Re-doing a stock, need some help!

Been lurking around here for quite a while enjoying everyone's projects and I finally decided its time to clean up one of my guns. I picked up No 4 Mk 1 a couple years ago and the previous owner (or someone before him) put a heavy dose of varnish on it and there are drip marks and heavier layers and thinner layers all over. So I thought it was time to remove that and re-seal it.
My question is what would be the best way to remove this varnish without damaging the wood underneath and losing the character? What would be the best thing to use to seal it after? I have some ideas but thought I would ask the experts! Hopefully you can see what I'm talking about in the pics.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...da2996f2-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...43fbf068-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...09fdf422-1.jpg

My method is considered harsh by some as it involves water but I use citristrip. Spray it on, wait 15 minutes scrub it with a plastic scrub brush and rinse with hot water. If needed, repeat immediately. Use a tooth brush for small areas. Let it air dry for a day or two and start applying coats of boiled linseed oil with your finger. Depending on the type wood, may take quite a few coats before it loses that "dry" look. Walnut tends to need fewer coats than the plain woods used during the war years.

I don't let the wood soak in the water, I use my bathtub, spray on the citristrip and use the shower nozzle to rinse it off. I've never had any trouble with warping or cracking.

Why not use methylated spirits instead of water to clean off? That way you're using a cleaning agent to help remove the citristrip, without worrying about water. Agree 100% on the BLO (some use a mix of 50/50 BLO and Turpentine...)

Thick, gungy varnishes are easy to remove. The prominent chip in the second photo of the first post shows that the varnish has hardly penetrated the pores of the wood. That stock should clean up like the example below - if you do it my way.

No sanding, no water, no problem.

Use the kind of paint stripper that comes as a jelly, and contains various kinds of xxx-ols and xxx-enes, I forget which. Nasty stuff on your hands. Wear protective gloves and wash it off immediately if you get any on your skin It feels nice and cool for a couple of seconds, then starts to burn like hell.

Apply with a natural bristle brush with a wooden handle - NOT a plastic/nylon brush, which will soon dissolve!

Remove with methylated spirits.

Wipe down with turpentine.

Smooth with one of these - drawn, not scraped:
Attachment 41355


Add linseed oil generously INSIDE AND OUTSIDE and wipe off !

Wait a couple of days (a week is better, if you have the patience), rub down, and proceed with linseed oil polishing.

And turn THIS
Attachment 41354

into

THIS
Attachment 41356

Yes, that really is the same stock. If you look closely you can see the filled-in woodworm holes!

It works.

This method has another enormous advantage - you can treat a section at a time, making it much, much easier to hold the stock while you work. And you will not degrade any stamps!

Please, don't mess up the wood by soaking it, applying caustic agents, and then drying it out too rapidly.

Okay so I have taken some of the advice here, which I really appreciate. I ended up using a green furniture stripper (because it is milder), 0000 steel wool, methylated spirits to wipe it off and lot of elbow grease. Here is how it looks now. Keep in mind I haven't applied the BLO yet but wanted some opinions as the whether you think I should do a little more work on the darker areas or if you think that I'm better off to leave it alone. Looks much better already though.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...ed6eedf3-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...641cf374-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...5488c0e5-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...b9a5535f-1.jpg

It looks much better, but as a first reaction upon seeing the lower photos I'd think that removing some of the old oils that have penetrated into the wood would help. In my area, just leaving it in a closed vehicle during a sunny day (in a month or so) would drive out a fair amount of oil during an afternoon. Say 140°F/60°C for four hours? Then linseed oil. Raw linseed oil or as second choice, BLO. Don't fret over the dark areas too much.

Downwind, it's looking good. As jmoore said the dark spots are old oil/cosmoline. To remove it from the wood you need heat here's how I do it in the winter months here in Pennsylvania.
Supplies = your wife's iron... Rags .... pot of water.
The object is to steam the crud out, dunk your rag ring it out. Place on a spot and apply the iron for a few seconds. You will be amazed at how well it works. You'll get the feel for it pretty quick. Another benefit of this is it pulls all the chemicals you used to strip it as well and removes dents. When your done hit very lightly hit with 220 or 320 grit sandpaper to knock down the few raised grains. I should note be careful around any cartouches as the steam will raise them. That's my short & sweet 2c

Okay well another bit of an update. So I kind of combined the info from jmoore and WarPig (thanks guys) and came up with something that worked very. I had heard of the steaming technique before but I really wanted to try to avoid sanding the stock at all. But the heating it in a hot vehicle gave me an idea. I turned on my oven to the lowest it would go (170 degrees) and put the stock in there. I checked every half hour or so and wiped off the oils/cosmoline and they seeped out of the wood. It worked great. I'm now up to my third coat of pure linseed oil and will hopefully have it put back together by next week and will show you all how it turned out.
On a side note: my wife was out of town when I 'baked' my stock in the oven...very important step! lol

Hope you lit some smell good candles or something!!!!
I'll bet 100 .223 rounds she caught ya..😔

Actually she was none the wiser. But then again I did have 3 days after I did it before she came back. lol There actually wasn't much smell, maybe because I kept wiping the wood off every hour or so.