[blahman]

Hello all,

I purchased a beautiful 2009 JM-marked stainless 1895GS 45-70 last Saturday and decided immediately that I wanted to remove the checkering and refinish the furniture. At the same time, I slimmed down the forestock as it seemed unnecessarily bulky or "fat". Kind of reminded me of a whale...

Only tools used were varying sandpapers (60-600, and 0000 wool), and a belt sander for the stock slimming. I used Watco Natural Danish Oil to refinish, which is a long-time favorite. Wonderfully protective on hardwoods, more so than normal stain for sure, but with a tremendous depth and richness to the luster.

We are thrilled with the result! Here are a bunch of photos of the process and result. Next phase is installing ring sights, but I haven't decided which yet. Maybe the Skinner Alaskan, or their new "Trapper" with the "Bear" front.

Enjoy!


BEFORE/AFTER:




More before photos:





More photos in next post

 

[blahman]

The Process:

 

[blahman]

The Refinished Furniture (1):

 

[blahman]

The Refinished Furniture (2):

 

[powdermonkey]

Nicely done. Looks great! I would have bought a new stock and fore end and kept the original JM vintage furniture.

 

[mrguvna]

very nice compared to the cheesy checkering. I really like the grain looks great!

 

[blahman]

very nice compared to the cheesy checkering.

Yeah, we were very disappointed with the quality of checkering. When it's cut by hand and done well, it can be so beautiful.

However Marlin did it though...not so much. And they may as well have used a cheaper, less beautiful hardwood considering the type of grain-clotting finish they used originally. uke:


So much color in the Walnut now!

 

[quiet22]

Wonderful work.......thanks for the excellent photos.......

 

[miket156]

Nice work. Too bad Remington is still shipping Project guns instead of the finished product. :frown:



Mike T.

 

[Crusader556]

Looks great!

 

[Blaine]

Great work!
It sure made the grain pop, too.

 

[msharley]

Hey B,

100% "improvement"!

Really nice looking furniture, now!

Later, Mark

 

[blahman]

Too bad Remington is still shipping Project guns instead of the finished product.

This is a late JM-stamped rifle, 2009. The finish was on par with earlier stainless 1895GSs I had seen though.

 

[AZsparrow]

Looks nice, you did good! I personally prefer all my older Marlins with the smooth stocks myself, just like them better that way than that checkering with the diamond, etc.
Congrats on the rifle too, and enjoy!

 

[white fox]

Nice color on the wood. Great Job.

 

[M1Riflenut]

 

[1956CJ5]

Ah, dude - you're my hero! That looks GREAT! I have a new Remlin 1894 .44 and I want to do EXACTLY that to it!

My concern is how much wood has to come off the buttstock wrist to eliminate the checkering, I'm worried about causing a noticable "waist" or "coke bottle" effect there. But yours looks good, do you feel like it's excessively skinny right there? Is it noticable? Did you have to work down the rest of the buttstock to "taper" or "blend" it towards the wrist?

Am I just worried about nothing? You've definitely got me itching now! Gotta let my shoulder heal up more though.

 

[miket156]

This is a late JM-stamped rifle, 2009. The finish was on par with earlier stainless 1895GSs I had seen though.

You know what they say about "assume". I assumed you removed the checkering because the way Remington is doing that now is not up to snuff. :wink:

Better that you have a late model real Marlin. I have a 2008 Marlin that has all Marlin components and its a fine looking rifle. The checking looks good to me and the action it is a smooth as butter. I don't shoot it very often by when I do it sure goes BANG. :top:



Mike T.

 

[blahman]

Hey CJ5,

I don't think you have anything to worry about. If your 94 is anything like the thickness of my 95, there is plenty of wood there. The checkering was maybe 1mm deep, and since I took it off by hand, it was easy to blend it out. There is no hint it was there, no real shape change, and I didn't really purposefully "taper" it. Started with 60 grit till checkering was mostly gone, then went to 80 until it was actually gone, then just moved up the grits till smooth.

Do it!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[1956CJ5]

Hey CJ5,

I don't think you have anything to worry about. If your 94 is anything like the thickness of my 95, there is plenty of wood there. The checkering was maybe 1mm deep, and since I took it off by hand, it was easy to blend it out. There is no hint it was there, no real shape change, and I didn't really purposefully "taper" it. Started with 60 grit till checkering was mostly gone, then went to 80 until it was actually gone, then just moved up the grits till smooth.

Do it!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Cool, thanks! I didn't think it would be a big deal, just like to hear that from someone who's BT&DT. I have a Ryobi Corner Cat electric sander that should make quick work of getting the checkering down to where I can take over by hand.

No hurry though, I can do this any time. Recently had rotator cuff surgery, really need to back off my tinkering and let that heal properly. Been pushing my luck.