Original stock finish of Haenel Sportmodell 33?

fahnenschmied

I am rebuilding an old Sportmodell 33 with a stock made of elm wood. I had to mend a couple of places on it, and also, make a new foreend - it has been cut off at the barrel band. I'll need to make a new handguard for it too. Do any of you know what the original finish was? I know my Sportmodell 33 Junior has shellac on it. The finish that was on my elm stock looks a little like shellac, but alcohol doesn't seem to dissolve it well. It also clogged my sandpaper, in a way similar to how an oil finish would. The finish has also penetrated deep into some of the pores.
What do you gentleman think the original finish might have been? "French polish" of shellack and oil? A Nitrocellulose varnish, like Cellon? Simply shellack? Tung oil, perhaps?
There seems to have been some stain on it. It was very dirty when I got it, so I am not sure what was dirt and what was stain. And advice obout what was used in the 30s will be most appreciated.

Dave

daron01

Zitat von fahnenschmied

I am rebuilding an old Sportmodell 33 with a stock made of elm wood. I had to mend a couple of places on it, and also, make a new foreend - it has been cut off at the barrel band. I'll need to make a new handguard for it too. Do any of you know what the original finish was? I know my Sportmodell 33 Junior has shellac on it. The finish that was on my elm stock looks a little like shellac, but alcohol doesn't seem to dissolve it well. It also clogged my sandpaper, in a way similar to how an oil finish would. The finish has also penetrated deep into some of the pores.
What do you gentleman think the original finish might have been? "French polish" of shellack and oil? A Nitrocellulose varnish, like Cellon? Simply shellack? Tung oil, perhaps?
There seems to have been some stain on it. It was very dirty when I got it, so I am not sure what was dirt and what was stain. And advice obout what was used in the 30s will be most appreciated.
Dave

I think and i am 99% sure, simpy shellack is the only and nearest answer.Good Luck to you...R.from B.

**verodog**

Hi Dave,

...would love to see some Pics of the Mod. 33 and the work you have done on it.

Perhaps you can show some.

Regards ... Patrick

fahnenschmied

I'll see - I'll have to get a friend with a working camera to help me out....perhaps in a few days.

emgee

Hi Dave,

I'm surprised some of the fuckers here seem to speak, read and understand English pretty well!

I get cussed when I try German.

See you around.

Robert

fahnenschmied

Emgee, I read and understand German tolerably well, but when I try to write it, folks are too busy laughing to cuss me out. Certainly not as good as yours!

emgee

OK.
My advice is to be very careful with trying to renew the finish of these stocks. Very careful!

You mention elm wood, I can imagine it's probably beechwod. This sort is in my opinion almost impossible to restore. I've never had any luck with this wood, because the grain is too varied due to the different close density in the obvious runs of the grains in the wood.

Beechwood sucks. I can however guide you to a few links that successfully show beechwood restoration. I do not understand how they do it, maybe because the link is about American wood, and not European. When I do beechwood, I choose to just remove the surface chemically to maintain the hue, then proceed with the finishing process. The shade is then different than original, but the grain is mostly more predominant. This makes actually for a more appealing result.

I'm available for more info, just send a message.

Greetings, Robert

**HWJunkie**

Yes, beech works mostly only with (colored) lacquer.

I stained a beech stock once with a dark water-based stain.
It didn´t get an even finish, so I went darker and darker until it wasn´t that much noticeable:
Es war einmal ein schrottiger Teilehaufen namens Müller "Blitz"
With a lighter color it may have worked, but I didn´t try that.
The grain is just plain boring when no stain can enhance it.

On the other hand its cheap and really strong, but tends to chip when you do finer features.

Stefan

fahnenschmied

Emgee, while my Sportmodell 33 Junior is in fact Beech, the DSM34 like Sportmodell 33 stock is elm. The only stain I have ever tried with any luck on Beechwood is a very slight tint from American walnut hulls - and once I had some luck with the color boiled out from red oak bark. When I repaired my 33 Junior, I did not alter the original stock, other than to use alcohol to get the original finish off. I also used the darkest shellack I could find, but the original shellack had some bit of opaque color to it. A little help with my Sport Modell 33 junior? You can see the new handguard I made from beechwood off a mutilated 310 stock. Color matches pretty well. I think I gave it a slight wash with walnut hull stain, but very slight. Stefan is right, On other projects - crappy muzzleloader stocks of beech - no amount of stain seems to make them look good.
With this elm stock, I have had to destroy the existing finish - there was really none left on the surface, and it was all scarred up. Also, I have to splice on a new foreend, and that
will be much easier to blend if all the surface is new. In my experience, old oil soaked elm military stocks have a wonderful look, but when they are cleaned up much of the attraction is gone. This one was really nasty, but the finish - shellack or whatever - seems to have kept what oil it got from soaking into the wood.
Now I must get me some elm off ebay.de to repair it with - I am not sure whether our American variety would look the part!

fahnenschmied

Here is what my 33 Junior looked like when I started. The stock was not beat up but the metal was not so pretty. My current project has nasty wood but the blueing is in good shape!

http://www.gunauction.com/search/display…itemnum=9732580