Mistake on refinishing job, need help!

[JesterRock]

I did my first refinishing job on the stocks on my Marlin 336W (birch stock) with Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil Refinishing Kit. I followed the directions, and the rear stock looks fantastic, but the forearm had one very small rough bubble. I attempted to clean it up with 0000 steel wool and it went bad quick. I ended up taking too much off, and the wood got way too light in that one spot when I was done. I was out of the walnut (water based) stain provided in the kit, so I purchased a small amount of Minwax (oil based) stain just to fix that tiny spot, and after light sanding to the wood surface and using stripper I still cannot get any stain to stay on that little spot!!! The stain just stays kinda sticky and will wipe off :banghead:. What in the world am I doing wrong? Should I buy some more Birchwood Casey Walnut stain to see if it will take? I am willing to buy the whole refinishing kit from Birchwood Casey and do the forearm over again, but there is no way I will touch that rear stock, it is too perfect. If I need to start all over, what stripper will remove the Tru-oil and stain down to bare wood? Will it be difficult to match it to the already finished rear stock? I'm so frustrated and lost now. Any help or advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

My advice is to strip it and re-do it. I use Kutzit brand paint stripper on old oil finishes. It won't remove the stain as it has penetrated the pores of the wood. Sand it down and restain with more BC stain. I don't think you will be happy with any patch job.

 

[JesterRock]

I know the factory finish was epoxy, and I had to do a lot of scrapping to get it off. Will I need to use a scrapper to get the tru-oil off, or will it wipe off?

 

[jimmyraythomason]

It will just wipe off with a coarse cloth and Kutzit.

 

[Shadow 7D]

Get more of the original product and save yourself alot of headaches.

 

[donjr5]

Sounds like the Minwax "stain" you got is the Polyshades (a tinted varnish). There's not much chance that a Minwax stain will match BC's color, especially on birch. Get the BC kit, try the patch repair. If it doesn't work, strip it with Kutzit and redo.

 

[jdowney]

Most stripping products should work fine with tru oil. Citristrip from Home Depot is pretty effective stuff and fairly benign. Most paint stores will carry a variety of products, and should be able to recommend a product for your application. Aircraft paint stripper is available at my local Benjamin Moore dealer, that stuff is about as strong as it gets, but is definitely an outdoor use sort of chemical.

You can probably just refinish the fore arm and restain with BC stain and it should match. Minwax stains are meant to wipe off leaving some stain behind, not really a film drying product. Not being a big fan of stains, I can't really come up with more than that