Blonde Wood AK Furniture

I have some Bulgy AK 74 wood furniture that I stripped the lacquer from and refinished in order to give it the blonde look.

This is what is started out as:



This is the look I wanted:







I used Formby's Paint & Poly Remover, some brushes, sandpaper, a plastic scrapper, Oxyclean and Minwax "Natural" stain to do this project.


I first applied Formby's Paint & Poly Remover (a gelatinous substance) with a brush to the wood and let it set in for about 30+ minutes. I then used a plastic scrapper to remove the old stain that bubbled up to the surface (kind of weird/cool).




Once it dried, I sanded off the excess gunk (stain) with some light grit sandpaper. I cleaned off the wood and then I used a strong mix of OxyClean and water (in a small tub) to bleach the wood after stripping it.




Here is how the Oxyclean bleached it.







I let the wood dry for about a week and then I sanded it and applied the first coat of Minwax "Natural" stain. Well, it did not turn out to be blond, but it looks nice. I should have just used Shellac or maybe a Golden Pecan stain.











I got a ton of help from the nice guys at Gunco.net and ak47.net. Let me know if you need any help attempting this. I plan on doing more refinishing in the future and I'll be glad to share any tips with you. I'd love to hear your tips as well.

My SAR 3 (AK in 5.56) Rifle

Well, after much debate, I broke down and bought a SAR 3 rifle. I used to own a WASR 3, and had to take it back to the store where I bought it. That rifle was a jam-o-matic joke. The quality and finish were poor and it no matter which mags (Weiger East German or the Romanian versions) the rifle experience FTF's and FTE's. I was really disappointed, as the concept of an AK 74 style rifle in 5.56 really appealed to me.

Here's what an out of the box WASR 3 looks like (rough wood and finish, non threaded barrel).



I did quite a lot of reseatch before I bought my SAR 3, and found a good deal on Gun Broker. The rifle came with black, polymer furniture. It was pretty nice, but as I already have a nice set on my SLR-160fr, I wanted to use some Bulgarian AK 74 wood furniture. I attempted to bleach the wood in order to give it a blond look, but that didn't work out. I do like the way it turned out though.



I had to mod a Bugarian 5.56 "Circle 10" mag to fit the rifle. The rifle came with a bakelite AK style mag that's labled 5.56. I haven't taken the rifle to the range yet, but I will do that this coming Independence Day weekend and post the video. I think I'm going to take out my recently deceased Hoover vacuum cleaner!

Glock 23 Pistol (James and I at the range) 40 Cal.

I know that it's been a while since I've last posted anything, but I was able to go to the range with my friend James the other weekend. It was his first time with a Glock 23, or .40 cal pistol for that matter. I was there to let off some steam after a brutal work week in corporate America. I thought that James would like it, so I asked him to come along. We both had a lot of fun.