I got bored this weekend and decided to refinish my WASR furniture

Nice project and nicely done. Did it to a old SKS with the broomed on red stain. Surprisingly nice Chinese wood underneath.

Awsome job I am going to do the same to my wasr . How did you get the stock out of reciever without damage?

Very cool, I did the same a month or so ago.. VERY FUN!

Very nice job!!!

thegooch

Very nicely done; from pretty as a mud fence to decent matching stained wood furniture. Kudos on your finished product.

Pretty wood.

I went with aluminum and plastic.

I recently saw here the pics from honorable member "sweetbeard"s WASR refinishing job, and was impressed enough to PM him for details on exactly what he did. Sadly, i don't own a digital camera or i'd post pics, but it came out fairly nice. But, I would have done some things differently. The Minwax "gunstock 231" stain wasn't nearly as red as it appeared in the photos, in fact it came out about the same color as the tung oil finish I'd done on it a couple months earlier. I now know that you can mix them. I would experiment with additions of Minwax "red mahogany" for a better version of "Russian red" than the basic "gunstock 231" color provides. The Polycrilic laquer was pretty good,in fact TOO good. More than two or three coats, and you will have over-prettied the AK, if you know what i mean.
But enough thread hi-jacking......you did an outstanding job with that wood.Looks almost identical to my Lancaster finish.

How did you get the stock out of reciever without damage?

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hell, when i did my furniture swap, the wood almost rattled right out of it, didnt take much effort at all. its almost safe to say that no 2 WASRs are the same i guess if you bounce around the threads.

very impressive job BTW, looks like a completely diferent rifle.

Sorry It didn't work out MIL-DOT!

Nice job - I tried something similar with an old SKS once. Your gun turned out much better than mine...

Looks excellent!

Hey "sweetbeard", no worries,bro !! The gun looks pretty damn good,actually,and I appreciate you responding so quickly and informatively to my inquiries. I was just saying that were i to try again, I'd experiment with a little color mixing for a more optimum color.
And the polycrilic is pretty good stuff, I wouldn't have known to use it had you not recommended it specifically, I was just pointing out that it doesn't take many coats to end up with a super-thick and glossy finish that might be more appropriate on a high-end hunting rifle than a workhorse like the AK.

Very Nice!

I worked my new WASR's wood over (on the rifle) with linseed and 000 steel wool after a little sanding. It's as ugly as a monkey's behind still--but a little more resistant to moisture, etc.

FYI--the 'wood' on mine is obviously re-claimed but it IS ON the rifle--so I'm leaving good enough alone.

Very nice. I did the same with my WASR last year. Very simple and cheap, and requires minimal effort to make a HUGE improvement in the looks. Used a lite coat of Minwax stain (Oak I think, dont remember) and then a thin coat of tung oil over that, which I them hit VERY lightly with fine sandpaper just to knock a little bit of the gloss down, while still giving it a little shine, and leaving the tung oil protective coat to keep the wood protected. For the 30 minutes or so of work, the WASR's can come out lookingreally good. Mine's a great, reliable shooter too.

Lots of people complain about the looks of the wood on WASR's, and end up paying a bunch more for a gun that isnt any better mechanically, just for "better" wood, when all they had to do was spend $10 and put an hour's worth of effort into the much cheapeer WASR.
Nice work.


Mine:

Nice job!

Here's the finish I did on my kit build:

Took mine apart today will refinish this weekend , I am inspired .

That came out really nice...need to get the time to get around to doing mine.

Took mine apart today will refinish this weekend , I am inspired .

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The bug is stirring me too! I even have some BBQ paint for the barrel!

It is amazing how a little elbow grease and work makes a world of difference. Fantastic!