Cleaning a dented/greasy stock - anyone try this?

J

jaughtman

New member
I was at the local gun shop the other day and they had an assorment of Mausers and Mosins in. In looking at a couple I asked their gunsmith the best way to clean/repair old greasy military stocks and he shocked me with his answer - throw it in the dishwasher! He said the grease-cutting detergent will take the grease/cosmoline off the stock, and the hot water and then drying cycle will actually smooth out some of the dents/dings. He was dead serious - anyone out there ever try this method?

Jamie
 
Not myself, but I've seen a couple of NICE stocks that were degreased in a dishwasher. I'd be careful though, it'd be REALLY easy to wind up with a stock warped beyond use, messed up plumbing, or clean dishes that taste of cosmo for the next year.:barf:
 
Yes. Many people have tried it. Many people swear by it

Personally, I believe that the heat and soak- or even the general soak- is very bad for the natural glue that holds wood fibers together

I have quite successfully steamed dents out of local areas on a wood stock using a household steam iron, a rag, and patience. But that is nothing like the dishwasher method. I do not believe that the dishwasher method does the wood any favors, as easy and immediately attractive as the results may be

I also would never use a grease cutting detergent...but then again, I'd never do the dishwasher method. In my opinion, the smith's advice was bad

Also- the "arsenal red" of walnut stocks on old USGI rifls could easily be lost using that method. There are ways to do the same thing, and really, it doesn;t take a hell of a lot of effort to do it gently
 
Using the dishwasher is a hurry-up-and-get-it-done method and I'm not in such a hurry to take a chance on, as Avenger puts it, "a stock warped beyond use, messed up plumbing, or clean dishes that taste of cosmo for the next year."

And it stands to reason that the dishwasher method, in addition to allegedly lifting dents and dings, will unknowingly remove cartouches and stamps that you'd want to keep.
 
I have cleaned a lot of military surplus stocks.

Strip all the metal you can off the things.

Spray the wood with Oven Cleaner.

Use a toothbrush and brush the wood.

Do not let the Oven Cleaner dry on the wood, hose it off before it dries or it will stain the wood.

I wore gloves and a garden hose when using Oven Cleaner.

Wipe the stock down to dry and let dry naturally.

To steam out dents, place a wet cloth over the dent and press a hot iron on top. This works on dents, does not work too well on cuts.

Let dry naturally.

Steel wool the raised wood grains.

Put lots of linseed oil in the stock to restore the oils you remove.

Let dry naturally.

Add a stain if you want, something red brown to make it look old military.

Or wait 20 years, such as I have done for the Long Branch Lee Enfield

ReducedNo4Mk1LongBranchrightreceive.jpg


ReducedLongBranchLeeEnfieldfullleng.jpg
 
You are going to get a lot of contradicting replies on this one. I have seen some fantastic looking restored stocks that have used all these different methods. Find the one you are comfortable using.

I use Citristrip to remove any varnish or non-oil finish on the wood. A hand held steamcleaner to get the cosmoline out of the nooks and crannies, and to raise dents. After it's dried for 24hrs I use Linseed oil and sometimes 0000 steel or brass wool. Most of the time I just hand rub with Linseed oil.
 
Um. I think the dishwasher method, the stove method (low heat and have the stock in the oven for a few hours to remove cosmoline) and the oven cleaner method are not good ideas.

Do any of these wrong, and you have a ruined stock.

Rubbing lightly with a cotton cloth to remove cosmoline makes sense. Using a mild detergent to remove dirt (I use Murphy's Oil, as it does not remove finishes, as it works on antique furniture finishes more fragile then the finish on Mil Surp rifles.)

As for dents and dings in the stock, um why remove them? It is part of the history of the firearm.

Remember going slow, and being patient is best, these short cuts can ruin your rifle.
 
I realize that this is my first post on this forum and I am no way trying to rain on anybody parade. I collect military surplus rifles and I have refinished many many stocks over the years. You will not ruin your stock in the dishwasher. I have used it countless times and I also put the disassembled rifle in it also. By doing this, you are avoiding using caustic and toxic chemicals that can ruin the wood and you.

Oven cleaner is meant to clean and rid your oven of ORGANIC material, i.e., food. Wood, the last time I looked, is organic. When you use oven cleaner on the wood grain of your stock, you can actually be doing more damage than good.

Using the dishwasher is a hurry-up-and-get-it-done method and I'm not in such a hurry to take a chance on, as Avenger puts it, "a stock warped beyond use, messed up plumbing, or clean dishes that taste of cosmo for the next year."

