Help with Stock Prep Help Please

[Jungle George]

Thanks for the quick reply, I suspected it might be a case of stripping back to unstained wood. Was hoping I could cheat somehow.

[Rickenbacker]

Tips:

I'd sand it with the buttpad on, otherwise you might be disappointed if the pad is too big when the stock's all finished.

I'd always use a sanding block wherever possible (hard or flexible, depending on which bit of the stock), otherwise the surface will end up wavey.

I'd mask up the chequering to avoid sanding off the points.

As the stock is beech (HW77?), I'd consider finishing it with coloured lacquer ... for one thing, you'll probably never get all of those dark patches out, and dark-ish lacquer will cover them up. Saving you a lot of sanding work... and it'll look much more like a factory finish.

[Airsporterman]

You have to remember that wood is a porous material and the end grain is open and more porous than the rest and therefore will absorb more stain/varnish resulting in those areas appearing darker, the stain etc will penetrate deeper and therefore will be more difficult to remove.
The secret is to seal the end grain before applying finishes if you want a 'uniform' look, otherwise, you are just going to have to accept it!

ASM

[Jungle George]

Thanks again, I have some very dark danish oil left over from another project and I am hoping this might hide the stains where I cant get them out. Will have to look into lacquer as this is not something I had considered. Have been using both hard and flexible sanding blocks for the majority of the stock and have just purchased some sanding drums for my drill, am hoping these might do a better job around the grip where the blocks are a bit too large. The gun is a Webley Eclipse.

[jdwynn1976]

I'd go easy on the sanding and refinish as it is providing all the varnish is removed. A stock that is a uniform colour all over can look a bit bland. I sometimes use a mixture of van Dyke crystals (made from crushed walnut shells mixed with water) to colour and then oil over the top with either Danish or tru-oil.

[Jungle George]

That sounds like a better idea, much more sanding and I might not have a stock left.

Thanks for all the help, this is a learning process for me and I think I have a plan now.

[thisisdonald]

If it is beech, which I think it is, I'd go with Mr RBacker's suggestion, and get some nice dark tinted varnish or lacquer onto it. In my opinion, stained or dyed beech stocks can look amatuer. Stain and oil is for walnut rather than beech. The grain is simply not tight enough and when you stain it, you get big light patches.