Refinished 91/30 pics

[mbakercad]

Now this is my first refinishing job, ever. Its not perfect, well not even close, but I'm proud of it none the less. Original finish was stripped using acetone. No surface prep was done since I wanted to retain the factor markings, etc. The finish consists of about 10 layers of de-waxed Garnet shellac. The shellac was purchased in flake form from woodfinishingsupplies.com and made into a 1 1/2 pound cut. This too thin to me, next time I will go with a 2 pound cut. When I started to get happy with the color I began to noctice some orange peel. I went over it with some fine steel wool just to take the high spots off. The biggest problem was getting the barrel bands back on. A little damage was done but not much. Even with the few blimishes, it still looks 100x better.

These were snapped indoors with poor light. I hope to get outside soon and take a few better pics but this is a start.

Before 1 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v107/mbakercad/Firearms/Mosin_Nagant_91-30-02.jpg)

After 1 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v107/mbakercad/Firearms/Mosin_Nagant_1930-03.jpg)
After 2 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v107/mbakercad/Firearms/Mosin_Nagant_1930-05.jpg)
After 3 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v107/mbakercad/Firearms/Mosin_Nagant_1930-02.jpg)

[preokc]

nice, very nice! good job. take long?

[mbakercad]

Thanks. Only took about 3 months :small_gri I had it laying out in the garage and just worked on it as time and mood permitted. It took a month and a half to go from buying the shellac to measuring and mixing it :laugh_sma

[Okie]

I think you did a hell of a job! Congrats on that purdy rifle!

[patm41]

yours had the same black spot on the upper hand guard as mine did..removing the old sellac sure makes a difference
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v64/patm41/Kits003.jpg

[darkknight9]

That's some fine work!!!!!

[mbakercad]

Thanks for the compliments guys. Took a couple more pics this evening.

Additional Pic 1 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v107/mbakercad/Firearms/Mosin_Nagant_91-30_08.jpg)
Additional Pic 2 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v107/mbakercad/Firearms/Mosin_Nagant_91-30_05.jpg)

[NRAJOE]

Nice!

[Valkyrie0002]

Looks great.

I had a couple with worn and flaking finish that I decided to refinish. I used minwax mahoghany and walnut stain and a few coats of TOF.

I have a 91/30 with tiger stripes I will redo this winter.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/valkyrie0002/Mosins/Mosins.jpg

[mbakercad]

Nice looking pair. The color of the finish looks very similar to the shellac I used.

[nycab]

I've just refinished my 91/30, but i've noticed a big problem...

before i refinished, i noticed these little "bubbles" in various spots around the foregrip (specifically just in front of the rear sight and just behind the front sight). After refinishing, it look beautiful. When I went shooting today, i noticed that the barrel heated up and the bubbles reappeared. I can only guess that the heat from shooting caused these bubbles.

I looked online and saw that shellac is easily damaged by heat... so how could this be fixed? An even bigger question: why would the Russians use shellac if it was damaged by heat?

[Valkyrie0002]

Thats why I use a poly/oil finish, it's more durable.

[mbakercad]

While I agree the oil finish is much more durable, I have yet to have any problems with my shellac finish bubbling. Not on my AKs or my Mosin. I'm not sure what is happening to yours, it could be heat, but mine have gotten almost too hot to touch and it had not happened.