SKS stock finish

[Ropke Nine]

I'm in the process of refinishing my SKS stock, last night I stained it with Minwax natural stain and came out like this, this is only one coat. I'm also going to put a few coats of satin polyurethane on it. My question is has anyone ever stained it like this and that's it. And would that be a sort of durable finish? I'm new to woodworking and stock finishing, and looked into BLO and tung oil and such but those seem to much hassle, I want this gun to be a shooter and not have to worry about applying oil every month. Thanks.

 

[SKS Ray]

Yugo SKS rifles are said to either have Beech or Elm. As far as I know neither will take stain very well and usually have a nice color in their natural state. If it were mine I'd put BLO or Tung Oil on it with no stain. Millions of rifles have had either of the two for a finish over many years and still look great today.

 

[martin08]

I agree with Ray, here. From the looks of the striped wood grain, you have an elm stock.

My first SKS was a Yugo much like yours, and I regret the day that I refinished the beautiful blond stock with polyurethane.....

.... oh, if I could do it all over again with just a coat or two of BLO.

 

[Ropke Nine]

Just reassembled the SKS after putting on 3 coats of satin polyurethane. Came out really good, and didn't darken it that much.

Here's the rifle straight out of the box.