Learned about denatured alcohol back in the early 90s, from an antique furniture restorer. Another good way is brush it on liberally, let it set for about 10 minutes. It will bubble and lift the old varnish. Scrape it off with a plastic bondo spreader. Clean up with another alcohol soaked rag.

Have you ever done a flow up to this stock finishing? I’d love to see how you made it look like the classic darker one.

Dear Mark, I have a similar technique which I have been using for 20 odd years refurbishing old military rifles, what I do is place a paper towel/shop towel over the stock and complete wet it with paint thinners or acetone. the shop towel will allow the thinners/acetone to work longer before evaporating; and as it evaporates the finish is absorbed into the towel and thrown away. One or two goes and most finishes will be in the paper towel. No mess and works great.

I use a half cup of alcohol with 2 cups of the acid which naturally occurs in orange juice, no need to separate from the orange juice itself. Add four big ice cubes and set the stock aside and consume the mixture. After about three of those, you won’t care if the stock looks ugly or not.

I have one of which the wood was very dinged up and dried out. It had turned black over time. I went drastic and soaked the wood in acetone which also lifted the dirt and grime from inside the dings. As the grime washed off I noticed traces of the original stain. I then proceeded to mimic the stain with a combination of dark walnut and red mahogany. The result turned out to be a lot more brown than red....because of the very yellow gum wood. Ended up with another acetone soaking to remove the stain and re stained it with only red  mahogany which resulted in a glorious red brown finish...

Yeah mate that's pretty good stuff that and it also works well in getting out old gun oil in the wood . Great tips mate look forward in see her finished

I used to slop the varnish on all my old military rifles. I might put 8 coats on each gun. But I always kept the wood separate from the metal parts. I never sanded the wood, just coated it. I never messed with the metal at that time. I have considered getting the varnish off and so this video might help.

I used your your advice and it worked great on my Winchester

Used your technique on a uberti 1873 to get rid of that gosh awful red varnish they put on there stocks the walnut underneath turned out to be pretty nice

a mild steel scraper with a slight curve to the edge works wonders without hitting any wood

Very Nice Video. Recently, I refinished the furniture on my Grandfather's Stevens 1915 favorite.  Denatured alsohol worked great because the finish was Shellac over a linseed oil base.  If you did have a varnish finish, a paint stripper would be the only way to remove it.  I did not sand the stock or the hand grip, I used a razor blade to gently scrape so as not to remove too much wood I refinished it with some brown mahogany stain followed the next day with some boiled linseed oil. Several days later, it took 2 coats of amber shellac the rubbed out with a green pad and wax.  I came out so good I did my Arisaka the same way but left the dings.  The old guns are precious I'm glad they are being restored and protected.

Sanding and refinishing must have been as common in the old days as Polymer Pistol Stippling is now. I can not tell you how many people I've had to tell their Military Surplus rifle is worth less then what they think because some schmuck sanded the wood in the 60s. Great video Sir!

Well I’ve watched every one of your videos today and commented on most. I really enjoy what you’re doing and look forward to more. Thanks!

Thanks a lot I just got a m95 carbine and its COATED in varnish. Good to know it just this simple to take off.

I'm sure you've heard this before but at first glance you look like Johnny Crawford with that cowboy hat on. Good video. Enjoying the refinishing instruction👍👍

@sam  stout   I have found that denatured alcohol works more effectively when mixed 50/50 with lacquer thinner and using 4/0 steel wool rather than shop rags.

This channel is terrible! I just called to purchase an 1873 from Texas and all I have been doing is watching all your video! I'm hooked. Love this channel and your work. Thanks.

Great tip. Always been lil concerned about stripping and refinishing any of my guns,so I can't wait for next video. I have a model 36 Marlin apart right now. This info is perfect timing for me. Thank you for all the Videos and info.

I have a 92 with a gum wood stock and a layer of lacquer. The lacquer been used to try to hide the black marks that come with abrasions and knocks to gum wood. I would be interested to see if gum wood when stained would not show the black marks so prominently.

Thank you Cinnabar, Great tip! Just what I needed for a nice old Stevens  that someone before me had their way with......................Doc