BLO or oiled wood

[smle-man]

I have a Remington 03A3 with very dry wood - and a splatter of white paint flecks where someone's room painting spotted onto the woodwork of the rifle. I need to get the dots of paint off but the wood is dry enough that I'm concerned that any solvent will spot darken the wood where the paint is removed. It was suggested to use a 50/50 mix of turpentine and BLO to get the paint off and treat the dry wood. What thinks all here?

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[Edward Horton]

I have a Remington 03A3 with very dry wood - and a splatter of white paint flecks where someone's room painting spotted onto the woodwork of the rifle. I need to get the dots of paint off but the wood is dry enough that I'm concerned that any solvent will spot darken the wood where the paint is removed. It was suggested to use a 50/50 mix of turpentine and BLO to get the paint off and treat the dry wood. What thinks all here?

Depending on the date of your 03-A3 RLO or raw linseed oil or Tung oil could have been applied when it was made, the U.S. started using Tung oil in 1943.

There is only one place I know of that sells real pure Tung oil and that is at this link......Environmentally Friendly Paint - Real Milk Paint ® everything else on the market presently in nothing more than a wiping varnish no matter what the label tells you (read the msds sheet on each product)

A conservator in a museum to clean an antique firearm stock would use a 50/50 mix of raw linseed oil and turpentine, a soft cotton cloth and a heat lamp to help sweat any impurities to the surface. The metal parts of the gun would be cleaned with pure raw olive oil and a soft cloth and possibly a soft bristled tooth brush to lightly scrub some areas.

At the far end of the Bubba extreme spectrum some people would put the stock in the dish washer.

What lies in the middle is to determine what type of paint is on your stock and how badly you want to remove it. At repair level shops and at overhaul your stock if needed would be scraped or sanded as needed to return it to serviceable condition.

NOTE: Your rifle would not pass military inspection at any level with paint on it and something would have been done to it to remove the paint. Scraping seals the pores and surface of the wood and sanding opens the pores of the wood (What type surface do you need to match?)

[smle-man]

Depending on the date of your 03-A3 RLO or raw linseed oil or Tung oil could have been applied when it was made, the U.S. started using Tung oil in 1943.

There is only one place I know of that sells real pure Tung oil and that is at this link......Environmentally Friendly Paint - Real Milk Paint ® everything else on the market presently in nothing more than a wiping varnish no matter what the label tells you (read the msds sheet on each product)

A conservator in a museum to clean an antique firearm stock would use a 50/50 mix of raw linseed oil and turpentine, a soft cotton cloth and a heat lamp to help sweat any impurities to the surface. The metal parts of the gun would be cleaned with pure raw olive oil and a soft cloth and possibly a soft bristled tooth brush to lightly scrub some areas.

At the far end of the Bubba extreme spectrum some people would put the stock in the dish washer.

What lies in the middle is to determine what type of paint is on your stock and how badly you want to remove it. At repair level shops and at overhaul your stock if needed would be scraped or sanded as needed to return it to serviceable condition.

NOTE: Your rifle would not pass military inspection at any level with paint on it and something would have been done to it to remove the paint. Scraping seals the pores and surface of the wood and sanding opens the pores of the wood (What type surface do you need to match?)

Edward

It appears to be an unissued DCM rifle with a dry stock that had whatever was the oil treatment at the time it was assembled. Since then it has leaned in the corner of a room probably for years. Hopefully the stock hasn't warped over all this time. I'm assuming the paint is a standard room latex paint since it is a white splatter as if a room was being painted and the rifle wasn't moved out of the way.

[Edward Horton]

If your stock is very dry and has no build up of oil finish “on top of the wood” and the paint is “in” the grain you may have to strip the entire stock to remove the paint.

NOTE: I would try all other measures before stripping the stock down completely, stripping in this manor requires applying a water or alcohol base stain to restore the original color and patina.

Try these ideas

How can I Remove Latex Paint?

Remove Paint Splatters | Myperfectcolor.com

I bought this dresser below at a yard sale for $25.00 and it had white latex paint and a non water base red paint splatter on it, I used 0000 steel wool wetted with Minwax Antique oil finish to “scrub” the paint off. (WARNING: Minwax Antique oil finish is a wiping varnish it is less than 50% linseed oil)

If your paint is “in” the grain the above method will not work as the steel wool will not get into the grain of the wood. Try real raw linseed oil available at craft stores for oil painting it is very pure refined oil and you will not find a better grade of linseed oil.

NOTE: The Sun-Thickened linseed oil is actual pure boiled linseed oil and the other two are pure raw linseed oil (no fake Chinese crap with toxic garbage in it) it is non-toxic and requires no health labeling and you can rub it on bare handed, see photo.