This wood is on fire!!! update post #23

[Masterbuck54]

My youngest son figured I needed more refinishing to do so he purchased this Winchester 94 this afternoon.

It looks like someone placed a year of purchase and his initials in this wonderful looking stock.

Shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Will post photos again once completed.

Masterbuck54

[Richard Simmons]

That could turn out real nice!

[snubbyfan]

That is some nice lookin' wood.
I'm looking forward to seeing it when it's done.

[JohnRippert]

It just kills me when I see something like that done to some beautiful wood. I am sure I got my love of wood from my paternal grandfather who was a carpenter and wood worker. I do realize that there are people out there who have no appreciation for good wood but I just want to knock some sense into them. Looking forward to seeing the final result.

[ameridaddy]

Has the stock also been cut? It looks really short.
If I had my druthers, while in the process of removing the scratches, I'd strip the glossy finish off the whole thing and do a nice oil build with tung oil or boiled linseed oil.
IMHO, that soft sheen look would go better better on a '94.

[Masterbuck54]

It will get stripped of the "old finish" and get 5-6 coats of tung oil.

I'm not sure about the stock being shortened...I'll pick it up this weekend from my son.

Masterbuck54

[rburg]

Winchester has done enough damage to the fine old brand without hillbillies adding to the problem. Nice gun, and like the others I want to see the end product.

[STCM(SW)]

So the original owner put his initials on his stock.
His rifle, whats the problem?
Some General had his initials on the Ivory stocks on his Colt SAA .45 plus some notches on the grips.
Who does GSP think he was?

[rburg]

Originally Posted by STCM(SW)

Who does GSP think he was?

A vandal.

[S&WIowegan]

Nice wood! Most Model 94s including mine are plain straight grain. Could it be a custom stock?

[Watchdog]

Originally Posted by S&WIowegan

Nice wood! Most Model 94s including mine are plain straight grain. Could it be a custom stock?

I'd tend to agree with you. Maybe they're out there, but I don't recall ever seeing a plain ol' 94 off the rack, non-custom, non-commemorative with wood that nicely grained.

[k22fan]

Walnut with fancy grain does not always get sorted out. My Thompson Center Hawkin had extra-fancy grain walnut. It was just luck of the draw. I ordered it through a local FFL. The FFL was not needed for anything other than getting it at wholesale plus a tiny mark up. The draw back to fancy grain is you get a heavier stock. (or is it a grip?)

Do post pictures after the refinish is done. We like beautiful walnut.

[Ranger514]

God bless you for salvaging the wood on that '94. I'll never understand how anyone could desecrate a stock like that.

[Wee Hooker]

What kind of fiend would carve up such beautify wood like that? "JK" deserved to get butt stroked with that nice 94' back in 85 for doing that.

[BigBill]

I have repaired more of bubbas screw ups on wood stocks than I want to remember. One military rifle I took four different coats of finishes off the stock. It had the most awesome tiger striped, fiddle back wood grain originally. Why did bubba put four coats of finish on it?

[rburg]

Originally Posted by BigBill

Why did bubba put four coats of finish on it?

'Cause more is better.

[tekarra]

Nice looking wood, hope he can get the scratches out.

[gasaman]

Originally Posted by Masterbuck54

It looks like someone placed a year of purchase and his initials in this wonderful looking stock.
Masterbuck54

Who does that?!?

[2152hq]

Nice clean gun,,about a '77,78 mfg. Good thing the owner or new owner didn't decide to do his/her art work on that nice metal finish instead.

Fancy grain AmWalnut used to come through quite often for production line guns and show itself after the stocks were turned and sanded.
The wood room was instructed to put it aside if it was really special, That was for special order guns, commemoratives, sales samples, the managements special builds, even sometimes the employees could get a choice stock on a gun they were buying.
The rest were let through and some really nice ones would show up on guns that would other wise carry plain wood.
That was just shy of 50yrs ago now that I worked in any firearms factory and with modern automation, I'm sure it's all changed now.
Maybe the robots scan for nice grain in the wood now and decide.

Be sure and post pics of the completed project and what you use to get the results,,we'd sure like to see it!

[DocB]

Makes me think back to the early 1980's. Every time I saw a M94 out for under $90, I would buy it. Wound up with 4 of them. My son, who was around 14, was always coming by with his friends wanting to go out and hunt on one of our timber farms. So, I would pass out the 30-30's and some ammo and out they would go. Can you even imagine equipping a bunch of 14 year olds with high powered rifles today? After he was grown, I traded them all off. Did keep one for posterity.

[gtoppcop]

There's a special place for folks like that! Good luck saving that gorgeous piece of wood!

[Brian in Oregon]

At least he put his initials in the wood instead of galling his SSN into the receiver.

[Masterbuck54]

We'll the Model 94 is back together.
Stripped off the old finish and did a little steaming and sanding to get the initials off along with year and a pretty good dent on the left side of the stock.
Put on 7 coats of the Forby low gloss tung oil finish ( I know should have used 100% tung oil).
Cleaned all the bluing with Flitz about 3-4 times to get rid of all the years of neglect. Finished it off with a coat of Ren wax.

Will probably take up to my son's at the end of the month when I try to kill that elusive turkey

Not sure who will put the first scratch down the side but hopefully it will be my grandson when he shoots that monster buck!!!

Masterbuck54