Garand stock refinish question

I received a mid-1950's Garand from the CMP which had the dark colored handgaurd and lighter colored stock. The thing was soaked in so much cosmoline that just shouldering it would leave a person covered in slime. I am making my first attempt at refinishing a gun stock so please bare with me.

I detail stripped the gun and wrapped the stock in paper towels and garbage bags and left the gun in a hot car a couple weeks. That removed some of the grease, but there was still a lot left. I bought a heat gun and used it along with papertowels to remove the rest as best I could. It took about six hours or so, but I finally got a decent amount of it out.

I was told by a friend to use mineral spirits to clean the stock once most of the cosmoline was out. I just dipped rags in mineral spirits and wiped down the stock (and used a nylon brush) and am letting it dry. It now feels slimy again. Did I do something wrong or will the mineral spirits evaporate and leave it feeling dry?

Should I try something else?

I plan to rub the gun down with BLO once I get it clean to my liking.

I use Circa 1850 furniture stripper, to remove old finishes; sometimes I wash the stocks in hot water with green soap. Usually with both treatments I end up with stocks that are essentially "unfinished" and behave well with refinishing steps (staining, oiling etc).

Lou

Once I get most of the cosmoline out, I've used several different tactics all of which seemed to work. There's a product called k2r which is somewhat hard to find these days that is a spray on spot remover that will draw out near surface oil. I've also used the milder oven cleaners (that will clean up with water) but not the really harsh ones and followed that up with hot water and soap or scrubbing bubbles. If the color is uneven at that point I follow it up with wood bleach and another soap and water bath. I haven't used the k2r for the last half dozen I've done due to the difficulty in getting it and the success I've had with the oven cleaners. I never let them dry on the wood. Spray it on and let it sit for half an hour and wash off with a hose or in a hot shower. The plus to the scrubbing bubbles is is cleans the shower at the same time as the wood.

My favorite has to be Krud kutter. Available at your local super market or hardware store in the cleaning aisle. I've used it numerous times. Nothing is as gentle and works so well. Good luck.