Professional Wood Repair and Refinishing ?

[RobertNashville]

Hello everyone.

I apologize if this question has been asked before (I did “search†but didn’t find what I was looking for)…equal apologies if this is the wrong place to post this question!

I have two firearms that could use some wood repair/refinishing – I don’t really want to do a total refinish; just an expert repair on some minor damage. One is a Browning Citori O/U that has one nasty nick and a couple of minor scratches on the fore-stock. The other is a Browning A-Bolt with a bad scratch on the main stock (I’m actually just purchasing this one from a forum member). Both of these have fairly high-quality finishes.

So…my question is whether we have anyone on the forum that does that kind of work and/or that you can recommend? Ideally I’d like to be someone in the middle Tennessee area but I’m willing to travel a bit to get a good job done.

Thanks in advance for any help/advice!

[LeadWaster]

Some of the best touch-up and spot refinishing I've seen is by the folks that do work for furniture companies. We bought an entertainment center a few years ago and it was delivered with a couple of big dings on the edge of the door. The furniture company sent a guy over and he worked magic on it! He filled, touched up, and sprayed some finish on it. You really can't see it any more at all. I build instruments for a living and am accustom to really fine finishing.... this guy was good! Most of these stocks are finished with what we'd call "modern" finishes... catalyzed, poly finishes, what have you. They aren't easy to repair like good 'ol nitrocellulose lacquer or shellac. Touch up coats don't "burn in" to previous finish. The furniture guys know how to handle this. Call a good furniture company near you and see if they have a guy that does this... get his phone number and see if he'll tackle it.

[RobertNashville]

That's an excellent suggestion...thanks!!!

[Guest GunTroll]

If that doesn't work I can put you in contact with my stock guy. He does the above mentioned high gloss spray finishes that are second to none. I can't quote for him but it would be a total refinish. Not a spot job. Dents are easily "pulled" out if they aren't too deep.

Good luck!

[LeadWaster]

Dents can often be steamed out, but with finish on top of the dent, it becomes much more difficult. If the wood fibers are torn and not just "crushed", then steam won't pull it out all of the way. The furniture guys are good at filling and making the grain match. Complete refinishing is a good idea (in my opinion) if the finish on the stock has gotten really bad. It's not a good idea if it's a collectible gun. For a ding/scratch or two, I'd be inclined to go with the spot repair. You might always know it's there, but if you don't point it out to anyone, they'll probably never notice it. Most of the repair guys are independent contractors, I suspect, so you might get a better price if you don't have to deal thru the furniture company. The guy that worked on our entertainment center spent no more than 45 minutes here.

[RobertNashville]

In both cases, the finishes are far to nice and the damage too small to do a total refinish...both are fairly valuable weapons and I doubt I'd ever do a total refinish on either. How "valuable" either will be in the future is debatable but I don't expect either will lose value.

[LeadWaster]

In this economy, everyones crystal ball is a bit fuzzy! But, I doubt seriously, given reasonable care, that they will do anything but go up in value. I wish I'd purchased more than one S&W model 41 back in the early '80's! Just glad I've got one.