Oil

[confederatemule]

I have used naptha, paint stripper, acetone, heat gun, easy off oven cleaner, and starting fluid, to remove the oil from my M44 Mosin Nagant stock. The oil is still there. The oven cleaner probably worked better than anything else, but it removes whatever the stock is finished with, also.

Does anyone know of something that will remove "all" of the oil. It is mostly in the trigger area, where a nasty hand wrapped around the stock to pull the trigger. But it is fairly heavy in the general area of the magazine and bolt.

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks, Mule.

Information

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[Aragorn243]

The only thing I've ever tried that removed oil in large quantities is putting the stock on a newspaper on the dashboard of my vehicle and parking it facing the sun. It just poured out of it. You have to change the paper periodically or it will soak through and into the dash.

After it stops coming out that way, I use a spray spot remover called K2R. It's not real easy to find but you might locate it in True Value Hardware stores. This lifts out the discoloration and then you can brush it off when it dries.

I've done two of the older Mosin Nagant's without going to that much effort, plus it was winter and spring at the time and not warm or sunny enough for the dash to work so I more or less got them semi-clean and then stained them. I've found them to be somewhat difficult to get uniformly clean. But then I didn't put serious effort into them either. Maybe this summer I'll give them another shot.

I did do an Enfield using the dash and k2r and it worked great on that. I also used this technique on a Swedish Mauser and it got that one really clean.

[Maj Bach]

2nd the car method; wrapped paper towels tightly around a M 1903 stock, taped it with duct tape, then put in a black trash back & set it on the back ledge of the car for a day, change out the paper towels and did a second time. Seemed to do the trick..

[confederatemule]

It ain't hot enough yet.
I can wait.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Mule

[rondog]

I've had pretty good luck with Dawn Power Dissolver, brushes, and soap and water. It's pretty harsh on skin, so use gloves and eye protection. Not as bad as oven cleaner though.

Some people swear by using a dishwasher too.

I'm planning on doing a Mosin M38 stock soon, when it gets warm enough. I've stripped it, but the oil is soaked in deep. The procedure I read about is kind of involved and costly, but I've just gotta try it.

Need something to put the stock in, like a tank. I ended up making one, but you could probably use thick, heavy plastic or heavy-duty alum. foil. Also need a gallon of acetone and a big bag of diatomaceous earth. This is stuff for soaking up oil spills on concrete shop floors, I got a big bag at Graingers but auto parts stores might have it. UNIVERSAL LOOSE SORBENT SOLID-A-SORB 25 - Particulate Sorbent - Spill Control Supplies - Safety : Grainger Industrial Supply Also need a mixing tub, I got a mortar tub at Home Depot for $5 or so.

DO THIS PART OUTDOORS, ACETONE FUMES ARE VERY EXPLOSIVE!!!

Basically, you mix the acetone and DE into a paste about the consistency of plaster of paris, just liquid enough for it to pour and flow into all the nooks and crannies of the stock. Put the stock into your container, or foil, or heavy plastic sheet, whatever. Pour the goop all over the stock until it's filled and buried. Wrap it up with black plastic, then set it out in the sun until the acetone evaporates and the DE looks like dried dirt. Knock the dried stuff off and clean up the stock.

Supposedly, the acetone will dissolve the oil and draw it out of the wood, and the DE, which is highly absorbent, will soak up the oil like crazy. I read about this on the CMP forum, the writer said it worked great. Pretty extreme, and not cheap, but I've just got to try it. Here's the link. Stock de-oiling w/diatomaceous earth - CMP Forums

[General Nuisance]

Hey Mule
The last stock I did was about 10 years ago. I used a product from Brownells (brownells.com) called Old Fashioned Whiting Cat. No. 083-032-300
It's really just calcium carbonate powder. I made a paste out of it by mixing it with Denatured Alcohol and put a thick coat on with a cheep paint brush. Brownells instructions say to mix it with TCE Cleaner Degreaser, I didn't know what that was so I used the alcohol.
When the alcohol fumes were gone, I warmed the stock up with a hot air gun.
I used with my hand to check the temp of the wood to make sure it did not burn. As the oil is drawn out the whiting will get darker and darker, but it can only hold so much oil and you have to do it over a few times.
I never thought of the car oven and the paper towels, great idea and safer then a hot air gun. Next time I do it I will try the black plastic bag
in my old black Ford pick up.
Thanks for the new ideas all.

[bearhunter]

It is almost if not impossible to leave the original finish on a stock that is saturated in oil or cosmoline. Some times the oil is fouled with black carbon or other contaminants that will stain the stock as well.
There are some really good furniture stripping solutions out there that will take the stock back to its original wood, without sanding or scraping and therefore removing cartouches. Most of them contain caustic soda, so should be used in well ventilated areas. I've had a lot of success with those cleaners. I will only refinish a stock that is beyond being collectible. Bleach, straight from the bottle will mute some of the staining but you have to make sure the stock is bone dry before applying finishes like shellac, as used on combloc bolt action rifles.

[Harlan (Deceased)]

I don't know if it would be powerful enough to remove the stain you have, but I've had very good luck using Formby's Restorer, and Minwax Antique Refinisher (about the same stuff) to remove old black build-up on stocks, without stripping the original color beneath or raising the grain and drying out the stock as with some strippers, or worse, (gulp!) running it through a dishwasher. It's much less caustic than paint stripper, but requires some 'elbow grease' -
(It's only an idea to try, before using a stripper, etc)

It's worked really well for me to remove 60 years of old dark surface grime mixed with oils on stocks.

Below is an extreme example of an old smoking stand I used it on.
The second photo is what it looked like after just cleaning the buildup off with 000 steel wood and Minwax (and lots of rags). It doesn't strip and dry the wood out requiring sanding, new stain, etc.





These carbine stocks below were almost black with old crud and they came out well.

[TDH]

A different take on the car oven I read about. you can make a sheetmetal box with a rack in it. lay the stock on the rack and palce the box in the sun. Another twist is to set up a light bulb in one end and that will keep the box warm enough for the oil to drip out of the stock.