Stabilizing wood military stock from warpage?

[Naphtali]

Please identify, describing how to, stabilize a standard military Mauser-type stock from late fall and winter rain and snow. There must be more done than waterproofing exterior surface when naked interior bedding surfaces and surface surrounding barrel may warp or swell in "twitchy" weather.

[georgerkahn]

Please identify, describing how to, stabilize a standard military Mauser-type stock from late fall and winter rain and snow. There must be more done than waterproofing exterior surface when naked interior bedding surfaces and surface surrounding barrel may warp or swell in "twitchy" weather.

As a 110% "amateur" re stock refinishing I had a Krag who's stock with a crack and a break, plus several coats of ???? on it from prior owners, I reckoned I had not too much to lose, whatever I did. After removing all wood, I lightly sanded all by hand, using fine grit paper. Then, I heated some boiled linseed oil -- I immersed the can in a simmering pot of water -- and then applied it to stock, inside and out -- this on a quite warm, summer day. The next day pretty much all was "gone" so I repeated. The third day, there were just a few "dry spots", so I brushed on only these spots (and, the can was just about empty, too).
I sold the Krag almost decade later, and the stock was probably its major selling feature -- buyer wanted it as a "wall-hanger" -- NOT to be a shooter -- at his camp.
What I tried....
geo

[TheAbe]

I use boiled linseed oil on my old wood stocks, exterior and interior surfaces. They haven’t seen much weather yet, but waterproofing the outside allows the wood to eventually dry out and become brittle anyway. I would think it much better to regularly oil a “non-sealed” stock. I’ve read the old adage for applying BLO to stocks: once a day for a week, then once a week for a month, then once a month for a year, then once a year.
This would not work if the stock were to be left outside all the time, in a barn for example. Otherwise, I would just boiled linseed oil treat, and if it did spend a few days in the elements, then just do a thorough cleaning and boiled linseed oil treatment immediately following the trip.

[country gent]

My NM rifles (garand and M1A) were finished inside and out with Birchwood Casey tru oil pretty much as above. Then bedded in. The full ticket is a little over 2 weeks of competition DCM/CMP week, NRA matches, team, and long range. A rainy day in the first week can wreak havoc on zeros later on. O used bishop heavy walnut stocks on the M1As and bishop walnut on the garand. Dont forget the hand guards on the garand they can swell warp and affect the zeros. If caught in a rain after the match I would use an air compressor to blow out as much s possible as soon as possible.
Simply finishing the action area barrel channel and hand guards with a few coats of the same finish foes a long ways. I would steel wool the inside and brush the tru oil in letting it soak in then wipe excess out each coat. The outside got rubbed in or even wet sanded with the tru oil.

[uscra112]

I've never done this......I'm strictly a London oil finish kinda guy, but if you are willing to go modern, West Systems has a very thin epoxy that is normally used to impregnate porous wood for boat restorations. You'd have to boil the stock in TSP to get all the oil out of it first. A dishwasher set as hot as it will go will do a good job of that.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

A complete bedding job with AccraGlas Gel would do the job. You'd need to remove all metal and then sand/scrape all interior surfaces down about 1/8th inch. Apply the Gel to all interior surfaces and two coats of release agent to all the metal. Once dry, water won't penetrate the surfaces so treated, and you might get improved accuracy. As for the exterior surface I'd recommend several coats of TruOil, sanded back with 4-0 steel wool until all the pores are filled, and then a couple of coats more, rubbed back to a satin and then with a couple of thin coats of good paste wax. If any gaps remain between the metal and wood that weren't filled by the glass you can fill them with the wax. The wax should be applied to the metal as well.

DG

[Bigslug]

What kind of "Mauser type"? Actual Mausers with stepped barrels are going to want a little different treatment than P14/1917 Enfields and Springfields which were engineered for some upward pressure at the forend tip.

