Stain for Ak furniture

[nowhereman]

What color stain or how would I go about getting that nice red color like the russian Sks or the Romanian AK G....? I want to put a nice finish on one of my WASR's to match the Romanian foregrip..

[Perro]

i prefer chestnut ridge military stain personally, i have done several romanians with this stain. it is my favorite
http://www.chestnutridge.com/products/misc.asp

[deth502]

just got mine from the hardware store.

minwax.

dark mahognay?? red mahogany???

something like that. pretty close to teh orig color, imo.

ill have to check he label when im in hte shop tomorrow.

[deth502]

damn, i cant seem to spell "the" anymore :(

[rustypirate]

join teh club.........

[jerrymrc]

Are you talking about this kind of red? P.S. I can post another when I take it outside. This does not do it justice but there is a trick to Com-block finishes.

[Rampager]

You can add red food coloring to water based wood stains too.
I've mixed birchwood casey walnut with red for a nice red colored wood.

Practice on some scrap wood first till you come up with a combo you like.

[drine]

Are you talking about this kind of red? P.S. I can post another when I take it outside. This does not do it justice but there is a trick to Com-block finishes.

I'm redoing mine today. The trick is to pour a can of polyeurethane all over it. :icon_biggrin: Drips, globs, etc.. That's what it looks like they did! Just kidding. For real, I bet the com bloc boys would marvel at how well finished they look in our hands.

[jerrymrc]

I'm redoing mine today. The trick is to pour a can of polyeurethane all over it. :icon_biggrin: Drips, globs, etc.. That's what it looks like they did! Just kidding. For real, I bet the com bloc boys would marvel at how well finished they look in our hands.

I searched long and hard trying to find "the look" a couple of years ago someone on another board posted the the color is in the topcoat not the wood. This is what gives the unique nature of there finishes.

The above was achieved by taking one packet of Rit scarlet and one packet of violet and soaking in about 6-8 oz of alcohol for a few hours. I then strained the mix into a quart of clear lacquer. This is about 3 coats. The more coats the darker the color.

[Bulletboy]

I searched long and hard trying to find "the look" a couple of years ago someone on another board posted the the color is in the topcoat not the wood. This is what gives the unique nature of there finishes.

The above was achieved by taking one packet of Rit scarlet and one packet of violet and soaking in about 6-8 oz of alcohol for a few hours. I then strained the mix into a quart of clear lacquer. This is about 3 coats. The more coats the darker the color.

Came out very nice! I think I'll try your method next time, I like that color :thumbup:

[texlurch]

Chestnut Ridge and some hand rubbed Tung oil...

The original finish is redder, but you can tint some..

[deth502]

it was red mahogany i used. i thought i had some pics to post, but it looks like i dont.

ill have to take one.

[deth502]

oh, here's one:

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb31/deth502/102_2166.jpg

its a little bit lighter than the orig, which, imo, makes it look alot "cleaner".

you could also let the stain soak in a little more for a darker color.

the reason i like the minwax stain, its avail at almost any hardware store.

[brewskzilla]

:eek:Holy crap, Deth, what have you done to the other rifle in the pic? AAAAAAAAARGH!!! I need the eye bleach!!!!

[hunter_la5]

:eek:Holy crap, Deth, what have you done to the other rifle in the pic? AAAAAAAAARGH!!! I need the eye bleach!!!!

I actually like that one, as far as tactical AKs go

[jerrymrc]

Came out very nice! I think I'll try your method next time, I like that color :thumbup:

Thank you. This was supposed to be the "test" piece and I have not got around to doing it again. I still have over 3/4 of a quart of tinted lacquer.

When I do it over I will thin it and use the spray gun. This was with a brush.

[nowhereman]

Are you talking about this kind of red? P.S. I can post another when I take it outside. This does not do it justice but there is a trick to Com-block finishes.
Thats it.... What did you use? I mean that the color I want.

[nowhereman]

oh, here's one:

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb31/deth502/102_2166.jpg

its a little bit lighter than the orig, which, imo, makes it look alot "cleaner".

you could also let the stain soak in a little more for a darker color.

the reason i like the minwax stain, its avail at almost any hardware store.
I like that AK, Classicarms has alot of chromed stuff that looks good IMO. I feel like form should fit function... Isn't that the architects motto? Anyway Its simple and has subtle characteristics. Its not infected w/ gadgets....
http://www.classicarms.us/
Wait a minute.... I didn't notice the rear sight was attached to the receiver cover. I feel like it would loose zero... To a certain extent... Still nice though

[mojo00]

I had good results from,get this, IODINE....couple coats of amber shellac when its dry and its a good match for Soviet wood.

[Buelligan]

SAMAN stains are my fav. They are water base . Thay have 27 basic colors that can be mixed in to 100s of cool colors then top coated with WHATEVER you want . I tryed to get the web site for them on here but I suck at that kind of stuff . So just google saman stain thats how I found it . I buy it at my paint store , I think if the paint store sells Ben Moor paint then they sell saman stain . I LOVE IT>:rockon:

[GearShanty]

I used some Minwax Polyshades #490, Natural Cherry Gloss. It's some of the easiest stuff I've ever used. Here's some Romanian furniture I cleaned up. I was going to just throw a couple of coats on and be done. About 6 coats of Minwax and 6-8 coats of Carnuba wax later, here I am. Buffed with some 0000 steel wool in between coats. Took most of a day to get it done, but probably only about 30 minutes of work.

