De greasing/De-oiling old rifle stocks?

[stubbicatt]

Guys I have an old Winchester with a well worn finish on receiver and barrel, and the wood of the stocks is pretty dark from use and oils. I suppose my options are to replace the stocks with new wood, or try to soak some of the oils and darkness from the wood, and maybe apply a linseed oil finish after.

Any tips you fellas know of that will allow me to gently get some of those oils out of the wood?

I'm not so sure I want to refinish the rifle, but that is an option for the future.

[Blackwater]

Stubby, the only way I know that really works is to immerse that portion of the stock in acetone. That should seep slowly down into the wood, and leech out the oil that's in there. It takes quite a while, and the acetone has to be replentished regularly due to its volatility. This, of course, has to be done away from any flames, so not around any gas heaters. And heaters of any kind are at least somewhat risky, so I prefer to do this in the summer. Luckily, there's no rush to get it out, so that would be what I'd do if it were me. There are other compounds, like quick lime, that have been used, but I prefer the acetone. Quick lime (I've only used it on small stuff) tends to bleach the wood out, and I wasn't pleased with the result. Not so with the acetone. Hope this helps, at least a bit?

[Petrol & Powder]

http://www.brownells.com/userdocs/products/p_083032100_1.jpgThis is the proper way to remove oil from wood.

[Rick Hodges]

Many years ago I used the Brownell's whiting on an old 7mm Mauser 95 that I purchased from a barrel in the corner of the sporting goods department in K'mart. (LOL) I refinished with True Oil and it came out ok....I was impatient and 18 or 19 yrs old.....no thing of beauty but the stuff did get rid of a lot of oil/cosmoline in the stock. I think I paid $15-20 out the door. LOL

[leadman]

I've refinished a bunch of old mil-surp guns that were badly oil soaked. I have used oven cleaner and it works well but a little expensive.
Now I use Purple Power soap I buy at Walmart for $12 for 2 1/2 gallons. This gets almost all of the oil off but any really bad spots I use paint thinner and then PP again. For those darkened dings that don't want to clean up I use acetone.
I have not had a stock that this procedure damaged and I probably have done 20 or so this way.
Make sure the stock dries completely before working on it.
To raise any dents where the wood grain is not broken I apply a wet paper towel for about 5 to 10 minutes, then use the flat tip in my soldering gun to heat the paper towel over the dent. This causes the steam to penetrate the wood and lift it to the surrounding surface area. A hot clothes iron also works. Sometimes it also helps with a ding that the wood has been broken.
I usually stain the wood and apply a urethane finish if the gun might see bad weather. Boiled linseed oil works well and gives a nice finish for guns that might only go to the range. 154179154180 This is a 96 Swede I did a couple of weeks ago with boiled linseed oil.

[Powder Burn]

This is probably more than you will need but I found this:

http://thecmp.org/training-tech/armorers-corner/wood-cleaning-article/#61

I've used Easy Off and 0000 steel wool on my beat up rack grade Garands. Scrub a dub dub, rinse well with hot water, let dry then apply Tung oil. Looks pretty good on walnut. The article above doesn't recommend anything water base. (which is my method). Again, they are talking Garand stocks and preserving as much as the original finish/wood grain as possible.

I am also a proud owner of my wifes x-clothes iron. Wet T shirt applied to stock and then iron to steam dents out. Since I ruined her iron in the process I had to buy her a new one.

[gwpercle]

On old oil soaked military stocks I like to use a soak in mineral spirits, then scrub with brush and rub with steel wool , if still grungy, soak and scrub again. Give the mineral spirits time to leach out the oil / grease. Finding a container long enough to soak the stock in is the tricky part.
You do have to give the stock a good amount of time to dry out and DO use deodorized or odorless spirits, the regular stuff smell to high heaven.

If the stock is really caked, break out the acetone in place of mineral spirits....just be careful it's a bit flammable and hard on your skin...wear gloves.

I don't care for using water and soap or oven cleaner and water (that's the only way to rinse it off) on wood...water and wood are not friends.

Gary

[shooter93]

Check what the Browells whiting actually is.....the whiting I use is calcium carbonate and you can buy it in larger quantities for less.

[Petrol & Powder]

Check what the Browells whiting actually is.....the whiting I use is calcium carbonate and you can buy it in larger quantities for less.
That is exactly what it is. However, the real point is that using a solvent alone, such as acetone, isn't nearly as effective as drawing the oil out of the wood. The solvent will often just remove the oil near the surface and drive the remaining oil even deeper into the pores of the wood. The goal is to pull the oil out of the wood, not dilute the oil near the surface and thin the oil just under the surface. That is why the whiting works better than a solvent alone.

[GhostHawk]

I redid my Yugo SKS stock a year ago, it was almost black with oil and cosmo in places.

Googone to loosen up the cosmolene, wiping it off with paper towels. Then citristrip to remove the old finish, I ended with a boiling water rinse and just blotted it well with clean towels, hung it to dry a couple of days in the sun.

Then just light sanding, and several thin coats of true oil, like 7 or maybe 8. After it had cured solid rubbed in just enough beeswax to bring the shine down to a matt finish. Every ding, scratch, and intial is still there. Clean, nice looking and safely locked away from weather. I'm happy with it.

Don't be afraid to get in there and start.

