CP1-M Refinish Project

[Rat Sniper (AKA: PaulT58)]

Today I tired out my new table top belt sander and roughed in my grips for my CP1-M.  Below are a couple before and after pictures.  I did screw up and sanded a bit too much off the front.  I believe someone else did the same and I should of known better, but when working on it with the top down, I was using the screw hole as a reference and now the cut out for the screw head.  Hopefully some wood putty will fix it and it won't be overly noticeable.

I'm still waiting on my gel stain to arrive.  It won't be here till next week.  In the mean time, I will continue to sand on it with finer and finer sand paper till I reach my desired smoothness.  By then I should have the stain.  To be continued...

[Wayne52]

Nice !!!

[uncle paulie]

Not to worry, Mums the word! Looks great!

pv

[avator]

Lookin good Paul..
If and when I do mine I think I'll take more from the back of the lower portion of the grip where the heel of my palm sits. The upper area where you remove a bit too much is not really and issue for me. I think the awkward feel for me is the downward position of my wrist when holding the gun, the thickness overall and that flat, square bottom. I think removing wood from the back of the grip and the square bottom "plate" will address that for me. I realize this grip is designed to be a match gun.... I don't shoot match. I shoot paintballs.

[Rat Sniper (AKA: PaulT58)]

Lookin good Paul..
If and when I do mine I think I'll take more from the back of the lower portion of the grip where the heel of my palm sits. The upper area where you remove a bit too much is not really and issue for me. I think the awkward feel for me is the downward position of my wrist when holding the gun, the thickness overall and that flat, square bottom. I think removing wood from the back of the grip and the square bottom "plate" will address that for me. I realize this grip is designed to be a match gun.... I don't shoot match. I shoot paintballs.

Great suggestion!  I'm taking it slow, I can always take more off, but it's hard to put it back on.  I may put it together and shoot it a bit while I'm waiting for the stain to arrive and see how it feels.

[avator]

Oh heck yes.... you have to shoot it before you stain it. Sometimes even several times. I want to wait and see what the stock and grip sets look like when MRA gets them in stock before I do mine. If the sets suit me I'll probably leave the CP-1 stock as is for a future buyer.

[Rat Sniper (AKA: PaulT58)]

Just shot a magazine through it, and it feels good in my hand. Stains not supposed to get to Wally World till Thursday, so I'll have ample opportunity to put some more lead down range before the stain is applied. It's still rough sanded as well, need to work my way down to 800 grit before it's ready for stain.

[WesBob]

Looking forward to your staining results. Looks good! Always fun but stressful, for me anyway, doing these kind of projects! Glad yours is going well despite the small whoops on the front!

[Rat Sniper (AKA: PaulT58)]

Looking forward to your staining results. Looks good! Always fun but stressful, for me anyway, doing these kind of projects! Glad yours is going well despite the small whoops on the front!

Thanks Wes!  I was able to clean up the whoops a bit and I think it's going to look fine once all is said and done.  I still have a lot of sanding ahead of me!

[WesBob]

That's great, I'll be watching with interest. I've got a qb78 I'd like to sand and refinish. Haven't done any work on a stock except as a kid with my dad so need all the pointers I can get!

[Rat Sniper (AKA: PaulT58)]

That's great, I'll be watching with interest. I've got a qb78 I'd like to sand and refinish. Haven't done any work on a stock except as a kid with my dad so need all the pointers I can get!

Yea, me too, and that was 44 years ago!  I just bought the Birchwood-Casey kit from Walmart and dove right in!  I started with a couple unfinished walnut target grips for my 2240's.  They just needed finish sanding and a Try-Oil finish.  Those came out very well, so next I tackled my Hatsan MOD95 stock that had a couple scratches and rub marks on it.  That required the old finish removed and the checkering cleaned up, then finished with just Try-Oil.   That came out good too, so now I hooked!  This is the first project where I'm actually reforming a piece of wood and staining it a different color.  This is also my introduction to German Beech!