And it stands to reason that the dishwasher method, in addition to allegedly lifting dents and dings, will unknowingly remove cartouches and stamps that you'd want to keep.

No, it is not a hurry up and get it done method. I have never had a warped stock. Marines in Betio, Tarawa and thu out the whole Pacific, were in monsoons. 30 minutes in a dishwasher will not ruin your stock. As far as cartouches are concerned, you simply cut a piece of duct tape and tape over the cartouche. THat is a bunch of bull that your dishes will taste like cosmoline. If you are that paranoid, then run the dishwasher empty on a complete cycle, this will rid the dishwasher of any left over "residue".

I wrote an article on this some years back, here it is for your reference.

http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting2006/dishwashermethod/index.asp

Some of you will still disagree that this is the worst method to clean a stock or degrease a rifle. You will not know until you tried. Until then, no offense, you don't know what you are talking about because you have never tried it.


Mike
 
no offense, you don't know what you are talking about because you have never tried it.
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I find myself unpersuaded by your logic.

Personally I don't put my guns in the dishwasher for the same reason I don't drink water out of old paint thinner bottles. Life's got enough risks w/o manufacturing them.

P.S.-- If you need to precede a statement with the phrase "no offense", then it's usually worth reconsidering the statement before you make it.
 
Something I tried with good success was a mixture of wood ash, denatured alcohol and the hot sun. Set the stock sans any metal in the hot sun on the porch. While it was heating mixed up a batch of denatured alcohol and fire place ash. The consistency of the slurry out to be wetter than mayonaise. Once the stock was too hot to hold on to (didn't take long in the VA sun) paint the slurry onto the stock and let it dry in the sun. The alcohol penetrates the wood and lifts the oil and the ash soaks it up. Repeat a few times. A light sanding some steaming of dents and several coats of tung oil later voila a good looking military stock....My 2 Garand and 03 springfield stocks responded well to this process.
 
ltcboy said:
I realize that this is my first post on this forum and I am no way trying to rain on anybody parade. I collect military surplus rifles and I have refinished many many stocks over the years. You will not ruin your stock in the dishwasher. I have used it countless times and I also put the disassembled rifle in it also. By doing this, you are avoiding using caustic and toxic chemicals that can ruin the wood and you.

Oven cleaner is meant to clean and rid your oven of ORGANIC material, i.e., food. Wood, the last time I looked, is organic. When you use oven cleaner on the wood grain of your stock, you can actually be doing more damage than good.
Click to expand...

+1

I have used the DW method several times on stocks that had a lot of grease smeared on them, both Swiss and German soldiers used grease on their stocks and the DW gets them cleaner than anything else. The DW works great for parts too. When your done cycle the DW one or two times and it's as clean as the day you bought it.

Oven cleaner has a spot in my gun chemical box but not for stocks, the harshest chemical I well use is Citristrip.

One thing not to use is sandpaper. If you have to use steel or brass wool to smooth your stock. If your forced to use sandpaper use a 400 grit or finer. You want to remove the sixty plus years of grime, not the wood.
 
No, it is not a hurry up and get it done method.
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Technically, it is. Speed is it's only advantage.

I have never had a warped stock. Marines in Betio, Tarawa and thu out the whole Pacific, were in monsoons.
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Using the "Marines in the monsoons" argument doesn't work. You're putting the stock in the dishwasher for the express purpose of removing the finish/grease/gunk/cosmoline. If it were the same, Marines would come out of monsoons with unfinished rifles, or, conversely, the DW method would be ineffective.

I wrote an article on this some years back, here it is for your reference.

http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting...thod/index.asp
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Nice article. We differ in that I'm not in as big a hurry to get to the range and shoot. I have other rifles to shoot, already cleaned, checked out, and refinished, so I can take my time with new acquisitions.

Some of you will still disagree that this is the worst method to clean a stock or degrease a rifle.
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No, the oven cleaner method is the worst. Does it screw up every time? No. But it's worse than the dishwasher.

You will not know until you tried. Until then, no offense, you don't know what you are talking about because you have never tried it.
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You were actually pretty persuasive until this little piece of presumption.
 
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I have used oven cleaner and it works pretty darn good. Once the cosmo is off I use a damp washcloth, lay it on the stock and Iron it. The steam will raise the dents out unless they are scratches or sharp dents where the fiber of the wood is damaged.
 
