The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

Steam. Use a wallpaper steamer or similar. The finish comes off and the dents come out.
Fred

Fred, I normally just lightly break the surface and then pop them into the dishwasher however this one is a tad too long for the new slimline Dishwasher...

I've refinished many stocks and never used paint stripper as it raises the grain as you soak it apart from generally being horrible stuff. I've always just used a cabinet scraper and then shellac to seal the grain followed by lots of coats of booked linseed oil. All have come up beautifully!

Raising the grain is a good thing though, sand it back then raise it again and sand then keep on going till you've got the thing as smooth as you want. Three times is usually enough. Then stain followed by grain sealer and the oil finish of your choice. Get a glass like finish that way.

Can varnish be just sanded off ?

Scraping is better for varnish however cleaning the chequering out can be tedious.

I've had good results with CCL gunstock varnish and lacquer remover, it's lethal!

the active ingredient is a solvent called dichloromethane

https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/chemistry/ ... enter.html set up a trade account these guys might sell it mix with wallpaper paste to make good ole fashioned nasty non environmental gunk. That works.

breacher wrote:Can varnish be just sanded off ?

It can, but if you get too enthusiastic it's easy to upset the profile e.g., the butt plate/grip plate no longer fits properly etc.