Thread: Mosin Nagant Refinishing

I might cop a bit of shit from the purists, but has anyone refinished a Mosin Nagant stock (leaving markings intact of course?

The original shellac on mine is flaking off quite badly and the last thing I want is the now unprotected the woodwork swelling. I am considering reapplying fresh garnet shellac, but it is a pretty shit product to work with from what my old man told me (Master Joiner) due to its long drying times and tackiness. I want to get a finish that is as close to the original garnet shellac used by the Soviets that will actually last. Has anyone found a product that produced a similar colour and gives a good finish?

Any help or product recommendations appreciated. Cheers.

Floating an idea if you have no luck with replacing shellac.. perhaps wash/lift the shellac off with acetone or some kind of chemical stripper that will not damage the wood, and replace with wax/oil. It might look better, and you will effectively leave the wood untouched but not unprotected. As long as no wood get sanded off then a 'protective refurbishment' is ok by most service rifle junkies.

The Finns used to finish the larch stocks on their mosins with a mixture of boiled linseed oil and pine resin if that's any help

The VK-1 or MCH-53 Lacquer (its a manufactured chemical similar to cellulose varnish, not a shellac made from bug secretions...Shellac stopped being used on rifle stocks in 1940) used during Soviet Post-War refurbishment was applied over at least two different coatings that were there to protect the wood from moisture ingress...

Flaky finish on postwar refurbished rifles is the result of application issues during the refurbishment process, or use of old out of date VK-1 lacquer.

Feel free to let the finish flake off - the wood underneath shouldn't be affected.

Shellac is easier than you think to apply. Buy the flakes and mix with acetone. Ball up some cotton cloth and rub on, plenty of yt vids for French polishing. Dries quick.

Is this shellac the same stuff they use for gaskets?

Heard that one from a mate of mine. Sadly it's a 91/30 that is not a Finnish refurbished so that's not an option.

Thanks for the advice. It's a 1935 but safe to say it would have been refurbished as it is near mint condition.

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

The Finns used to finish the larch stocks on their mosins with a mixture of boiled linseed oil and pine resin if that's any help

Were they Larch and not Birch?

Originally Posted by norsk

Were they Larch and not Birch?

They were all Arctic Birch...

Originally Posted by fernleaf

They were all Arctic Birch...

I thought the 2 piece laminated ones on the early rebuilds were larch and they just carried on. Happy to be corrected though

Originally Posted by blip

Is this shellac the same stuff they use for gaskets?

Absolutely not! Completely different.

Originally Posted by Slug

Shellac is easier than you think to apply. Buy the flakes and mix with acetone. Ball up some cotton cloth and rub on, plenty of yt vids for French polishing. Dries quick.

This.... i refinished a couple mosins with shellac, although from memory i used alcohol (meths) as the solvent for the shellac flakes. Wiped most of the old finish off with alcohol in the bathtub, rubbed a couple of new coats and and voila. it was pretty easy really, i found it quite easy to work with.

Also many years ago i tried mixing up a beeswax / linseed/ somethign else ive forgotten mixture as the 'Finn special' - smelt weird but seemed to give nice finish. Although i left 3/4 of the finn mosins ive had alone, they looked fine as is.

Yup, back when I had a Mosin quite a few years back I stripped back the old stock using oven cleaner, sanded it, then used boiled linseed oil to bring out the original colour of the wood, before finishing with a bee wax based furniture protector to finish it off.

Here are some before and after's: