Pedersoli refinish ?

[Dowrat]

I have an older Pedersoli rifle that has a nicely figured walnut stock. However, the beauty is hidden by a dark, somewhat cloudy, hard finish. I'd like to strip it and refinish it. I'm sure there are knowledgeable folks here on the forum who have experience with this. What kind of stripper? What kind of finish? Re-cut the checkering? Etc? Thanks for any helpful replies. 

[Dan Herda]

I did a Pedersoli 1805 HF pistol and used citrus strip, quick and easy to work with. Refinished with several thin coats of  blo. It has no checkering to deal with.

[Scota4570]

Look a the grain under the butplate and make sure it matches the side of the stock.   You could also scrape the finish off in a place hidden by the metal to see what is underneath. The figure looks pretty decent for a production gun.

A few manufacturers in the past have supplemented the figure with faux finish.  You may be in for a big "oopsie" if you strip that off and find plain light wood under.  I have no idea if Pedersoli does this.  The top coat does appear to be tinted.  They may have had a reason for doing that. 

[WadePatton]

You might use a stiff brush to scrub out excess finish from the checkering when applying the new finish. 

[Scota4570]

A bronze suede brush is the best thing I have found for cleaning  checkering.

[hawkeye]

I have refinished a pedersoli by sanding the stock and cleaned the checkering by checkering tool reçut, and finished it back

[Hungry Horse]

 The problem with Pedersoli stock refinishing is not with the finish, it’s the sealer below the finish that is hard to remove. The finish comes right off with almost any furniture stripper. But, the sealer is a different story. I have stripped three guns with this finish combination on them and the only one that worked well was a Tryon rifle with beautifully grained walnut covered with a finish the equivalent of brown paint. I finally used epoxy stripper to get the sealer off. And yes the wood was beautiful when it was done.

 Hungry Horse

[Daryl]

Circa 1850 Varnish remover worked on my PEd. kodiak.
1st picture is the "before", and looks just like your gun, Dowrat.

[Dowrat]

Thanks for all the response. I appreciate the information.

Just got some Citra Strip to try. I won't get to it until next week though. Then I'll see what kind of a mess I can make. (he grins)

Darryl

[Scota4570]

They probably used a catalyzed Fuller-Plast type of finish.  Those are great for production work and extremely durable.  They are also immune to  most strippers.  An epoxy stripper or Aircraft stripper may be needed.  I'd bet that the citrus stripper will not work.  The harsh stripper that works on that type of finish is getting more restricted.

If it sands well, does not plug the paper, I'd be temped to treat the existing as a filler coat.  Sand down to wood and then use the finish you want. 

 It does not look horrible as is.  The checkering will get messed up by the stripper and refinish.   Recutting checkering is a skill and required specialized tools.  Food for thought. 

[Robby]

Try some powdered rottenstone and oil rubbing compound or something similar. That looks like a good hard finish that could be brought back without the mess and possible damage from stripping. There are a lot of different compounds out there that I would try before stripping.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=rottenstone+polishing+compound&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyvvtofXl5gIVyrzACh2JVQEREAMYASAAEgJjpPD_BwE&hvadid=174245053870&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9005566&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1o1&hvqmt=b&hvrand=5299496542752889701&hvtargid=kwd-56910832348&hydadcr=24603_9648850&tag=googhydr-20&ref=pd_sl_29fotn3ufq_b
Robby

[Daryl]

I think this is the stuff I used, as I see a search for Circa 1850 Finish Stripper got no response.

https://www.bunnings.com.au/poly-1l-polystrippa-paint-stripper_p1715074

I did use Circa 1850 Tung Oil for the finish.

[Dowrat]

Thank you Daryl, and everyone. I think I'll take Robby's advice and try a polishing compound first. If that doesn't work, I'll tackle a stripping and refinishing job.

Dowrat

[Daryl]

You asked about the checkering. My sanding barely made it to the double borders on both sides.
I also reduced the height of the nipples to allow the hammers to cup the fences as they should.
Must be careful the mainsprings don't travel below the lock plates, though, or they will split out the
wood under the locks. I also did a little remodeling on the breeches, in front of the fences.
As you can see in the top picture of my post above, the un-modified hammers sit quite high above
the fence which eliminates the fence's actual function of preventing cap fragments from flying back
towards your big shiny eyeball.