CZ-Man- If you look carefully under the finish on your CZ you very well might see a darn good chunk of wood, or, it may be a fencepost. Either way, to me, refinishing enhances the rifle. I refinished the stock of my CZ 550 American. Let me start by saying you need a boatload of patience. I first removed the barreled action and slink bolts from the rifle, then the buttpad. I had refinished a Ruger Mark II in 7x57mm, and I used GBLindspeed Oil to do it. I naturally gravitated to the GB for this project. J Belk, a gunsmith I know, called the CZ finish elephant snot and he wasn't too far off. That stuff is a booger to get off. I used many applications of citri-strip. I ended up using one of those scotchbrite pads to help the process along. It took many, many applications to get the stock naked. To my surprise, what I thought was a little figure under the finish turned out to be a whole lot of figure, and a pretty figure at that. For the checkering, I used a liberal amount of citri-strip worked into all nooks and crannies by a stiff toothbrush. Make sure you clean the brush off because it will be used later. After the stock was completely dry I used a can of lighter fluid and completely wet the stock down, from one end to the other, including the checkering. I let that process dry as well. Next was the finish. The stock required no sanding as it was ready to go after the lighter fluid. I did not use a stain because none was called for and none was needed. I also did not use any filler, because the stock didn't need any. The way I read the directions, I applied a sparing amount of oil on the stock and applied it with my index and middle finger as a spreader. I was very careful to not get the finish into the checkering. When the stock was covered with a light coat and the finish was sinking into the wood, I put it up and let the finish dry completely (about two days). I got the stock out and repeated the process, except on top of the first coat and again, made sure not one drop got into the checkering. If any finish does get into the checkering, use the toothbrush to get it out. Once again, I put the stock up and let it dry. Next, I took 0000 steel wool and steel wooled the finish off right down to bare wood. The two applications and taking back to bare wood with the steel wood represents one repetition. After the first repetition, I repeated the repetitions 12 more times. In all, 24 coats of finish. Each time, the finish soaked into the wood a little more and more, so the finish was in the wood, not on it. On repetition 13, there is a difference. I took an old wooden gun case I have, cleaned all of the guns out of it, and washed the inside out completely with pine sol so there was no dust at all in there .... anywhere. Next, I used canned air to blow the inside of the guncase out just to make doubly sure there was no dust present. I next got out a roll of wide masking tape, the kind that is about two inches wide. On the 23rd coat, just two dabs of my finger in the jar of oil was enough to cover all the stock, but not the checkering! With the stock covered with the oil, I gently walked to the guncase about two steps away and placed the stock inside, so no oiled part was touching any edge of the case. I then used the tape to tape up all seams of the door so the inside of the guncase was like a dust-free chamber. I let the oil dry and then applied one last coat, which was only one finger dab-full into the bottle. The very last step was to put my left hand into the action and magazine area of the stock so I could hold it up okay, and then dabbed my index finger into the oil and put the light dab on the right side foreend checkering. The next step was to use the toothbrush to even spread the oil completely through the checkering. The same process was done to all the rest of the checkering panels. With that done, the stock went back into the guncase kept at room temperature. I gently closed the door so as not to stir up any dust and again taped the door seams completely. I let that last coat dry (about two days). This finish gives you a shiny finish, which I like. It makes you feel like you can look down deep into the wood when looking at the rifle. The finish was put on a couple of years ago and has held up well. My rifle is a functional rifle, not a looking rifle. I finished it off by having a gunsmith jewell the bolt in a small herringbone pattern and polish the bolt handle to the bright nickle that is under the black finish on the bolt handles. I hope all that helps you. Like I said, it is a long, drawn-out process, but in my humble opinion, well worth the effort.
