Stripping factory finish from wood grips

[tjtoolbox]

Update on progress.
I bought the Acetone and a small paint can. I placed the stocks in the bottom of the can and then poured the Acetone in the can. The Acetone completely covered the stocks. The stocks have been soaking for two days. I checked this morning and nothing has happened. The finish is still as it was when I first put them in the Acetone, except they now get a white haze as the Acetone dries.
A close look has revealed the stocks may have been refinished before. There is a shiny glaze on the wood that would not have come from S&W.
Acetone appears to have no affect on this finish. I am thinking that some kind of paint stripper may be the only course of action at this point. I have used paint strippers on wood furniture before. You always sand and prep the wood prior to applying another finish after using paint strippers.
Will paint stripper damage the wood grain or checkering on these stock?
Anyone have any other ideas prior to me trying this?

Epoxy will leave a white haze on wood when acetone evaporates. If it was an epoxy sealer than you will have to soak the grips in acetone for a longer time to break down the epoxy. Acetone will not hurt the wood, may bleach some of the natural color out, but will not change the size of the grips like soap + water. I work with acetone and woods every day, solvents are what I use in my work environment, Boat Carpenter, Fiberglass Repair.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Epoxy will leave a white haze on wood when it evaporates. If it was an epoxy sealer than you will have to soak the grips in acetone for a longer time to break down the epoxy. Acetone will not hurt the wood, may bleach some of the natural color out, but will not change the size of the grips like soap + water. I work with acetone and woods every day, solvents are what I use in my work environment, Boat Carpenter, Fiberglass Repair.

Also have some grips to refinish, was also was trying to avoid acetone.
Does acetone remove all kinds of finishes? How long can you leave the grips in the acetone before you start losing wood color? Thanks for the help on this.

 

[arjay]

I leave the stocks in acetone for a few hours and use a toothbrush to scrub them and resoak as needed.That length of time won't bleach the wood.Acetone seems to be the best solvent on S&W grips that Ive tried.Mineral spirits work on an oil finish and lacquer thinner for a lacquer finish.

 

[chuck8388]

Acetone work smart not harder!

 

[tjtoolbox]

Also have some grips to refinish, was also was trying to avoid acetone.
Does acetone remove all kinds of finishes? How long can you leave the grips in the acetone before you start losing wood color? Thanks for the help on this.

Acetone will remove a lot of oil based finishes, Lacquer thinner will take off the rest, very nasty solvent. I would leave the grips in a Acetone bath for about 2 hrs. check for finish that is gone, give another soaking for another 2 if finish is not gone. Repeat process until all the finish is gone. Acetone will bleach out the wood if left for too long unless you want to bleach them a little. The longer that they soak the better that the acetone has to break down the oils in wood.

 

[gaowlpoop]

Try RUST-OLEUM Aircraft Remover. It takes most things off.

 

[TEXVET]

I looked at the stocks again this morning. Today makes three days the stocks have been submerged in the acetone. No change.
The wood appears to be darker than all of my other S&W stocks. It appears to be almost like pecan or walnut. If I remember my high school woodshop, those are darker brown woods.
The stocks still have a slight gloss to the finish. I see no apparent bleaching of the wood.
I believe the previous owner stained the wood and then put lacquer or some other sealer/finish on the wood.
As far as the Rust-Oleum. I guess if it will remove an airplane, it must be some pretty tough stuff. (LOL).

 

[glowe]

I looked at the stocks again this morning. Today makes three days the stocks have been submerged in the acetone. No change.
The wood appears to be darker than all of my other S&W stocks. It appears to be almost like pecan or walnut. If I remember my high school woodshop, those are darker brown woods. The stocks still have a slight gloss to the finish. I see no apparent bleaching of the wood.
I believe the previous owner stained the wood and then put lacquer or some other sealer/finish on the wood.
As far as the Rust-Oleum. I guess if it will remove an airplane, it must be some pretty tough stuff. (LOL).

About the only finish that Acetone will not tackle is an epoxy finish. If someone actually used an epoxy finish on those stocks, I doubt that anything will touch it. If a high quality polyurethane, I would try using a standard paint remover. MEK (methyl-ethyl-ketone) in most paint removers does a better job of softening tough finishes than acetone.

Secondly, if the wood is soaked through with oils, it will take several "baths" to remove most of the oil. As you remove the stocks from Acetone, let it totally dry each time. Acetone will pull the oils from the interior as it evaporates, but simply soaking once will probably not migrate all the oils to the surface with just one drying.

Dark stained woods will lighten with a brief soaking in Chlorox. Let is soak for 5 minutes and rinse and let dry.

Good luck.