Can I get the oil out?

E

ehenz

New member
Hello everyone! My first post in the "Art of the Rifle".

Well went to the gun shoe today. I did not have much money, but I love look.

Needless to say, I walked out with one of those 80.00 Mausers. I've been cleaning it all day and now I want to do something with the nasty looking stock.

Does anyone know how to get all of the build up of oil (if that is what it is) off of the stock. I tried sandpaper (gummed up), Naftha, denatured alcohal, stripper, and nothing seems to work.

I will wecome any help. THANK YOU!!
 
The odds are that gasoline will get the worst of it. Those other solvents you used aren't all that great with petroleum-based grease. Work outdoors! Gasoline can be a hazard to your lungs, indoors, aside from the BOOM! problem.

After you've gotten off all the grease you can, get one of those hand-held hair dryers and start the slow process of warming and wiping. Heat and wipe, heat and wipe--BO-ring, boring! Messy, too.

You'll probably have to repeat all of this a couple, maybe three times, to get it pretty well cleaned up. Then you can try sanding out the nicks and dings--I hope.

Good luck, Art
 
ehenz

Try "Easy Off" oven cleaner.

Here's how:
Read and obey the cleaner saftey instructions!
Remove all the metal parts from the stock.
Take it outside, and spray it liberally with the cleaner.
Let it sit for 15 or 20 minutes.
Then hose it off.
Dry off all the excess water immediatly.
note:It may take a couple of applications of this process, to get all the excess oil out.
Let the stock dry for a few days in a cool, dry place. DON'T put in a hot environment to speed the drying, it sometimes warps the wood.
After the stock is good and dry, sand as necessary to texture the surface to your satisfaction.
Apply your finish. Usually, either Tung Oil of Linseed Oil, though the list is endless.

This is FAR from a full blown stock refinish.
However, it will get an old "army gun" stock back to servicable condition and it will quit oozing oil every time you go out in the sun or shoot a long sting. :)

PLEASE NOTE: Don't ever do any of this to a stock that may have some significant collector appeal. For those guns, only an original stock, even one with a few "warts" will be valued significantly higher than an even lightly refinished one.

------------------
Regards, Sharps.
 
The quickest way to get this stuff off is to remove all the metal work off the rifle, take the stock out in the back yard and spray it down with Easy Off Oven Cleaner. Let it sit for 10 or 15 minutes, then hose it down with the garden hose, then dry it off with paper towels or old rags.
Do this two or three times and you will have stripped the stock down to the bare wood petty well.
What to do next?
You can get the last bit of grease off by coating the stock with a mixture of whiting, which used to be sold a paint shops, but which I must now order from Brownels, and acetone. When it dries, bush off the whiting (just finely powderd lime). Do this two or three times and the stock surface will realy be grease free. You could probably skip this step if in a hurry.
Then let the stock dry a day.
Then go over it with the finest grade of artifical steel wool to remove any wiskers.
If you want to iron the stock to remove dents, do it at this point: just get a worthless old iron, not the wife's best, and literally iron the stock orer a damp cloth. It will do a good job of removing little dings and scathes. You can get a better iron for this purpose from Brownels. You can skip this step too.
Finally, refinish with the finish of your choice. I am currenty using several coats of tunge oil, which takes about a week each coat to dry, followed by a final coat of linspeed to give it a little shine, which dries almost instantly.
You could just put on an initial coat of boiled linseed oil if you were in a real hurry just to get something on the gun.
You can also bone the stock: go over it with a hard object like a round plastic pencil or a tooth brush handle. This tends to close some of the pores and gives the finished stock a smoother surface. You usually do not try to get completely filled, custom finish surfaces on a military stock. And you can go over the stock with the finest grade synthetic steel wool, which is so mild that it polishes more than removes wood, just about any time in the process that you want.
But be extra careful in avoiding ironing, boning or steel wooling in any area that has cartouches (stamps in the wood). Most people want the cartouches preserved as sharp as possible in a military stock.
I don't like military stocks that have been sanded down. I prefer little nicks and dents to an obviously resanded stock. Arsenal reworkers usually refinished with scrapers and a sharp eye and detect the difference between a arsenal refinish and a civilian sand down.
 
Sharpsrifle got his post in before I did and I think the Easy Off is a better idea than Art's gsoline.
I second Sharpsrifle's comment on valuabel collector grade guns.
One guy over at the trapdoor collector's page says to use virgin olive oil to clean up a very valuable gun, both metal and wood and lots & lots of time with a rag. He claims this will not remove the original patina. Your original patina will be gone for sure with the Easy Off.
Another guy at the same site says to use a mixture of turpintine and linseed oil on valuable guns.
Both would probably die before aquiesing to any of my mild, I think, wood reworking, and they are right.
I have never tried any of these methods, but they sound reasonalbe. See www.trapdoorcolector.com
 
Sheesh! Hadn't thought about oven cleaner. Thanx!

FWIW, I used oven cleaner to remove the anodizing from the frame of a lightweight Commander. After removing all the sharp edges, we used an electroless nickel process to plate it, using a double-strength solution and doubling the normal plating time. Twenty years back, and the finish is still great.

Later, Art
 
ehenz,
I've had the same problem, the woodwork on my L1A1 was totally saturated with gun oil. I was advised to heat the wood in an oven so that the oil would ooze out of the pores. It has worked and the wood is much better-looking now. Use low temperature and frequently wipe excess oil off with a rag.

If your riflestock is too long for the oven you might try a hair dryer or some other heat source. Too much heat may crack or bend the wood, so be cautious.

It may also be a good idea not to do this in your kitchen like I did. Next time my girlfriend heated up the oven I found out that I should've cleaned it more thoroughly. The stench was bad but after good ventilation and extreme diplomacy I was forgiven...

Timo
 
After getting out the old oil, the dents can often be raised with a wet cloth and a hot iron. Then you will want to put some oil back, a good linseed oil or tung oil to fill the stock pores and improve appearance.

Jim
 
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