I've never been in a hurry to clean all the goop out of my Mosins, so I just pulled all the metal off the stock, wrapped it in a black trash bag and put it in the rear deck of my car. After a few hours, it's hotter than all get-out and cosmo is seeping out all over the place. I give it a good rub-down, then put it back. Once it stops seeping, I'm done.

I haven't done the chemical, oven or dishwasher method. It just seems like trouble waiting to happen, but maybe I'm just overly cautious.
 
I guess I just don't understand all of the angst over getting the cosmogrease out of a stock. Why get squirrely? I've got several M1s, several K98s, several Mosins, and a handful of old guns in general. All of them were grease buckets to varying degree when I got them. It's an enjoyable afternoon's work getting the gunk out and cleaning them up in a mild, nondestructive way so why get crazy and use things like oven cleaner?

I start with a roll of paper towels and just get to wiping things down. Then, I get some solvent proof gloves and get busy with a bowel of mineral spirits and a rag wiping off the remaining stuff. Have a gun cleaning tooth brush handy to use in nooks/crannies. Buy a plastic bin (a large, flat under bed storage bin is excellent) to hold things and catch the runoff. You can use turpentine and it's even more mild but I've decided that I can't take the odor and use low odor mineral spirits in a nice breezy spot in my back yard.

This just flat out works! It's not rocket science.

If there's a lacquer that you wish to remove citrus strip does indeed work just fine but I've started using Homer Formby's Furniture Refinisher which I suspect is an acetone based solvent. Again it's with the gloves and a good breeze and then just wax on/wax off like Mr. Miyagi taught you (the Formby's product is amazing). But don't kid yourself - any time you use a solvent on wood you're doing the wood no favors. So do I hesitate to de-lacquer a $200 SKS or a $100 Mosin? Heck no. Do I so much as touch a collectible German K98? Heck no!

And let me admit something, I tried the dishwasher method on a stock once. I bought a spare stock for my M1 Carbine for something like $30 from an online surplus joint and it showed up pretty nasty so I figured what the heck. Sure enough, it works just great! Why wouldn't it? I ran a rinse cycle through the dishwasher with a heavy load of soap afterwards and could detect no residue whatsoever. After letting the stock dry for 24 hours I hit it with steel wool, oiled it with linseed, popped my rifle into it and it's been working just great/looks good. Do I feel bad about this? Heck no - it's a spare, throw away stock so who cares? The original stock got a mild turpentine wipe down and a linseed oiling and is in storage!

So I guess I'm suggesting some perspective here. A) It's not hard to simply wipe off/out the cosmogrease. B) If it's a cheap rifle like a Mosin or perhaps a Yugo Mauser and you either don't care about collectibility or don't think it ever will be collectible then do whatever the heck you want! It's a fee country and you should enjoy your prize how you see fit. I merely suggest that you consider the future and how you're affecting value before you get busy.

Have fun,
Oly

P.S. I agree that even after you've got a stock "clean" using some kind of solvent it can still have a bunch of grease soaked into it that may bother some folks. The hot car method does indeed work just great. I've wrapped milsurp stocks in a shop towel and put them in a black bag out in the hot AZ sun and sure enough a bunch of grease has seeped out. Works well.
 
Quite a few of the M1 Garand owners over at www.thecmp.org use the dishwasher for their Garand stocks. They usually swear by the process (not at it :D). I didn't feel like doing that with my new M1 so I tried the alternate method. That is to wipe the stock down with mineral spirits, then wipe dry. Next, wipe it down with multiple applications of denatured or rubbing alcohol. Once that is dry, wrap the stock in rags or paper towels and then wrap the whole thing in a black trash bag. Put the trash bag in the sun (some guys set them on their dash because you know how hot the interiors get) for several hours. After the sun baking routine, wipe the stock down with rubbing alcohol. This cleaned up my M1 stock nicely and, now that the temperatures are in the 80s, I will try this again.
 
Hmm.

"So do I hesitate to de-lacquer a $200 SKS or a $100 Mosin? Heck no. Do I so much as touch a collectible German K98? Heck no!"

Ok, I see the argument, and also understand not quite a few years back those K98s were as cheap as SKS and Mosins are now...

I suggest a change of perspective. Use the fast ways that may risk damage on a firearm which wont have much value in the future. So. Finn Mosins, typically, go slow. One of those millions round receiver Russian 91/30 Mosins, well, after checking for importance (M.O., multi-date, unique aspects) and finding none, then knock yourself out.

Remember how you feel ill looking at a Bubba'd Springfield? Well, in this case, don't be the Bubba...
 
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