AK-47 "Red Russian" wood refinishing tutorial (WASR)

[Trap9]

Alright, so as most people know, the wood that comes with WASR's are pure garbage, but with a little bit of work, you can actually make that ugly WASR into a decent looking rifle!

What You will need:
-Sand Paper: 80 grit, 120 grit, 220 grit
-Steel wool: fine
-McCormick red food coloring (this is the stain, believe it or not)
-Polyurethane (i used Minwax wipe-on poly)
-a clean working space
-foam brushes
-rags and newspaper
-Rubber gloves (because food coloring stains and polyurethane is sticky)

Roughly cost me $15 and about 4 days of work for much better looking wood.

Just proof of what I started off with :P


**I kept all of my grooves/ parts that don't show free of any stain and poly, since that would only make the fit tighter. Results may vary dependent on the condition of your wood. Also, I put (WASR) in the title because I don't know how red food coloring would affect hardwoods that come with other AK's. If you have any questions, feel free to post in this thread or send me a PM, and i'll try to help you out. **
Okay, lets get started:

Step One:
((optional)- Ive heard of some people running their furniture through the dishwasher to clean the grease off, I didn't do this and mine came out fine.)

You are going to want to take your furniture off of your gun, remove all of the metal pieces such as the sling notch and butt pad, and sand it down with 80 grit, then 120 and finish it off with 220 grit. I used 220 grit to loosen up the grooves on my foregrips, and the front of the stock since they were a tight fit, just don't take too much away.

Step Two:

Pour your bottle of food coloring into a container easier for dipping brushes in, and use a foam brush to apply a heavy coat on all of the wood, let this sit overnight. The next night, you will want to run it under water real quick and give it a little wipe with a rag. Let it dry.

Next day put several coats on, letting it dry completely in between, and after you feel that enough has soaked in, wipe it down with a damp towel and let it dry.

Step Three:

(Make Sure that your furniture touches as little as possible, I put the edges of my stock on scrap wood blocks, and I set my fore grips with the flat ends touching the wood, since only the inside would be touching.)
Apply light coats of poly, sanding with 220 in between each couple of coats, letting each dry completely. I put on about seven to eight coats. Once you feel you are satisfied with the texture, rub the furniture gently down with fine steel wool.


EDIT: more pics







If you have any additional questions or need tips just let me know.