Cleaning old Swedish M/96 Walnut Stock

Hi,

I have an 1902 M/96 that I inherited and recently had restored by a professional gunsmith (the rifle had seen 2-3 wars and was missing among other things the barrel), who did a lovely job with rebluing all the metal parts, fitting a new repro barrel etc. He also cleaned up the stock somewhat (removed paint splatter and other things that had accumulated by being stored in the attic for maybe 50 years) to a usable level of finish. Now I would like to take it a bit further, but due to some historic military markings (Finnish Civil Guard) on the stock itself I thought it best to educate myself a bit before doing anything too drastic.

Questions in no particular order:
- The wood around the grip area has these small bumps or protrusions in the grain, probably due to wear over the year. These I would like to smooth out somehow. What would be the best approach, fine steel wool or a 600-2000 grit sandpaper? Or just leave it be?
- From what I've read on this forum and in other places, the original finish on most milsurp rifles is boiled linseed oil. Does this apply to Swedish Mausers as well or did the neutral swedes use something fancier?
- The wood on my, extremely well used, rifle is also very dark, it's hard to even recognize it as walnut without removing any parts and looking at the untreated wood under. On the web however I've seen a lot of walnut M/96 rifles with a much more defined grain in the wood, and they all seem to have a more oiled than varnished finish compared to mine. Is this dirt and grime and years of who knows what oil being rubbed into the stock, or are there different finishes? Can mine be cleaned to something more resembling these rifles? If so, how?

I'll try to post some pictures of the rifle so that you guys can get an idea what I'm talking about here when I get home later today.

I would like to see a few pics. In general if the wood is unadulterated other than wear and tear; keep it away from the steel wool. I love linseed oil. Smells good; to me at least. If the stock has been sanded before, then you can do anything to it to pretty it up. There should be some cartouches on the stock behind the trigger guard. -A

We need pics. Regardless a good rub down with turpentine is all you need to clean up the thing and it's safe for whatever finish happens to be present.
No sandpaper.

Sorry for the bad pictures, I haven't had the chance to take any in daylight.
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Looking at this now, I'm getting the feeling that the reason other walnut versions look better and lighter is mainly better lighting. :)

On the sanding part, I'm not talking about sanding the whole stock or anything, I'm talking about what's best described as small bumps in the finish, around the grip area, which I would prefer to smooth out somehow.

That's a fine rifle. You may try to remove any loose soft debris from the cartouches with a wooden toothpick.
The Swedes used Raw linseed oil. A mix of 50/50 RLO and Turps will make a good cleaning solution.
There's no picture of the bumps but I believe I know what your talking about. If I'm right it's the end grain raising. I see it on stocks and old furniture and then only in old growth Walnut,,,strange. The only way to remove that is sandpaper of 220 grit to 320 or scraper and that isn't recommended. All steel wool or higher grits will do is burnish "polish" the bumps. If you do decide to do anything be warned that no matter what that area will stick out like a sore thumb.
In short, clean it, leave it, enjoy it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Stuggi

Sorry for the bad pictures, I haven't had the chance to take any in daylight.
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I have never seen that stamping on the buttstock? anybody? Looks like an 85 degree buttstock.. which is good. dont sand it. I would be interested to know if the serial number in the barrel channel matches the receiver.

The barrel is brand new, it's a Lothar Walther. :) It was my grandfather's (and/or possibly great-grandfather's) service rifle, and at some point my grandfather gave away the barrel from his rifle to a neighbor who needed one as he felt he had no need for a rifle anyway. Then it set neglected in his attic for maybe 50 years, another 10 years in my father's garage, and last year I finally had it renovated. It was a non matching gun to begin with, the action, stock and butt plate match, but the bolt is from another rifle. The receiver has been re-blued as well. It's not a collectors gun by any means, but it has value to me.

The stamp on the buttstock is the Finnish Civil Guard S followed by what's either a unit or serial number. I'm currently working on finding out what all the number are and how far they can be traced. But that stamp indicates that it could possibly have been in the Finnish civil war, and the winter and continuation wars. The Civil Guard never had many of the M/96s to begin with, and not many other M/96s have seen combat.

Based on the history from grand dad or gr grand dad I would keep it like that, in memory.

+1 on the 50/50 turpentine/ linseed oil. Lovely rifle with history. Clean & enjoy.