SRS Check on US M1898 Please Jim

[oldfoneguy]

So when I bought the rifle I felt what I thought was feathering of the grain due to dryness. Wrong on that one.

There was something applied to the stock that leached from the grain and solidified. It could be very old motor oil or something from Birchwood Casey. Could it be cosmolene that has melted and dried thousands of times? I did find cosmolene in the action and the bolt so it never had a major cleaning since out of arsenal storage. Found some of this stuff on the metal too. Front band, receiver ring and butt plate. Any guesses?

I'm kind of pi$$ed the only way to remove the stuff is with 000 steel wool. Tried the heat gun and steam neither had any effect. Denatured alcohol works but swelled the wood temporarily so no more of that. It bothers me to remove history from it like that but I have no other choice. I've always been more about preservation than restoration but so be it. Handguard already has its first coat of RLO on it and it did darken again some so that calmed me.