Prep work was a different story.

[hunter_la5]

I feel like it would loose zero... To a certain extent... Still nice though

seems to work fine on the Galil, Valmet, INSAS, M-21S, and CZ-2000 rifles :icon_neutral:

[deth502]

I like that AK, Classicarms has alot of chromed stuff that looks good IMO. I feel like form should fit function... Isn't that the architects motto? Anyway Its simple and has subtle characteristics. Its not infected w/ gadgets....
http://www.classicarms.us/
Wait a minute.... I didn't notice the rear sight was attached to the receiver cover. I feel like it would loose zero... To a certain extent... Still nice though

thanks,

i remember eyeing up a chreom mosin there, but they ended up selling out before i got one :(

actually, those were peliminary pics of the bottom ak with just a quick coat of spray paint. more finished pics can be found here (among other places):

http://www.pafoa.org/forum/gunsmithing-44/14451-latest-builds-ak.html

also, check out page 3 of thet thread for some updated pics with a new proj added ;)

in my experiance, i can shoot it better than any of the other aks i have, if it does move, the better sites and longer radius cancel it out.

[nowhereman]

seems to work fine on the Galil, Valmet, INSAS, M-21S, and CZ-2000 rifles :icon_neutral:
Yeah I overstepped my area of knowledge... The Galil is next on my list... I can say that on a good quality rifle assembly the cover is tight. On my Arsenal slr-95 The cover is about 1.5mm and its a milled reciever. That cover is tight.... Perfect fit... If I didn't have any shame I probably would mount an optic on it... But since I bought an $800 rifle for $499 NIB That ain't gonna happen...

[pelos]

there is a stain color called sedona red 222 made by minwax, that is what i used on my rommy "G" and its looks just like the original:2pistol::2pistol:

[drine]

jerrymc, I'm sold on your top coat is observation. You can see it in the dust. I accidentally had some shellac and stain mix drop on my work bench. Exact match.

I bought the Red Mahogany 225 and it is what I was looking for. After it dries it's more brown than red. I like it as is but the tinkerer in me wants to try a top coat for more red.

[jerrymrc]

Thats it.... What did you use? I mean that the color I want.

Look at the first page. It is all there.......

[Rampager]

Here is a shot of my Polish underfolder's wood I built a couple of years ago.

For this I used a mix of birchwood casey walnut and a few drops of red food coloring. I also applied a few coats of birchwood casey true-oil and then buffed out some of the shine with 0000 steel wool.

[rocco1911]

I like that color Rampager I think I will do up some furniture in this color how many drops of Food color to stain?

[Rampager]

I like that color Rampager I think I will do up some furniture in this color how many drops of Food color to stain?

It would depend on the amount of stain you were making. I just mix up small batches at a time, not even hardly enough to fill half a shot glass (guessing).

What I did was mix some of the walnut I mentioned in a disposable bowl, diluting it with water, about a 1/3 stain to 2/3 water. Then I added several drops of red (about 3 or 4 at first) then mix and test it on some scrap wood or better yet an inconspicuous area like inside the handguard so you can see how that particular type of wood takes the stain and add extra red if need be till you get to the shade you’re after. The stain will look sort of a burgundy after mixing.

I like to go conservative and allow it dry when I think it’s getting close to the color I’m after…you can always go redder by making it stronger later. On the same token if you do happen to go too dark or too red you can wash off much of the stain with a wet paper towel if you don’t wait too long.

Keep in mind when you add a poly (like the BWC true-oil I mentioned) it’s gonna go a shade darker then. It will also “pull out” the grain patterns in the wood, making it look a lot nicer, sort of 3-D after about the 3rd coat. But the thing is you want to be sure you are at the color/shade you want before you apply the poly cause stain can’t be added after that, without stripping it all over again that is.

Another thing is the Birchwood Casey instructions tell you to sand the first coat into a slurry to fill the grain. I don’t like to do this because I’ve found most of the time you wind up sanding out the color of your stain, breaking through into the raw wood. So instead, I apply at least 2-3 coats before I do a light sanding (start with no lower than 320 and go easy), just knocking off the high spots in the poly and not breaking through into the stain.

Then I apply the 3rd and move up to a finer paper and so on. Wash it in plain cool water between coats/sandings, blow it off or use clean lint free paper towels to wipe it off. Final rub down will be fine steel wool...again make sure you wash off the steel wool particles before your last coat.

Oh and you can get runs and sags more easily in the true-oil the smoother it gets so I like to go thinner each coat (you apply this stuff with your fingers) and I'll actually hold each part and turn it for a few minutes (up down, left right etc.) so as not to get any sags till it sets up for a minute or two.

Then after it dries, if you don’t want too much shine you can knock off some of it with some 0000 steel wool or to dull it more (more of a mil-surplus look) use 000.

[rocco1911]

Thanks that is exactly the look & color I'm after have always wanted to do a stock in this color/finish :thumbup:

[eldogg]

my attempt.