Tips for removing polyurethane from checkered grips?

[familyman357oh]

Hi,

I recently picked up a 65-2 (1981 vintage by serial number) that had been issued by a local police department. It has a set of target stocks on it that I'm pretty sure were not original to the revolver (in my limited research so far it's my understanding that 65s didn't come from the factory with target stocks and these stocks have black/blued washers which I think predate this revolver, plus there's wear on the bottom of the grip frame at the serial number so that area was exposed at some point). However, the wear on the grips appears commensurate with the rest of the wear on the gun and there was a (aluminum?) butt plate attached to the grips, which was something of a fashion in the '60s-'80s, apparently.

My thinking is that the grips were an officer-made alteration relatively early in this revolver's career, so I'd like to keep 'em. That said, I'd like to clean this gun up a bit. The problem is, the grips look like hell because at some point it appears that they had polyurethane applied to them over any dirt and all - and not particularly well (it seems that the butt plate was screwed in while the poly wasn't quite cured because it was pretty well glued to the polyurethane runs on the bottom of the grips). Whle practical for a working gun, the poly doesn't do much for the aesthetics and it's kind of slippery.

So... all that to ask: does anybody have any tips for removing polyurethane from checkered grips? Is acetone my best bet and do I have to worry about what acetone will do the the medallions and washers? Or am I better off just sourcing another set of target stocks?

Thanks for any insights!

 

[Greyman50]

Wally world brake cleaner might work. Outside wearing gloves with 0000 steel wool. Cheap as around $3.50 a can?

 

[tlawler]

The aluminum butt plate is called a skull knocker I think. Fashionable with LEO wheelguns of the 60’s and ‘70’s I think.

You can mask off the medallions with blue masking tape and trim around it with an x-acto knife. Just brush the acetone on, don’t soak them in it. It may take a few applications. Wipe them off and lightly rub with 0000 steel wool between applications. Acetone should take the varnish off that vintage stock. I tried stripping some newer combat stocks that seemed to have an almost hard plastic coating. I had to resort to Loctite Chisel on them, even then, it took several applications.

 

[familyman357oh]

Wally world brake cleaner might work. Outside wearing gloves with 0000 steel wool. Cheap as around $3.50 a can?

Interesting. I wouldn't have thought that brake cleaner would be strong enough, but I did a little looking around after reading your post and I found out that non-chlorinated brake cleaner (supposedly the "safe" stuff) is known to eat through powdercoated paint. I'll have to look into this a bit. Thanks!

 

[familyman357oh]

The aluminum butt plate is called a skull knocker I think. Fashionable with LEO wheelguns of the 60’s and ‘70’s I think.

You can mask off the medallions with blue masking tape and trim around it with an x-acto knife. Just brush the acetone on, don’t soak them in it. It may take a few applications. Wipe them off and lightly rub with 0000 steel wool between applications. Acetone should take the varnish off that vintage stock. I tried stripping some newer combat stocks that seemed to have an almost hard plastic coating. I had to resort to Loctite Chisel on them, even then, it took several applications.

This is the kind of practical advice I'm looking for - thanks!

 

[tlawler]

Here’s a couple of threads I started on stock refinishing:

Thread 'Refinished some stocks for my 28-2'

Mar 22, 2022

I wanted to try out some combat stocks for my Highway Patrolman, but didn’t have any N-frame SB combats and didn’t want to spend upwards of $300 for them. I picked up a take off set from a forum member that I guess came from one of the new “classics” series. They feel great and really fit my hand better that the Magnas that came with it or a set of Targets I tried out. The one thing I didn’t like was the high gloss and bright red wood, so I decided to strip the old finish, darken the grain and refinish with Tru-oil for a satin finish.

Stripping them was the hardest part. S&W is using...

• tlawler
• Replies: 9
• Forum: S&W-Smithing

• 

Thread 'Restoring some stocks'

Sep 28, 2021

I picked up a 686-1 snubby over the weekend and the factory combat stocks on it were a little distressed, so I’ve been reading the stocks refinishing sticky and wanted to try my hand at it. I had acetone and denatured alcohol on hand, so I went ahead and got started. I located an appropriate pan and after removing the stocks, placed them in the pan and covered with acetone. What was left of the finish started flaking away immediately and I began scrubbing with an old toothbrush. Acetone is very volatile and gets cold from the vapor boiling off. I figured that if I could keep it at room...

