Centaur 1

I have a Remington 700 BDL that I bought in 1976 and I am thinking about refinishing the stock. Has anyone ever tried to strip the coating they use? The wood is gorgeous but it's too shiny. Also what's the black forearm tip made of? I'm afraid that it's made of plastic not wood, and will the stripper melt it? I'm hoping to make it look like the 700CDL with an oil finish.

eldeguello

You could just rub it down with Rottenstone (at a paint store) and get rid of the shine. It would then be like a hand-rubbed oil finish.

You could cut the finish off with steel wool, then proceed with a Tru-Oil finish. I believe the forend tip is black plastic. A paint remover mihgt damage it.

Centaur 1

I finally got up the nerve to start this project. The finish that Remington uses is a urethane so you have to find a stripper that'll handle it. That coating is thick! I would slop the stripper on part of it and wait about 15 minutes, then I scraped it with a utility knife blade. I had to do this several times just to get to the wood. Then the fun began; sandpaper, lots of it. Started with 120 grit, worked all the way to 400 grit, then I wet the wood to raise the grain, then sanded down to 600 grit then 0000 steel wool. Well, after a week of sanding I finally put the first coat of oil on it tonight. After doing some research I decided on Tung oil, I cut the first coat 50/50 with mineral spirits so that it penetrates deeper. So far it looks awesome, when I get done I'll post some pics. Oh, I almost forgot. If anyone wants to try this I contacted Remington and the "ebony" forearm tip is made from Zytel, so careful with the stripper.

bugsNbows

Sounds like you are well on the way to a professional job. Several coats of tung oil should do nicely. Congrats. Got pics?