How do you steam out dings and dents from walnut stocks?

[WarPig1976]

Is it okay to boil a stock in a turkey fryer?

I have some Chinese Nagants and it would take forever to try and steam out each ding individually. Thought it might help clean the stocks a bit as well.

Hmmm, I'm all about efficiency but I'm gonna say no. I would think boiling the entire stock will cause the wood to swell in areas you didn't intend. Then you have to be careful how it dries, too fast it could warp or/and crack at the end grain.

If you try please post your results.!!

[Bob Seijas]

I'm only sharing this because of your handle -- my son-in-law flies a Gyr in Montana

Here is the best method of all: Go to the supermarket and buy a box of washing SODA. Fill your bathtub with about 4" of very hot water and dissolve as much washing soda as it will take. Submerge the stock and weight it down, leave for at least an hour. It will leech out all the oil and dirt, raise all dents that can be raised, and actually enhance any proofs. It will also leave the mother of all bathtub rings.

Remove the stock, rinse out the tub, refill with warm water and put the stock back for another hour to rinse it. When you take it out, it will be the ugliest fishbelly gray you ever saw, you'll swear you have ruined it. Not so. Let it air dry thoroughly and oil it, that will make it as good as it will ever get.

[Rick B]

Bob I use a Cement tub from Home Depot or used to when needed. The Plastic tubs are now for my Deers as you can see below. Rick B

Search Results forat The Home Depot



---------- Post added at 07:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:45 PM ----------

Here is my Steam bench corner. Rick B

[Claven2]

FWIW, if the stock is not a valuable car touched collectable, there are some things you can try. One that works reasonably well is to run the stock through the dishwasher with a decent dish detergent. Make sure you turn off the heated drying setting or the stock WILL warp and crack. As soon as the washing cycle is done, put the stock (while still hot) into a laundry tub and run cold water on it. You want to cool it down quickly without drying it. Then stand it up to dry for at least 2 days. Most dents will be better, if not gone. The wood will be pretty clean. You can repeat a second time, but after that you're unlikely to see any improvement.

Another method is to boil the wood. Some guys add a little TSP soap, which will pull out any stains and all oil. Again, you have to quickly cool the wet wood and then slowly dry it or it will warp and crack. Boil no more than between 5 and 10 minutes per session or you will crack the stock.

IMHO, these methods jeopardize cartouches, so on collectable wood that is nicely marked, I would not get more aggressive than spot-applied steam methods.

[Redleg]

In recently bought an ugly, really ugly, tomato-stake quality, early stock for $79.00 from Yoda on GB. Came with a CMP case too. I saw that it was a long throat so I bought it. Soaked it twice in the tub. GHS was long gone but circle P was still there. All the dents came out. There was an unbelieveable amt of oil in the buttstock, staining in that typical pattern at the buttplate, from years of leaking oilers. After two long soakings, it has only about a 1/4 high stain " left, on the left side at the buttplate, and the thousand small dents are gone. I may soak it again to get rid of the last of it. Stocks are bundles of straws--xylem and phloem that take in fluids--water leeches the oil out, as oil floats on water--water pulling it out by specific gravity, and the washing soda helps emulsify/break it down it, speeding up the process. Dents come out by the same process, even inches in from the ends, as the straws pick up water and swell up the constriction/dent, like metal returning to its original shape. Steaming the most stubborn dents when the stock is still wet, works wonders with the iron. This particular stock, I had nothing to loose, but now have another long throat, with that great early straight grain, nearly ready for use or sale. It takes dedication to do this but try it on another tomato stake for practice. Remember, logs can stay at the bottom of rivers for a century and once dried , are fine for use. Oh yeah, I do keep the buttplate and front ferrule on the stocks, to prevent potential cracking. I have seen no cracks on anything I have used this technique on.

[browningautorifle]

Very interesting. Not quite what I would have expected of soaking a stock...

[CINDERS]

Hi Falcon I think the motto the forum is trying to get across is a little often and patience there is no fast road to restoration I may hazard a guess that when the Chinese Nagant stocks you boil in the turkey fryer would end up after the heat and drying would end up like boomerangs, still dried out they would be good in winter?

[Redleg]

M1 Garand stock set butt plate ferrule hand guard : Rifle Stocks at GunBroker.com

Link to "tomato stake." Note long throat in photos

[browningautorifle]

I was re-building a rifle at one point and would have settled for that "Mater stake"

[WarPig1976]

M1 Garand stock set butt plate ferrule hand guard : Rifle Stocks at GunBroker.com

Link to "tomato stake." Note long throat in photos

What's it look like now.?