Garand stock cleaning?

C

chris in va

New member
Here's the deal. I've taken my Garand out a couple times and the top handguard is sweating oil like crazy. It's also lighter than the other pieces.

The stock itself is really rough and generally pretty dirty. I don't want to do a full clean/oil job, but need to do something with that handguard more than anything as oil literally runs down onto my hand when firing. Cleaning the stock is optional.

As you can see the guard is considerably lighter and more 'bleached' than the stock.

 
Take all the metal furniture off. Soak the entire stock (and hand guard) in water for a couple of days. Then roll it in dry laundry powder and let dry. Repeat if necessary - yours is so black it may take several treatments. The oil will come out of the stock into the dry laundry soap and it will look great.

Give it a light sanding (not enough to remove any markings), slap a coat of tung oil on it, and will look like it did in 1942. The handguard and stock will match.
 
First time I have heard of that method.

How do you take the dried soap off and what kind of soap should be used ?

The only method I have used is heat to leech out the oils (usually left out in the sun on a dark surface). This takes a few times, but eventually the oils come out. Then I use a naptha bath for about 1/2 hour. I then very lightly with a "Chorboy" copper scrubber soaked in naptha I scrub the wood with the grain (VERY LIGHTLY). I give it another naptha bath and then wipe down with a non linting cloth. I let it dry for a day and then use Brownells Military Finish. Alllow that to dry and then finish with a coat or two of linspeed. They tend to come out very well and they still keep the aging marks as well as metal stamped/heat iron cartuches. This method will take painted or inked rack marks off.
 
If your rifle is a good shooter, maybe look around for a replacement stock set.
From your photo the rear hand guard looks to be Birch perhaps. And that would explain the different levels of finish.
Removing all the metal from the stock set is the best way to refinish wood.

I have used 'Murphy's oil soap' and lots of elbow grease to good results.
Placing the stock set in a dish water, (metal removed, and Mrs. not home), works too.
Lately I been using some of 'Formby's' products, refinishers and strippers.
And they are more cost, but I have found them to work as advertised.
 
Just use any dry laundry detergent - the cheapest you can buy is fine. It goes on white and comes off yellow or brown. You just wash it off with water once the stock is dry, after 24 hours or so.
A really darkened stock like the one above may have to be done several times. You can also add a little detergent to the water you soak the stock in. It can also help to wrap the stock in plastic after the soap is applied to help the detergent soak in and break up the oil. Leave it wrapped a couple of days, then unwrap, apply even more dry soap and let dry.
 
I just did another old USGI stock the other day. Three hours' work to clean, one hour to steam dents, and one hour to oil. I did it for a friend who picked up an M1 carbine at Anniston, he described it as "firewood"

I told him, OK, fine, give it to me for a day, I'll give it back the next day

I scrubbed it for an hour using odorless mineral spirits. Started with an old toothbrush and finished that with very fine scotchbrite. I used 180 gr sandpaper lightly on two spots that had areas that would cause splinters, then scrubbed it again with the scotchbrite and OMS.

Then I steamed out dents. When I was done the stock was light in color. I put on four coats on boiled linseed oil, inside and out. The wood was very dry even before I started, and it sucked in oil like crazy. I put on the 4th coat heavy, and left it to dry overnight. I wiped it down in the morning. Nice red/brown/black coloring was back in the wood. I used an aluminum tube to 'bone' a couple spots

My friend is now regretting the new M1 carbine stock his wife ordered for him, because they didn't believe the USGI stock could be saved.

Lots of ways to re-do a stock. That's the second M1 carbine stock I've done that way and they both came out great. I like my way as it seems to be mild compared with some other ways. YMMV but I think that the OMS and some elbow grease, an little time to dry, and then a new coat of BLO would do the trick

Chris, whipping your M1 buttstock into shape would not be a long process. I'd say 4 or 5 hours

BTW, I think there's some nice interesting grain on that stock
 
Summer is here for most of us now so just wrap the piece in clean shop rags or paper towels, put it in a black trash bag, and place it in your car out in the mid-day sun. Believe me - it'll leach plenty.

Follow up by giving it a good wipe down with mineral spirits and you'll be set.

