[targa911S]

A 12? Wow it looks smaller. I hate birch. It has no character at all. The stock that is the subject in this thread is birch. Not much you can do with it. It's soft. Thats why the checkering is pressed in rather than cut. he cutter just rips the wood rather than cut it. Not good for checkering. It also gets this black grain to it, that looks dirty. Can't get around it. put some nice walnut on it. Even straight walnut is nicer than the birch. You can get a nice set, fore and butt for around $125.00. I found that piece of crotch feather walnut on ebay for $25.00. It's worth more than the whole gun. Those bolt though the stock so it's easy to fit.

If you want to take the old oil off, any paint stripper will do it. When you wipe the stripper off use mineral spirits not water. That will minimize the "whiskering" the wood gets when you use water and it dries. if it whiskers, just use 00 steel wool. Try NOT to sand the old stock at all. Once you strip it. put it back on the gun and tape off the receiver. That way you don't take off too much wood and make the metal parts proud. Use steel wools, 0-0000. If you must use sand paper go lightly. Any dents can be steamed out with a wet wash rag and an iron. As a final touch, "fine guns" have all the screws indexed to line up with the axis of the gun, so make all your screw slots point down the barrel. All of them, buttplate, trigger guard, forend screws and top tang screw.