• This Forum is for adults 18 years of age or over. By continuing to use this Forum you are confirming that you are 18 or older. No content shall be viewed by any person under 18 in California.

Removing paint on wood stock?

rockhound78

Silver $$ Contributor
Picked up a remington that had part of the stock painted over original finish. Any way to remove the paint without damaging the underlying finish? It has the factory polyurethane finish.

Thanks
 
Start easy and move to hard. Try acetone, then lacqure thinner to see if it disolves and wipes off. Then paint stripper but it may remove the original finish. To get it out of the checkering total stripping may be your only option. Sandpaper will probably be needed before you are done.
 
He's probably got checkering he'd like to save.
Not sure how me recommending to get your advice leads to him wanting to save his checkering???;)

Ex wife redid the stock on my old Savage 110. She hated the brown paint that Savage uses on their stocks.
Paint stripper & a toothbrush took it down to bare wood.
She did a light sanding then took a propane torch to it. Some Japanese technique that really made the lines in the wood stand out!
Coates of White Oak stain with 0000 steel wool, followed by numerous light coates of polyurethane with 0000 steel wool.
She left it a semi matt.
Who'd had thunk an old Savage stock had such nice wood!

Alas, the rifle was stolen. Sure do miss that rifle!
The ex, not so much.
 
Not sure how me recommending to get your advice leads to him wanting to save his checkering???;)

Sorry for the loss on your rifle, I don't miss any of my existing either.
Let me clarify my answer
I don't like working with checkering, its just.not my cup of tea. I've done a checkered job only once and learned.
OP is wanting to save original finish but remove only the spray paint.
Again I don't have time nor patience to attempt this.
I'd use my DA sander and some 80 grit paper and remove everything in about an hour including checkering, then start over.
 
Last edited:
Sorry for the loss on your rifle, I don't miss any of my existing either.
Let me clarify my answer
I don't like working with checkering, its just.not my cup of tea. I've done a checkered job only once and learned.
OP is wanting to save original finish but remove only the spray paint.
Again I don't have time nor patience to attempt this.
I'd use my DA sander and some 80 grit paper and remove everything in about an hour including checkering, then start over.
Ain't Nobody Got Time For That GIFs | Tenor
 
Unless you are trying to preserve collector status, I would abandon efforts to preserve the original finish.
I've used all kinds of paint strippers, and find lacquer thinner (LT) works the best. Use steel wool, no more coarse than 2#0, and work quickly.
A brass bristle brush dipped in LT works great for cleaning up checkering, only brush parallel with the grooves.
Protect yourself and use a respirator and gloves that are suited to aromatic solvents.
 

Upgrades & Donations

This Forum's expenses are primarily paid by member contributions. You can upgrade your Forum membership in seconds. Gold and Silver members get unlimited FREE classifieds for one year. Gold members can upload custom avatars.


Click Upgrade Membership Button ABOVE to get Gold or Silver Status.

You can also donate any amount, large or small, with the button below. Include your Forum Name in the PayPal Notes field.


To DONATE by CHECK, or make a recurring donation, CLICK HERE to learn how.

Forum statistics

Threads
165,859
Messages
2,204,403
Members
79,157
Latest member
Bud1029
Back
Top