If the stock is a mismatch consider a nice replacement stock. The CMP sells them, they're not expensive, they look great, and they might even help your piece to shoot better.

Also, if it's not collectible, and you simply want to match the hand guard to the stock then you can consider using some oil based stains to bring the color along to where you need it. Go look at the Minwax board at a hardware store or Home Depot and pick a color that looks like it'll help. As I've said before, it's not rocket science and as long as you're not devaluing a valuable "correct" collector's piece then have some fun with it because that's why we do this.

Best,
Oly
 
Take the stoock to the slop sink. Get the liq soap under the kitchen sink and a scrub brush and toothbrush.

Get the water hot at the sink and apply liq detergent and scrub away. The frirst couple doses the suds will be dark gray/black. Rinse w/ HOT water and give it 3 or 4 more doses. You will be able to tell after 3 or 4.

Consider steaming dents while wet-will be more effective. If you have some deep dents get a bolt and heat the head HOT!! and apply that to a wet stock w/ wet doubled wash cloth. May need a couple more treatments w/ bolt nearly red.
 
olyinaz-

I mean you rub the stock, with something smooth and hard. Some areas had wood that would have continued to split and splinter. I used that technique to compress the wood slightly after all the scrubbing, etc, because the area say, on the comb was wavy due to the splintered areas- that wood's just gone, can't do anything much there. By 'boning' it, I smoothed out the wavy-ness, but I didn't have to sand
 
I have never done the "dishwasher" thing with cleaning stocks but your stock is Sooooo dark that, if it were mine, I would contemplate doing it in the dishwasher. Make sure your wife is not home. Fwiw, I once did an aluminum bell housing (transmission part) from a 1966 Corvette in my dishwasher. BIIIIGGG mistake because I should have power washed it first to remove the heavy gunk. I took the dishwasher through three cycles, empty of course, to clean it out. After that even nothing weird every happened, ever happened, ever happened.... ;)
 
Do not use the dishwasher method with any stock which still has cartouches that you want to save. The "Oven Cleaner" method has a tendency to raise hell with the wood fibers in the stock.

http://www.thecmp.org/forums/showthread.php?t=12476

Personally, when I got my M1 from CMP, I detail stripped the piece and soaked all metal parts on mineral spirits in order to remove all the old grease used as a preservative while in storage. I removed all metal furniture from the wood stock components and degreased those with the action parts.

I cleaned the wood using mineral spirits and Greased Lightning. This will turn the stock a light color-almost gray. Use something like 0000 steel or bronze wool. Do NOT sand unless absolutely necessary. When you think you have all the grease off the wood, let it sit in the sun for a day or two. If it starts to display dark splotches, the wood still contains grease or cosmoline. In that event, wrap the stock in paper towels, place it then in a black plastic bag & put it the direct sunlight for a day or so. This will cause additional grease and cosmo to leach out of the stock. Clean with mineral spirits and check again for more grease surfacing as before. Repeat until the leaching ends. If you have a nice stock patience is the key, not expediency. After the grease/cosmo is dealt with, steam up any dents and make any necessary repairs.

After grease removal & dent repair, refinish. Some folks are partial to boiled linseed oil, Gunny Paste and a host of other concoctions. Personally, I like pure Tungoil cut with mineral spirits. It can be cut to as low a blend as 1/3 tungoil to 2/3 mineral spirits. Apply in very light coats and allow to dry completely before applying the next coat. Break any undersire gloss in the finish with 0000 steel or bronze wool. I personally like my stock with a lightly oiled look and no gloss. Use pure Tungoil and NOT Tungoil Finish. Tungoil finish contains varnishes, etc which you do not want. I got mine from Brownells.

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A wealth of information on the subject can be found at both the CMP website and the CMP discussion forum.

Bruce
 
Last edited:
Solar Power

The hot Summer sun will leech the old oil, sweat, and stuff you don't want to know out of the stock, but it will take a few times. Wood finishing takes patience. Rush technics do not give the best results.
I've done about a dozen cruddy stocks that were run over by a halftrack and get compliments on the refinish work. Well I'm not sure about the halftrack part. They were pretty rough.
 
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