[WesBob]

Nice! They both turned out great! Looking forward to how the stain turns out on your CP1

[Rat Sniper (AKA: PaulT58)]

I finished the CP1-M grip and got everything put back together.  It didn't turn out too shabby!  And just in time to buy a new CP2 stock for it!   LOL!

For those interested I included a before picture and two after shots, one of each side.  I used a MinWax Walnut Gel Stain that I applied after applying a pre-stain wood conditioner to prevent the stain from blotching, which is something that happens with Beech Wood.  It does a great job of highlighting the grain of the wood.

[.]

Wow, Paul, that wood really pops now, super job!

Great lookin' shaping work, too, it looks very handy as it is now, for sure!

[Rat Sniper (AKA: PaulT58)]

Wow, Paul, that wood really pops now, super job!

Great lookin' shaping work, too, it looks very handy as it is now, for sure!

Thank you.  It is amazing to see what's hidden under the blah finishes they put on these things! 

[avator]

Nice job Paul...
I'm going to go after mine when I get the shoulder stock set. I think I'm like some finger grooves in mine. That stain pops the grain.

[.]

Nice job Paul...
I'm going to go after mine when I get the shoulder stock set. I think I'm like some finger grooves in mine. That stain pops the grain.

It really does, right? NOW it looks like German Beech!

Makes me wanna go after my Varmint stocks after I go tactical on mine, just to see what they can become. I do loove woodworking, but I haven't done much lately. My Momma refinished everything imaginable over the years, and reclaimed a lotta great wood from under paint and varnish and all kinds of goop. She was what we used to call 'frugal', lol, but she was also very artistic and creative, so in hindsight, I now see that her love of wood was what drove her, not just the savings that restoration provided. Funny how much comes clear in the rear view mirror, ain't it?

Anyway, I'ma bet there's some nice wood waiting under these Varmints and Plinksters, alike.

[Rat Sniper (AKA: PaulT58)]

Nice job Paul...
I'm going to go after mine when I get the shoulder stock set. I think I'm like some finger grooves in mine. That stain pops the grain.

If you are considering staining it, save yourself some work and use the pre-stain conditioner and a gel stain!  I stained it once before I got the pre-stain conditioner and it it came out horrible!  I ended up sending it down completely a second time and starting over.  I also sanded it progressively with finer and finer sandpaper, ending up with like 800 grit wet/dry sandpaper.  That Beech is really dense, and the stain will rally exaggerate even the slightest scratches left by courser sandpaper.  This one was a really eye opener and learning experience. 

I'm considering doing my Plinkster stock next, but I may just leave it natural and give it a Tung Oil finish.  I have read the Tung Oil will also really make the grain pop, but will leave the natural blonde color of the wood.  The nice thing about wood, if you don't like how it turns out, you just sand it down and start over. Within reason anyway, too much sanding you'll end up with a toothpick!

[.]

Thanks for the tip, I'll do that for sure. I'm a big fan of tung-oil finishes, I did some things with it on some art pieces I did in school while working with Hawaiian Koa. Turned out really nice! 

[WesBob]

Nice job Paul...
I'm going to go after mine when I get the shoulder stock set. I think I'm like some finger grooves in mine. That stain pops the grain.

If you are considering staining it, save yourself some work and use the pre-stain conditioner and a gel stain!  I stained it once before I got the pre-stain conditioner and it it came out horrible!  I ended up sending it down completely a second time and starting over.  I also sanded it progressively with finer and finer sandpaper, ending up with like 800 grit wet/dry sandpaper.  That Beech is really dense, and the stain will rally exaggerate even the slightest scratches left by courser sandpaper.  This one was a really eye opener and learning experience. 

I'm considering doing my Plinkster stock next, but I may just leave it natural and give it a Tung Oil finish.  I have read the Tung Oil will also really make the grain pop, but will leave the natural blonde color of the wood.  The nice thing about wood, if you don't like how it turns out, you just sand it down and start over. Within reason anyway, too much sanding you'll end up with a toothpick!

Thanks Paul for sharing your method, great job! Looks super