What is the best way to remove the shiney Browning finish

[geobru]

Has anyone here successfully removed the finish from a browning rifle? I'm not sure if a conventional stripper would work on that plastic looking finish. Any experiences to share?

[Tycer]

I saw one a guy had just taken fine steel wool to. Just enough to soften the shine. It looked pretty good.

You'll have to sand it off. I tried aircraft stripper and failed.

[Borregos]

I took 0000 steel wool to mine and in a few hours it was just fine

[flatnose]

Remove the wood from the rifle, and sand down existing finish with 600grit wet/dy paper. Take the wood to a car body/paint shop, and have them spray it with a 2 pack urethane clearcoat, but first add some flatting agent to the clear.

[kimwcook]

I prefer an oiled finish on my rifles. I never could warm up to the urethane finish Browning puts on it's top end rifles. I had one of their high grade '86's in 45/70 with engraved receiver and just couldn't force myself to use it. It just wasn't meant to be in my hands in the woods.

[flatnose]

Sorry completely missed your question.
The finish on the wood is most likely urethane. If you want to remove it completely a paint stripper will work. Strippers can be had other than water soluble. Coat the wood with the stripper liberally, and wrap it in a plastic bag. This helps the action of the stripper by holding all the fumes and good stuff into the stripper. Leave it for half an hour, and remover bag, then stripper with a plastic scaper. Don't gouge the wood.

[flatnose]

p.s Just use the JASC, or is it JASCO? from home depot. Its in the gold tin. Dont bother with the other strippers, as I have tried them all, and they are pretty lame.

[NonPCnraRN]

Has anyone tried Easy Off oven cleaner?

[huntershooter]

I recently stripped and refinished (hand rubbed oil) an '86 Browning ("upgrade" wood).
I used an aerosol stripper and fine brass brush. It required 3 applications of stripper, the final stage I used a scraper. #600 grit sandpaper, tack cloth and five coats of "Formby's Tung Oil".
Never stripped a urethane stock as difficult as the Browning.
The sight of "plastc shiney" burled wood was more than I could take. It looked absured on a gun that was designed 120+ yrs. ago.

[jnyork]

Has anyone tried Easy Off oven cleaner?

Not for stripping modern finishes but works wonderfully to suck all the old oil and mung out of old military stocks and leave them completely bare.

[O.S.O.K.]

I don't like Easy Off because it also attacks the wood fiber.

Personally, I'd remove the wood and sand it down very lightly and apply a light stain of your choice - for walnut I prefer military "spirit stain" - available at brownells (has a redish cast to it to mimic old military stains) and topped with several rubbings of boilded linseed oil. But the birtchwood casey trueoil finish is supposed to be really good too.

[Rimfire McNutjob]

I think this was discussed before at some point. Didn't the finish actually turn out to be a clear epoxy and required a special type of stripper to get it off easily?

[BenT]

I'm with Rimfire on this one . I beleive the conversation on this before was that it is some type of epoxy and that Brownells sell the correct stripper for it.

[morgan in nm]

Has anyone tried Easy Off oven cleaner?

Not for stripping modern finishes but works wonderfully to suck all the old oil and mung out of old military stocks and leave them completely bare.

Tried it once on a k98 laminate and it started to seperate. Of course, it could have been the fact that it sat on the wood longer than I wanted because I had company come over.

[Noah Zark]

Has anyone tried Easy Off oven cleaner?

Not for stripping modern finishes but works wonderfully to suck all the old oil and mung out of old military stocks and leave them completely bare.

Tried it once on a k98 laminate and it started to seperate. Of course, it could have been the fact that it sat on the wood longer than I wanted because I had company come over.

Easy-Off is sodium hydroxide, aka "lye" or "caustic soda". It has an extremely high pH and like all strong alkali compounds it is very effective at breaking down organics. E-O will remove oils from oiled stocks and strip paints and other organic finishes and adhesives. That's why your K98k lam stock started to come apart. Given enough time and exposure, it will break down the wood itself. Pulp mills use TONS of sodium hydroxide in large pressure cookers called "digesters" to "cook" the wood chips under high temperature and pressure. The NaOH breaks down the lignin that holds the wood fibers together, making a dark liquid called "black liquor" and leaving brown "grocery bag" colored wood fibers behind.

Given all that, IMO, E-O is great for cleaning ovens but WAY too harsh for wooden gunstocks.

Noah

[Rimfire McNutjob]

I'm with Rimfire on this one . I beleive the conversation on this before was that it is some type of epoxy and that Brownells sell the correct stripper for it.

I think it may have been on the old board. Bummer.

[Scott Young]

it is a type of epoxy. i have tried every stripper under the sun and most under the moon. i finally had to just sand it down to raw wood. doing that you run a great risk of damaging it. mine faired well as it was already rough.

[geobru]

I'm with Rimfire on this one . I beleive the conversation on this before was that it is some type of epoxy and that Brownells sell the correct stripper for it.

This is the lead I was looking for. This is what Brownells is selling at about $30 per quart.

Certistrip

Heavy Duty - So Tough It Even Strips Remington and Browning Epoxy Finishes

The most potent stripper we've found. Fast, easy-to-use. Water cleanup. Works like honest-to-goodness magic in removing those incredibly tough epoxy finishes. Minimal grain raising; requires only light sanding before refinishing. Wear rubber gloves. Use adequate ventilation. Apply with a natural bristle brush.

Once again, the collective knowledge of the people on this forum comes through. Thank you all.