[plainsman456]

I have soaked several stocks in denatured alcohol.
I use lead bars to keep them from floating and leave them for as long as needed.

Then let them dry for several days.
Large outdoor trash bags work real nice for rifle stocks and for shorter ones i use cheap plastic containers from the dollar store.

[abunaitoo]

For the container long enough to fit long stocks, I use black plastic drain pipe.
Plug one end and glue on a clean out fitting to the other end.
I don't know if it the pipe will hold up to acetone, but odorless mineral spirits work well.

[Lead Fred]

Easy off oven cleaner and steel wool. Made my Garand stock look new

[BigEyeBob]

Guys I have an old Winchester with a well worn finish on receiver and barrel, and the wood of the stocks is pretty dark from use and oils. I suppose my options are to replace the stocks with new wood, or try to soak some of the oils and darkness from the wood, and maybe apply a linseed oil finish after.

Any tips you fellas know of that will allow me to gently get some of those oils out of the wood?

I'm not so sure I want to refinish the rifle, but that is an option for the future.

I used an electric heat gun , heating slowly to draw the oil to the surface and wipe off with paper towels , in conjunction with acetone don't need to get it too hot .
My Lee Enfield was soaked right through around the magazine well and near the butt socket from years of being oiled and stored barrel up .
It now looks really nice with no trace of oil stains .Now it wears a hand rubbed oil finish .

[leebuilder]

Easy off and steel wool is the best. Heat and paper towels/rags. A trick i learned,,, black garbage bag on a hot sunny day. I had a P14 that after alot of firing was like a greased eel. So heat works too.
be well

[Jpholla]

On old wood, I generally try to start by soaking with turpentine, since it comes from wood and I feel it is more "restorative" to it, I think because it has a little rosin and other "wood" chemicals in it. I then move on to other solvents like acetone if it seems necessary, but old wood can be brittle if dessicated too much. After soaking, I put it in a pan surrounded by bentonite clay (oil soak, kitty litter, etc.) somewhere warm but not hot enough to scorch the wood. Repeat as needed. I've used water based cleaners and lye and while they work, they can be too harsh on softer or older, brittler wood and can sometimes require too much sanding to remove the whiskering they cause. Sometimes you just have to go by feel as to what will work on a particular stock rather than a more clinical approach.

[LAGS]

Besides the Heat gun and paper towel method, I put the stock in a Black Trash Bag and put in some Kitty Litter or what works even better is the Grease Absorb powder you get at auto parts stores for soaking up oil spills.
Put the stock and powder in the bag, set it in the sun, and turn it every so once in a while.
The heat brings out the oil, and it cant soak back into the stock when it comes in contact with the powder or kitty litter.

[CastingFool]

I redid an old N.R. Davis double barrel shotgun stock years ago. The pistol grip area was black with soaked oil. I stripped the finish and used alcohol to remove the oil. I would apply alcohol, let it bring the oil to the surface, then wipe off. I continued this process as time allowed, and after a few days the stock was pretty well back to normal. Then I sanded it down and applied 4 or 5 coats of Linspeed. Turned out pretty decent.

[Walter Laich]

Used to use Oil-Dry for kitty litter till they went from little 'chunks' to almost sand-like consistency.

the new, finer clay is great for absorbing oil out of stocks--still have to buy regular kitty litter for the cats, though.

[Mk42gunner]

I cleaned the blackened oil from the stock of an 1899 Krag carbine by scrubbing with a green scotchbrite pad using acetone as the solvent.

Wear solvent proof gloves, why take a chance on absorbing the stuff through your skin, I used nitrile gloves. Wipe the sludge off the stock with paper towels and continue as necessary. After cleaning and letting the stock dry for a week or so; I used thinned boiled linseed oil for the first few coats, then went with more coats of full strength BLO.

The cartouches are still readable and the stock still looks like it has some character, not a brand new stock. If I had wanted a brand new stock, I could have bought one for slightly more money than I paid for the carbine.

I am satisfied with the way this one turned out.

Robert

[abunaitoo]

I kind of remember reading someplace about using a hot plate, metal vent ducting and a metal pan with a flat bottom.
The metal duct needs to be wide enough to fit the stock with the length, plus one foot extra, in length.
Hang the stock in the duct three inched from the top. Cover with foil or another metal pan.
Place the pan on the hot plate, put the duct in the pan.
Turn it on and check often.
The oil will start to run/drip off the stock.
There's probably more to it. I don't remember where I read it.
Sounds like it would work.
Probably work just as well, if left in the sun without the hotplate.
I wonder if you boil a pot of water on the bottom, would the steam remove the oil/grease????

[duckey]

Keep oven cleaner off metal parts if if don't want to strip any finish off of them.

[bob208]

I do mine in the summer. lay the stock on the tin roof in the sun. about every hour wipe the oil off that has sweated out.

[chrispy]

I have tried all the listed treatments as listed above, and have resorted to using the wife's dishwasher! Luckily most of my stocks are two piece, and the cycle of washing not only cleans the oils out, but also steams out almost all the dents. Unorthodox, yes, effective and irregular yes.

[Shiloh]

http://www.brownells.com/userdocs/products/p_083032100_1.jpgThis is the proper way to remove oil from wood.

I second and can vouch for this product.

SHiloh