I have a recently acquired Mark X with mannlicher stock. The overall finish appears to be a tinted spray-on. There is light fiddleback showing thru-out the length of the stock.
If I remove all the finish, and stain darker, will that enhance the fiddle back grain??? Hate to take off a good finish if it will not improve with lots of work.

Definitely maybe. Or maybe not.
Wood is funny stuff and the stain and finish determine how any figuring is viewed.
Worse case you end up with a nice hand applied finish that you did and that is worth something. Not money; I mean pride.

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Not money; I mean pride.

yup something that is sorely lacking today signed by an anti tupperware anti blaser anti anything that is not walnut and blued steel SOB

maybe, maybe not. but i would venture to guess, it would be better than what you've got now.

At times it's amazing what painted on wood grain covers up. When I was a kid, folks got me a Steven's .22 with painted wood grain, black tip.

Once it got scratched up quite a bit and needed finishing. I took it to school wood shop and stripped it down. WOW, the beautiful grain that came up. Don't know what wood it is, but, it's too soft to checker.

I wiped on some ? cherry stain and maybe lacquer back then. Over 55 yrs ago so remembering is tough to do. I need to sand out the gouging from trying to checker it and do another nice job of finish.

I've seen similar things with quite a few wood stocks over the years. I have learned my lesson with cherry wood though. Came out great, over the years it's turned quite a bit too dark.

George

Not a Zastava, but CZ is also guilty of painting on a very opaque finish that obscures the grain. Almost any CZ stock will cosmetically benefit from refinishing -- although refinishing always hurts the resale value of a factory gun.

I was reminded of how to test stains; sand a bit in the barrel channel and try them. That is how I test stains and finishes on new stocks.

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Originally posted by Wallyfish:
I have a recently acquired Mark X with mannlicher stock. The overall finish appears to be a tinted spray-on. There is light fiddleback showing thru-out the length of the stock.
If I remove all the finish, and stain darker, will that enhance the fiddle back grain??? Hate to take off a good finish if it will not improve with lots of work.

Do you know what species of wood it is? Can you post a pic? It is possible to accentuate a grain but I must know what type of wood it is and grain pattern.

Hi Bobster,
Send me your Phone # and I will text some pics to you. It appears light walnut.
mine 817-twosixnine8582