The Remington Model 11 “The Sportsman” Refinishing Project

Whooo! This one took about 8 weeks on and off. It is from the 1940s. My business partner asked me to refinish this old firearm. The stock was...not presentable. The finish was passable, so we didn't go for a total rebluing. I gave this one a filled grain, sanded in finish. I first stripped the stock with CitriStrip. Soaked it for two days in acetone to get 80 years of oil out of the stock. I gave it an initial sand of 180 grit, and then used dark wood filler to fill in the grain. I thought this would make things go faster, but it still took seven coats of sanded in finish. I progressed from 220, 320, 400, and finished with 600 grit paper. My finish was TruOil cut with mineral spirits (1:5). After the finish cured for a week , I then finished the finish with two coats of hand rubbed boiled linseed oil. I let that cure for two weeks. Then the checkering. This took way longer than I thought it would, but it was worth it. I finished the checkering with one coat of the 1:5 finish mixture. I sealed it all up with Renaissance wax. I took the whole gun down and gave the barrel and receiver the rust removal treatment of degreasing and 20 minutes in the steam pipe, and then carded with a 0.003 carding wheel.