[porthos]

in the mid 1980s i bought a safari grade browning in 375 h&h. little did i know until i pulled the stock off that it was "salt wood" everything under the wood was rusty pits. it had been re-blued. sooo, what to do. i have been a wood guy for a long time. stripped the finish off. sanded, and flooded the stock with many coats of thinned acraglas; until it would not penetrate any longer. after a couple days drying; i finished with tru-oil. had the gun for 8 or 10 years, and the was never a sign of rust under the wood again.

[uscra112]

...... flooded the stock with many coats of thinned acraglas; until it would not penetrate any longer.......

This.^^^ Just glassing the action and barrel channel doesn't stop moisture changes in the wood, since the exterior hasn't been sealed. Essentially the West System approach I mentioned. I just looked, and I saw that they no longer sell that water-thin variety, perhaps because people were spraying it like paint, which is extremely hazardous.

When I was making fiberglass race bike fairings, I thinned resins with acetone. Serious fire hazard, especially the vapor. I worked in a greenhouse, far from any sources of ignition.

[15meter]

Thinning with epoxy seriously degrades it's strength. West system has multiple warnings about this. As a sealant it wouldn't hurt it too much, as a bonding/laminating epoxy, thinning is a big no-no.

I've been using West System since I bought my first gallon in the mid-70's. It's great stuff, just bought my latest gallon a couple of months ago. I've got a 30' mast to repair and refinish and a new DN runner plank that needs to be sealed and finished. Sailing season is almost here:bigsmyl2::bigsmyl2:

[uscra112]

Sailing iceboats?

[Naphtali]

What kind of "Mauser type"? Actual Mausers with stepped barrels are going to want a little different treatment than P14/1917 Enfields and Springfields which were engineered for some upward pressure at the forend tip. Please describe this difference.

I think I'm visualizing "light." For best result on Mausers with stepped barrels, there is a two-procedure process. First step after cleaning/degreasing/surface preparation is to [differently??] bed using epoxy-fiberglass. Second step after confirming correct bedding is to use a light polyurethane to seal interior and exterior, interior polyurethane having zero to do with bedding?

[Shawlerbrook]

What porthos and uscra112 said. Thinned acraglass !

[country gent]

I read the AMU process of sealing and stiffing a wood stock.
It 1st was sanded and fitted
Then into a vacuum pot and 180* temp for 8 hours to pull out the moisture and open the grain
Then into a pressure pot with a thin long cure epoxy and 150 psi pressure to force the epoxy into the open grain.
they were then hung to dry and cure

Ive been told the stocks gained 2-3 lbs weight thru this process

[15meter]

Sailing iceboats?

If we get ice, never got it on Maumee Bay this past winter. May have to travel this year to find ice. Western Challenge has been called on for the upcoming weekend in western Minnesota. Not sure I'm up for traveling that far :violin:

As of last Friday, there were 8-10 club members committed to traveling there. I think they quoted 14 hours one way. If I was a racer I'd consider it, I'm just a cruiser. Plus being a gray beard, no interest in doing those kinds of drives anymore. It takes me 2 full days to get back from Oshkosh anymore and that's only 7 hours of driving.

[uscra112]

I used to drive almost that far to race motorcycles, but I was a lot younger then.

[Bigslug]

Please describe this difference.

I think I'm visualizing "light." For best result on Mausers with stepped barrels, there is a two-procedure process. First step after cleaning/degreasing/surface preparation is to [differently??] bed using epoxy-fiberglass. Second step after confirming correct bedding is to use a light polyurethane to seal interior and exterior, interior polyurethane having zero to do with bedding?

The classic K98 barrel lays in its channel and is clamped down at the forend tip with the cap. The Springfield/P14/1917 approach sets the forend geometry so the front tip of the stock presses upward on the barrel with maybe 3-5 pounds of force, and the 12:00 sector of the barrel has a slight amount of clearance.

