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*Guide to make VFC wood look better*


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Welcome to my guide on how to make your VFC wood look a lot better, before I start I will say if you decide to use this guide your doing it at your own risk and I will not be responsible if you completely screw it up. Anyway here goes

 

This technique is not hard but requires a little time, it will make your VFC (or other brand wood that will just be referred to VFC wood) feel better, look better and in the case of VFC wood show the natural grain a lot better. The wood will also appear more worn, more on that later.

 

First off you need to get off that awful VFC paint. This is the hardest part but to simplify things I’ll write it in stages. At this stage you will need: A course and a fine piece of sandpaper, wire wool and a cloth or kitchen cloth.

 

Step 1- Using the course sandpaper rub of all the visible paint (you can do the inside but I decided not to because its aqwad and I didn’t want to risk breaking it)

 

Step 2- Once its all off go over the wood with the finer sandpaper to make it more smooth

 

Step 3- Now go over the wood with the wire wool, you want the whole thing nice and smooth with none of VFCs paint left on. If there is your varnish (or whatever you decide to use pending what finish you want) wont soke in properly and wont look good.

 

Step 4- Once its all nice and smooth rub over it with the cloth to remove any filings or other jank.

 

It should look like this

 

PIC1.jpg

 

Next is the painting, I used the paint pictured below (called dark mahogany) and a small brush. Paint over the wood one coat at a time. TAKE YOUR TIME, if you leave blotches or put the next coat on too quick it won’t look so good. I suggest using this style of paint (a gloss varnish) because it soaks into the wood and leaves a slight shine that 74 wood has.

 

paint.jpg

 

To help you choose your colour here is some pictures of what each coat looks like remember to wait the time it says on your paint can before applying the next coat.

 

Coat 1

COAT1.jpg

 

Coat 2

coat2.jpg

 

Coat 3 has disappeared from my computer but it looks a lot like coat 2 however the paint is getting darker and darker so just keep going and be patient ;)

 

Coat 4

coat4.jpg

 

Coat 5

coat5.jpg

 

At coat 5 I decided to stop because this is the finish I liked, however you could keep going to make it darker if you wanted too. Another thing you could do is just put another coat on the areas you want darker than the rest e.g. over the grooves.

 

As for wear and weathering VFCs paint was so think scratches etc would never show up and this made the wood look terrible. Now you can see the thousands of dark scratches and could easily put more in if you so wish. You could also use black ink to make it look more weather or put on many more layers of the paint you used above.

Once you’ve got it the way you like your done, not hard just takes time and even if you completely screw it up it will still look better than VFC wood ;) If you don’t want to do it yourself I may be able to do it for you (drop me a PM) and if you decide to do it I’d love to hear the results, I will also be doing this to the dboys AKSU in about a weeks time. That wood will be done much darker so there will be another shade for you to see then. Here is the resulting wood on my VFC AKS74N (lighting isn’t very good)

xvx.jpg

Thanks for reading, remember if you follow this guide your at your own risk not mine ;) Good luck!

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excellent and rather spooky - been doing very same thing this morning in very same colour :)

 

I went with ronseal gloss woodstain rather than the varnish seems to be a bit more opaque than the varnish so colours quicker (going by stage 2 and stage 4 photos first coat uing the woodstain is around stage 3 of varnish) Only downside I can see is it probably wont have the same 'depth' as you've got with the varnish

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Also the paint i used is good on the VFC magazine, simply lightly sand from top to bottom of the magazine then put a coat over it. Ok its not a perfect bakelite mag effect but again better than VFCs . And if it comes out too shiny rub the mag in dirt like i did, i could of done something more constructive but dirt just seemed more AK :D

 

Edit: 400th post :D

Edited by Fin
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unicorngrip.jpg

unicorn lower handguard banged up n dented a little then stained with the wood stain version, original AKSU upper handguard fitted along side it and the original unicorn yellow finish upper grip stuck on top of the rear sight unit for before and after colour comparison.

 

The gloss woodstain version does cover a lot more quickly than the varnish but you dont have as much control over darkness of the colour. I didnt mind as i was after something dark for the AKSU but you wanted a medium colour using the woodstain version you'ld have to put such a little amount on I doubt it would be very glossy, so Fins option of the varnish is better if you want to build up colour

Edited by snorkelman
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  • 2 weeks later...

I think they are at least comparable to TM and Guarder. I´ve used a PDI 150/ 7mm bearings/ 9,6 V 2000mAh in my version 1 VFC AKSU #73, for a year now. It has a pretty high ROF, and I only just recently replaced the original broken piston. I have opened it for cleaning a few times and all the other parts, gears,motor etc., show no noticeable wear yet. With the new piston and re-shimming it kicks *albatross* like never before. :D

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Nice guide, would probably apply to more than just this wooden bit of furniture. If you told me to imagine an AK, I'd think of it with the wood a lot like this, but a bit dinged up. An AK's not an AK without going through some hardships. :P I thought coat 2 looked alright, 3 is probably where I would stop.

Edited by Ritifo
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Eye the more buggered it looks the better, scratches and darker sections will make it look much nicer. i may try it with my ones if nobody buys them, i need money! :(

 

Edit: also sandpapering a few areas will also make it look used.

 

 

 

...I want to try this on a full stocked version

Edited by Fin
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  • 1 month later...

Dunno if this was said already, but if you "sand" it down (meaning use the same movements as with a piece of sandpaper) with a brown paper bag just before you apply the wood stain. This opens up the pours in the wood so the stain will soak in better, giving you a more even finish that holds the grain of the wood better :) Just remember to dust everything off before you put the stain on lol.

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