Removing oil -based stain from stock

C

CoolgGuy90

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I was doing my first refinish on my mosin stock a few days ago. I removed the shellac with oven cleaner then lightly sanded. I applied a Minwax stain but it came out uneven and blotchy. I decided to strip off the stain and redo it, however I am having trouble getting all the stain out. I have used Klean strip and Citristrip and both took the majority off the stain off but there are still slight areas that have stain, especially in the small pits and grooves on the outside of stock. Is there something else I can apply to get out the rest of the stain? I know bleaching is an option but I do not want to mess up the stock even more as I am new to this.

Thanks
 
Oven cleaner? Oven cleaner is for ovens, not wood. Yes, it will raise the finish so you can remove it, but it can also damage the wood because it is extremely caustic. CitriStrip is my favorite, it generally works very well. Use a ScotchBrite pad on the stock on areas where the finish does not come away completey, very common with shellac finishes. You did not mention what kind of wood it is. Since it has a shellac finish on it, I will guess that it is a military surplus rifle. Many military stocks are not very easy to strip or refinish since they used whatever wood was common in good supply.
 
It might be easier (and prettier) to sand or file the pits and scratches out of the stock- that is if they are dings and not part of the original stock design.
 
Blotchy wood is going to very difficult to stain evenly. There's no secret recipe for a stain that won't blotch. Minwax sells a blotch controller, which is water based and works decent but not great. The wood you've got accepts stain unevenly, which is the blotching. The blotch controller works on the idea that if you saturate the wood with the blotch controller and let it sit for a minute (per directions), then the Minwax stuff will prevent the areas that accept too much stain from doing so. Therefore, the stain should even out. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that well. Other options are to go to Home Depot or Lowes and buy some of the Dewaxed Shellac (I think it's Minwax also, but be sure it's dewaxed) and dilute it by half with Denatured Alcohol and apply that to the stock and let it dry (dries fast). It will, to some degree, be absorbed more by the blotchy parts of the wood, which leads to more even acceptance by the wood of your stain. That does work, but it limits the amount of the stain that the wood will take. So use the diluted shellac, sand lightly to 320 grit, and apply your stain and if you want it darker, then use a wipe-on stain/varnish. That'll not penetrate the wood. Once that dries, go over it with a polyurethane varnish or with shellac (2 coats or more). Yes, it's a pain, but blotchy wood is hard to whip into shape.

One other approach that works sometimes, and that I've used on Cherry but not on birch, is to sand it really really fine (to 600 grit or more). That also limits the absorption of stain. It might work. It might not work.
 
I am not saying this is your case, but most of the Mosins I have seen have cosmoline soaked stocks. You must remove all of the cosmoline first if you are going to refinish the stock otherwise you will never get an even stain nor will the stain soak in the wood.
I have found the best solution for removing the cosmoline is to soak the stock in lacquer thinner (LT). May take several applications, but it works for me. LT thins cosmo quite well and dries quickly.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. When I used the oven cleaner it took off the shellac with ease down to the bare wood with no sanding or scrubbing. I then washed in and applied mineral spirits to it so I am pretty confident I took out most of the cosmoline. I was originally gonna get the Minwax pre-conditioner but I read it hides the grain so at the last minute I didn't get it. After seveal long hours using Citristrip I was able to get the wood back to when I had it before the stain but some stains still remain which I think I would have to bleach to remove but I was not confident in doing that. I decided now to skip using a stain and just apply several coats of Tru-oil as I kind of like the look of the stocks natural wood.
 
The Minwax pre-conditioner won't hide the grain. It's a milky color, but applies like it's water (it mostly is water). If you are going to go with the TruOil, the wood will still blotch, so I'd sand it really fine before I applied the TruOil. That should help a little on how evenly the wood takes the oil, which will make the overall appearance a bit more even.
 
Hearing the polar opposites of using oven cleaner, out of curiousity I used it on a cheap shotgun stock. The wood was perfectly fine afterwards and refinished fine. Am I saying I'm the expert and know it's not going to hurt the wood? No, I'm just relaying my experience.

Having said that, I'm going to think the blotchy problem was because the cosmoline or some of the finish wasn't completely moved. I've had that problem before.

Pictures when its done, please!
 
IMHO, Lacquer thinner LT is far superior to mineral spirits. Mineral spirits does not blend with oil as quickly as LT and takes far to long to evaporate out of the wood grain.

Oven Cleaner: concur entirely with Scorch. It is for ovens and yes it will damage wood. l
 
Sorry for the long delay, but here is the stock with about 3 coats of Tru-oil. I've let it dry for a few days now but it has a tacky feel to it so I may have applied too much.

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Tru Oil rules on natural wood. Take some 0000 steel wool and lightly rub it out
and then put on 2 coats of wax. Should look nice after that.
 
Put the oven cleaner and sand paper away. Oven cleaner is for the old nasty cosmoline soaked stocks that have little or no value.

Lacquer thinner, mineral spirits, denatured alcohol are chems you need on hand for cleaning. Something like Citrastrip for removing varnish or other hard finishes with out damage to the wood fibers.

Use a wet cloth and hot iron, steam iron, or a small hand held steam cleaner to raise dents and dings from wood.

Most mil-surp stocks clean up fine with just 0000 steel/brass wool, NO SAND PAPER.

A few minutes research well educate you on the mil-surp's original finish. Use it or you devalue the fire arm.
 
An other vote here for citristrip it is fantastic on wood, it's cheap and easy to use. I personally will take my gunstocks to work and while I'm inside, I'll set the stock on the dashboard and let the intense heat in an enclosed car leach out all the cosmoline. It's least labor intensive
 
Here is the stock with about 4 coats of Tru-oil. Once again it looks redder in person and I am very happy with the appearance. It still has a somewhat gritty feel too it and when I look at the stock up close I noticed that pieces of the cheesecloth got embedded especially near the butt stock. I still want to apply a few more coats so should I sand with very fine 1200 grit to remove the pieces?

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For removing shellac and polyurathane type finishes, use paint and varnish stripper. That is what it is made for. To pull stain out, use turpentine. It is made for wood products and also does a great job on wax products (cosmoline).

Word of caution: When using turpentine, you must use it in a well ventilated area, and keep it far away from any heat source. It is as flamable as gasoline! Perhaps that is why people use mineral spirits, but it dosnt work as well.
 
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