If you're bedding the barrel channel to increase rigidity, the Mausers would be pretty straightforward - just bed it. For the other approach, you can cradle the rifle upside down with the handguards off, hang a 5# weight from the muzzle, GENTLY shim in the resulting gap with card stock somewhat farther back, and bed with the shim in place to maintain the upward tension.

[Photog]

I think the OP is looking to "stabilize" wood stocks amid the highly variable temp and humidity changes in the Western states. I have the same issue at 6500', its super dry and gets super cold and then rains and snows and the RH goes all over the place.
What I found best for the mil-surps - do a through de-oil of the wood. I use a heat gun and lots of paper towels and rubbing alcohol or other flash dry de-greaser, I'll use mineral spirits to start the process. Do it over and over to get out the most oil and mosture that you can. The channels of old rifles are filled with oil. That oil in the stock eventually degrades the wood. I'll use 0000 steel wool towards the end of the process to smooth out the hairs and fibers that will be sticking up. NO SANDPAPER. I found that once the oils are gone, the stocks don't swell up as bad under the finish that you choose. Tru-oil is nice, but not "correct" like linseed oil. Tung oil is good too, go light coats and let each coat dry a bit.

[uscra112]

Petroleum oil saturation of the wood is not uniform, and would differentially inhibit swelling due to moisture, since the oil-saturated wood wouldn't absorb any. Just removing it all should help.

[Shawlerbrook]

Getting oil out of military stocks is a project but can be done. I have also read about but never tried sealing wood with super glue .

[charlie b]

You could, but, it would be an expensive way to do it. But, it doesn't fix temperature expansion/contraction.

[Naphtali]

I think the OP is looking to "stabilize" wood stocks amid the highly variable temp and humidity changes in the Western states. I have the same issue at 6500', its super dry and gets super cold and then rains and snows and the RH goes all over the place.
What I found best for the mil-surps - do a through de-oil of the wood. I use a heat gun and lots of paper towels and rubbing alcohol or other flash dry de-greaser, I'll use mineral spirits to start the process. Do it over and over to get out the most oil and mosture that you can. The channels of old rifles are filled with oil. That oil in the stock eventually degrades the wood. I'll use 0000 steel wool towards the end of the process to smooth out the hairs and fibers that will be sticking up. NO SANDPAPER. I found that once the oils are gone, the stocks don't swell up as bad under the finish that you choose. Tru-oil is nice, but not "correct" like linseed oil. Tung oil is good too, go light coats and let each coat dry a bit.Such "protected" wood would not accept reasonable bedding improvements? About the only way to salvage such a stock appears to be to inlay/replace existing bedding with metal or synthetic bearing area - to resist effect of weather. If these conclusions are [close to] accurate, I oughta leave the wood alone or buy a Boyd's laminated wood stock.

[Bigslug]

I too wanted a weatherproof "Mauser" This was my answer:

320549

The long and short of hunting with the "old stuff", is that even if you get your wood stabilized against warpage, you're still going to need to fight the war against rust - even if it's just from condensation caused by bringing a cold gun back inside. At the point of taking a real soaking, you'll be pulling it out of your carefully bedded stock to dry out and re-oil.

Making the change to stainless and plastic/laminate was is about the best thing one who both hunts and appreciates guns can do for his ongoing peace of mind.

[Naphtali]

I too wanted a weatherproof "Mauser" This was my answer:

320549

The long and short of hunting with the "old stuff", is that even if you get your wood stabilized against warpage, you're still going to need to fight the war against rust - even if it's just from condensation caused by bringing a cold gun back inside. At the point of taking a real soaking, you'll be pulling it out of your carefully bedded stock to dry out and re-oil.

Making the change to stainless and plastic/laminate was is about the best thing one who both hunts and appreciates guns can do for his ongoing peace of mind.I'll attempt to have us return to Mauser stock stabilizing after this reply.

Rather than investing about a thousand, I would send out for dark or black nitriding at about forty percent. Not a perfect solution, but acceptable. Remaining springs and other will have redundant parts that replaced as needed.