath.
Mixed up my own stain and am well pleased with the results.
I wanted and old fashioned glossy finish so I put in hours of hand sanding and hand rubbing.
Only have one before pic and it's not very good. Wish you could see how big a difference it made.

Before. It was very plain

After


Here it is next to my HW35 stock. 35 looks like walnut compared to how the old 97 stock looked.

[jusanothajoe]

Not buying it huh ? 
Don't blame you, I'm not that talented.
The part about the water damage was true.
I had this stock hydro dipped. I wish I could have gotten a walnut stock, but just a little too much $$$ for me.
I am well pleased for $90. If you have a old, plain stock you want to make look better, I recommend dipping. 
They have several wood grain patterns to choose from.

[GP2004]

That looks cool! How durable is it?

[BenjiHunter]

I think it looks good, but I would have made the checkering darker.
I guess it's not that easy when it's hydro dipped.

[straightshooter]

I don't know the first thing about refinishing or dipping, but it looks really nice.

[jusanothajoe]

This was my first experience with dipping, so I don't know about the durability.
But it has a hard clear coat on it.
Stefan, I agree on the checkering. This being my first one I didn't know what to expect.
The stock is painted brown underneath the pattern, you might could paint the checkering darker ?

[SpiralGroove]

Hey Derrek,
I think it looks great!
On the next one, you could lightly stain the checkering darker if desired.  Just make sue the wood can handle the stain w/o blotching.
The wood on your older stock does represent an upgrade from what is currently available.  I think it's Walnut .

Questions:
1) What does the hydro dipping entail? 
2) Is the resulting finish slippery, tacky or what?

One thing I like about rubbing out a stock with Mothers Mag Polish, is it's leaves the stock with a real nice grip (or tooth) and isn't slippery.

[BenjiHunter]

Here's the video.

[jusanothajoe]

Hey Derrek,
I think it looks great!
On the next one, you could lightly stain the checkering darker if desired.  Just make sue the wood can handle the stain w/o blotching.
The wood on your older stock does represent an upgrade from what is currently available.  I think it's Walnut .

Questions:
1) What does the hydro dipping entail? 
2) Is the resulting finish slippery, tacky or what?

One thing I like about rubbing out a stock with Mothers Mag Polish, is it's leaves the stock with a real nice grip (or tooth) and isn't slippery.

I compared the finish to my R9. The clear coat over the hydro dip is not as "slippery" as the finish on the R9. It has some grip too it.
I imagine it is close to the glossy finish on the old powder burner stocks.
This was my first one so I wasn't in the know on the process.
They paint the stock with a primer first to give it a uniform color, brown in this case.
The pattern is on a roll similar to cellophane. It is translucent so the color underneath does work as a background.
If I had known, I could have had them paint the checkering with a darker brown so it would stand out some.
Stefan added a video, and you can google hydro dipping, it is really a kewl process.

[SpiralGroove]

Hey Derrek,
I think it looks great!
On the next one, you could lightly stain the checkering darker if desired.  Just make sue the wood can handle the stain w/o blotching.
The wood on your older stock does represent an upgrade from what is currently available.  I think it's Walnut .

Fooled me ........... I initially though it was real wood grain 
Outer coat could be made as durable/tacky as desired.  Multiple coats could be rubbed out with Mothers Mag Polish.
Another Trick ................ Cool .

[DonH]

I bought my 97K used and it had some water damage from a flooded basement.
The finish was flaking off and it always bothered me.
After seeing some of SpiralGroove's  refinished stocks, I thought I might try my hand at it.
Should have taken some before, during, and after pics but I forgot.
After stripping off the old varnish I found some great grain hiding underneath.
Mixed up my own stain and am well pleased with the results.
I wanted and old fashioned glossy finish so I put in hours of hand sanding and hand rubbing.
Only have one before pic and it's not very good. Wish you could see how big a difference it made.

Before. It was very plain

After


Here it is next to my HW35 stock. 35 looks like walnut compared to how the old 97 stock looked.

That looks really nice! Is there any sign of a seam?

[jusanothajoe]

I bought my 97K used and it had some water damage from a flooded basement.
The finish was flaking off and it always bothered me.
After seeing some of SpiralGroove's  refinished stocks, I thought I might try my hand at it.
Should have taken some before, during, and after pics but I forgot.
After stripping off the old varnish I found some great grain hiding underneath.
Mixed up my own stain and am well pleased with the results.
I wanted and old fashioned glossy finish so I put in hours of hand sanding and hand rubbing.
Only have one before pic and it's not very good. Wish you could see how big a difference it made.

Before. It was very plain

After


Here it is next to my HW35 stock. 35 looks like walnut compared to how the old 97 stock looked.

That looks really nice! Is there any sign of a seam?

Not really, maybe at the very bottom if you really look.

[DonH]

Well, that's really amazing! Just gorgeous!

[jusanothajoe]

Got my 97K action back yesterday.
Sent it to David Slade for a tune.
Got the action installed in the stock, mounted the scope, and started shooting.
Very smooth shooting, very quiet. Shooting just a tad under 12 FPE
Managed my best ever 10 shot, 15 yard group.
If you could see it, my face looks like this 

[jentry]

That is an awesome group! Congrats on getting an already enjoyable gun even better.

[Yogi]

Got my 97K action back yesterday.
Sent it to David Slade for a tune.
Got the action installed in the stock, mounted the scope, and started shooting.
Very smooth shooting, very quiet. Shooting just a tad under 12 FPE
Managed my best ever 10 shot, 15 yard group.
If you could see it, my face looks like this 

David Slade does nice work.

-Y

[BenjiHunter]

That is very nice shooting!!

[jusanothajoe]

Not the best pics, but here she is all back together.

[DonH]

Not the best pics, but here she is all back together.

That look simple gorgeous! An shoots as good as she looks!

[Oneshotwillie]

What does a bare HW97 stock look like?   Can you see the grain in the wood once stripped?  By the way, the gun above is very impressive?  I had to reread it to learn that the wood pattern was not real.  Nice work!