• tlawler
• Replies: 24
• Forum: S&W-Smithing

• 

 

[markieh]

I used to refinish Perazzi stocks which were heavily varnished from the factory. The trick with the checkering was to use Nitromors paint stripper and leave it on for a while. Then use a BRASS brush (the sort you use on suede shoes). It clears all the varnish from the checkering without damaging the pattern. Steel wool will take the top off the checkering. Obviously use the brush along the lines of the checkered pattern. When done neutralise with mineral spirits.

Incidentally if you're refinishing an old gun which has years of grime in the checkering the brush will bring it up a treat

 

[CalifEd]

I prefer 4-0 brass wool vs steel wool.
The fine steel seems break off and find its way into small, out of the way places, then it rusts; it's the rust that really bothers me.

 

[Vtgw938]

I do a lot of them and even did a set with a brass grip plate. I can provide the link if you can't find it by searching. Throw them in a jar of acetone (not plastic) with a sealed lid, no need to protect the metal. It may take a hour it may take two days. You can occasionally take them out and steel wool/sand/scotchbrite the grips. You can carefully use a bronze brush in the checkering if you go in the direction of the lines. Biggest issue with acetone is breathing it in, so ventilation is recommended. It is essentially fingernail polish remover so it isn't that bad. You can get every bit of finish off with little effort. Rattle can lacquer will give you a factory correct finish with little effort as well.

 

[familyman357oh]

Thanks for the tips, guys.

I put the grips in a glass pickle jar, filled it to the very top with acetone, and screwed the lid back on to help with any fumes and evaporation. I checked on it about 7 hours later and was gratified to see that the polyurethane was floating up from the checkering and medallions. I scrubbed off what I could with a brass brush. The checkering and medallions cleaned up great, but, somewhat interestingly, the smooth parts of the grips weren't giving up the poly. So I roughed them up with the brass brush, changed the acetone, and put the grips back in to soak overnight.

I don't know anything about wood. I kind of liked the reddish hue of the grips as they came to me, but the wood that was uncovered in the checkered portion sure didn't look reddish. I took a trip to Home Depot to select a stain. I settled on Behr water-based stain & poly in Bombay Mahogany (dark with red tones) in satin (the only gloss level they had in Bombay Mahogany).

When I took the grips out today, the acetone had a bit of a tint to it but nothing had obviously lifted up and the poly was still steadfast. I didn't touch the checkering (which was really good by now), but I had to go nuts on the rest of the grips with some 180 grit sandpaper. Even then it was still some work, but I got the poly off after about 10-15 minutes of work on each grip.

I dipped and swirled the grips in the acetone to remove any dust and let them dry. I went over the grips with some 400 grit sandpaper (again, not touching the checkering), dipped and swirled the grips in the acetone again, and after they dried I applied the stain & poly.

Yeah, I know you're supposed to use a brush, but I just used some cleaning patches to apply the stain, which was a mud brown in the container. It went on mud brown. I wiped the excess off, especially in the checkering and the checkering border, which is pretty deep. What's nice about this water-based stain & poly is that the water base dries pretty quickly and the poly should give it some toughness. Did some touching up and put a second coat on. I used acetone on Q-Tips to clean the stain from the medallions and metalwork.

The end result on my grips isn't as reddish as I would have liked, but I don't hate it and I have more money into rehabbing these grips than I would like, so I'm about to go get some clear polyurethane to put on as a top coat to help protect the grips a bit more more. Probably a semi-gloss if Home Depot has any.

The current state:

 

[Vtgw938]

Looks like walnut, not meant to be red. Goncalo is what you want if you like the red. Looks to me like there is finish or stain in th checkering & borders and the wood needs a little more fine sanding or fine scotchbrite.

 

[familyman357oh]

Looks like walnut, not meant to be red. Goncalo is what you want if you like the red. Looks to me like there is finish or stain in th checkering & borders and the wood needs a little more fine sanding or fine scotchbrite.

Yep, but these are the same pair of grips that came with the revolver and they had most definitely been reddish-stained by someone before I got them. I'm not really going with what would be "correct" (in which case I wouldn't even be using target stocks - and certainly not ones with black washers) so much as trying to be faithful-ish to its configuration when it was on the street... minus the grunge that it's picked up. More of a refresh and a remedy of a drippy poly-coating, if you will.

Yeah, I've been using a cleaning patch on a toothpick to get into the borders. Sure don't want to add more finish to a still-wet finish. I'll see about smoothing the surface a bit more, thanks!

 

[Truckman]

Wally world brake cleaner might work.

I've used it with success on grips...I buy the Denco non-chlorinated brand from Amazon by the case, somewhat cheaper... ...Ben