Waxy Feel

I am trying to refinish the stock on a Mosin Nagant M44. I used paint stripper to remove the "what ever". O3I applied the stripper with a brush and then wiped it off with a cloth. My problem is the oil. The stock feels waxy. I can't get it down to a dry wood feel. I don't want to use sand paper on it, but even if I tried it would only load up with wax, grease, oil, whatever.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks for any help.

Mule

Depending on the origin, the original finish may have been shellac instead of oil, which can get a "sticky" texture to it, especially if oil was applied on top of it.

I read somewhere where a gentleman would use oven cleaner; the spray on foam kind to clean all of the wax, grease, oil etc form old military stocks. I have not tried this myself and reccomend research before using such a technique. I will try to find the article. GRF

Some paint removers contain wax to retard the evaporation of the solvent. After wiping the remover and softened paint, some of the wax remains. Try mineral spirits to remove the wax.

Another thing. Shellac is easily removed by alcohol, if mineral spirits doesn't work try alcohol.

Could also have been the Finnish standard "pine tar" finish. I've seen more than one of these stripped and the wood underneath has an "oily" feel. I don't know if the "pine tar" was applied hot but I would think so. It's the only way it would penetrate and harden.