Refinish laminate stock??

[al7601 0]

I have a Timbersmith laminate wood Bulgarian red stock set that looks very red and not dark enough for my taste. Has anyone refinished a laminate stock set and what's the easiest/best way of doing this?

[Malice4you 627]

Not a laminate stock, but I did mine over this summer - I hated the original blonde furniture from my WASR10.  Followed the directions from http://wasr-10.com/how-to-refinish-AK-furniture

 

Pretty simple, fairly quick overall (I probably averaged about 1.5 coats of stain per day).  Only thing I wish was that they'd had citristrip instead of the stuff I used which started eating the nitrile gloves I was wearing...  I did use the paint scrubbing "sponge" pads found near the strippers in Home Depot/Lowes.  Be careful sanding the detail areas - the vent areas on the handguard were getting rounded down as I was sanding.  I wanted a deep red, I went with 4 or 5 coats of stain and 2 layers of wipe-on poly. 

 

Worst part was getting the damn front handguard back together - felt like I was going to crack it or otherwise damage it while trying to rotate it back into position.

 

Ended up like this:

 

All said and done, I'm mostly happy with the results, but I'm seriously thinking of buying a friend's spare AK furniture and doing it again and seeing if I can get it to come out even darker (or maybe in a different color.)

[T Bill 649]

Strip it and finish it the same as any other stock. Good Luck.

[al7601 0]

looks great!!! Did you use the credit card and iron the wood? how long did it take from start to finish?

[Malice4you 627]

Did not use a credit card nor iron the wood.  Used whatever noxious stripper I bought, and while it tried to eat my gloves, used one of those really rough paint stripping sponges to remove all the existing finish.  Used sandpaper to remove the remainder and get it all even, I think I used 100, then 200/250?, then 500 or 600 grit to get it nice and smooth.  I did get that pre-stain and I suppose it helped - not really sure since I I didn't have anything to compare it to without the pre-stain. 

 

I used an old t-shirt for application.  I'd suggest finding something that doesn't leave any lint at all - I had a few little bits of lint I had to pick out after cutting the Tshirt up, but nothing that caused any real problems.  I removed the stain after each application with more clean T-shirt.  After 4 or 5 layers I was pretty happy with the color.

 

I only did 2 coats of wipe on poly, with a steel wool buffing between.  I think I shoulda done another layer or two of the poly, but nonetheless I'm happy.

 

Probably took me about a week overall with longer than needed dry times.  I did it all out in the garage (except the stripper, which I did outside away from everything), don't remember anything other than the stripper being too bad smelling, but if anyone is especially sensitive to smell, be careful where you do this.

[al7601 0]

Did not use a credit card nor iron the wood.  Used whatever noxious stripper I bought, and while it tried to eat my gloves, used one of those really rough paint stripping sponges to remove all the existing finish.  Used sandpaper to remove the remainder and get it all even, I think I used 100, then 200/250?, then 500 or 600 grit to get it nice and smooth.  I did get that pre-stain and I suppose it helped - not really sure since I I didn't have anything to compare it to without the pre-stain. 

 

I used an old t-shirt for application.  I'd suggest finding something that doesn't leave any lint at all - I had a few little bits of lint I had to pick out after cutting the Tshirt up, but nothing that caused any real problems.  I removed the stain after each application with more clean T-shirt.  After 4 or 5 layers I was pretty happy with the color.

 

I only did 2 coats of wipe on poly, with a steel wool buffing between.  I think I shoulda done another layer or two of the poly, but nonetheless I'm happy.

 

Probably took me about a week overall with longer than needed dry times.  I did it all out in the garage (except the stripper, which I did outside away from everything), don't remember anything other than the stripper being too bad smelling, but if anyone is especially sensitive to smell, be careful where you do this.

Do you remember what color stain you used? I like the color

[Malice4you 627]

Minwax Sedona Red

[al7601 0]

Minwax Sedona Red

One final time, did you use satin or gloss wipe on poly and did it get darker after you applied the poly?

 

I'm in the process with only the poly left to do. Very happy with it.  thanks for the help