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Proper cleaning and preservation of military surplus stocks

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Here is a little write up on how I personally clean and preserve military stocks. If you have been around surplus rifles at all, you know that when you first get one they are normally greasy and dirty. Here are some things that I do to help clean them up. They may not be the correct way, but this is what I do for the stuff in my collection. I am going to write this in an order from most harmless to a fully aggressive cleaning. I try to avoid sanding a stock because when you sand out a ding, you are sanding out history. You never know where a little bump or bruise came from, it could have been from being bumped in an arsenal or it could be from being dropped in a battlefield. That is part of the intrigue of milsurp, so I try to respect the rifle and its previous users. Follow these steps at your own risk and always stay within your comfort level. If you don’t feel comfortable doing something please don’t do it.

 

1) Using heat to remove cosmo from a stock

This is the least aggressive approach to removing cosmo from a stock. Cosmo has a melting point of appx 125º so just a little heat and it liquefies and comes to the surface. In the summer it is great just to wrap a stock in toilet paper or paper towels and put it in a large black trash bag. I then put the trash bag on the dash of my truck. As the cosmo melts, it comes to the surface and is absorbed by the paper towels. On a really hot day, I just put the stock alone on my dash and give it a wipe every 1/2hr or so. You will be amazed on how much of the golden gooey goodness comes out. Now where we live it isn't hot year round. SOOOO, I have a couple of ways around that. If I am looking for immediate results, I normally just take a heat gun(hair dryer on steroids) and sit with a roll of paper towels. Keeping the heat gun moving at all times, just get the stock hot enough to bring the cosmo to the surface and then wipe it off. You will be amazed on the amount of stuff that comes out and it normally takes about a full roll of paper towels. If I don’t feel like using a heat gun, I just wait till I either have a fire in the fireplace or the kerosene heater in the shop is going. I set the stock near the heat source and let it sit, checking it often. I wipe the stock frequently to get the stuff that leeches out. Cosmo is stubborn to get out and you will never get it all. You need to learn your point of defeat and say "good enough." Sometimes it takes about 2 or three times of heating to get it nice enough. Like I said before, this is the least aggressive approach but normally works well. This is normally my first step before I continue to the other steps. What is the point of doing a thorough cleaning of a stock if you never get most of the cosmo out.

 

2) Doing a Boiled Linseed oil(BLO) scrub

I normally do this if a stock isn't too dirty. Boiled linseed oil is the most common finish on military gun stocks. It is readily available and cheap. Most hardware stores have it in pint sized cans and a can will last forever. An oil scrub will normally leave a stock smooth and it feels amazing. You will need to complete the first step of the write up and remove most of the cosmo from the stock. Even though the oil is an oil finish, it will actually clean as you scrub. There will be quite a bit of junk that comes off of the stock. Remember even though you are scrubbing the stock with steel wool, you are not trying to remove any of the scratches or dings. Those are part of the rifles history and we don’t want to remove them. Now let’s get started! First get a small piece of #000 or finer steel wool. Saturate the steel wool with the oil and start scrubbing the stock. Try to keep an even amount of scrubbing and not focus on one area. Keep the steel wool wet with the oil, it will give you a smoother finish. Let the stock stay "wet" with the oil for 10-20 minutes and then wipe off the excess with a rag. If you let it sit too long, the oil becomes "gummy" and has a sticky feeling. I normally go for about 15 minutes before wiping it with a rag. Now let the stock sit and dry for a full 24hrs. I normally scrub a stock 2-3 times. After the second or third scrub let it sit another full 24hrs then rub a little oil in by hand. This is time consuming because you are really rubbing in the oil, the wood will actually start to feel warm. The finished product on this is awesome it leaves a nice and clean oiled finish that is extremely nice to touch.

3) Solvent cleaning a stock

I use this process if a stock is moderately dirty and needs a little help to look good. I start with denatured alcohol and if that isn't aggressive enough I go to lacquer thinner. As usual start with step one to get most of the cosmo out. Then start this process. I use either a very soft scrub brush or some steel wool for this project. First saturate the steel wool with the alcohol or thinner. Scrub the stock, evenly to avoid getting a splotchy finish. When the stock is still wet with the solvent, wipe off the crud with a paper towel before it has time to dry on the surface. I normally do a little area, wipe, do a little area, wipe. This tends to get a bunch of crud off of a stock. I then finish with step 2 a BLO scrub.

 

4) Chemical Cleaners

I use this process as a last resort when trying to clean up a horribly nasty stock. I like to use Purple Power degreaser for this step. Purple Power is available at 90% of the auto parts stores out there and comes in a convenient spray bottle. First off make sure the wife is out of the house because you will either be using the bath tub or the kitchen sink. You are going to need a soft bristled scrub brush, I like the ones intended for scrubbing your hands. Spray the stock with the Purple Power and immediately start scrubbing it with the brush. Work in small areas so the stuff doesn't have time to absorb into the stock or dry on the surface. Once a small area is scrubbed, rinse it off with warm water. Move on to the next area of the stock, scrub and rinse. Once the whole stock has been scrubbed, give it one quick rinse off. I then wipe off the water on the surface with a rag and let it sit for about 48hrs before applying any kind of finish or oil. Do not use heat or sunlight to dry the stock, if you do you take a chance of warping the stock. Once dry, the stock will have a fuzzy raised grain look to it. I simply just rub it good with #000 steel wool to smooth it out again. Now all oils have been removed from the stock and it looks really dry. You are going to need to oil the wood so I prefer to go and do step #2, an oil scrub. This process works great on a stock that otherwise would be a chunk of fire wood. You would be amazed on how nicely it cleans and saves a stock.

 

Once the wood has been oiled and has had time to dry, I prefer to apply some "Gunny Paste." Gunny Paste is a military gun stock wax that you can make yourself or order off the net. I love the stuff, it really makes the grain on wood "pop." Here is a recipe for Gunny Paste. Gunny Paste Or if you are lazy like me you can order it from here: Toms Mix I like Toms natural myself, and really leaves a stock feeling awesome.

 

I hope this helped someone, but I am not responsible if you goof up your stock. Use at your own risk!

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Do you remove the stock when you are doing this?

I definately remove the stock from the rifle. When possible, I try to remove as much metal from the stock too. Buttplate, sling swivels ect. The key is not to rush, if you take your time it is going to show.

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Good guide to gauge how aggressive one might need to go to get it clean. I'm just unsure how harmful each step is to the existing finish of the wood--can you add comments on how each step may affect the original finish? For instance, 1 & 2 look fairly harmless but 3&4 may strip off things like shellac that are soluble.

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Good info! But don't use blo. Today's blo has dryers in it and it is not the right finish. I go to the art store and buy RAW linseed oil. Wear rubber gloves hand rub it on inside and outside of stock, hydrate the stock with it. Wipe off excess let dry but if ur stock is dry there won't be. Do it again once a week for a month. Then again in six months then yearly

 

This is all post a cleaning. But I use denatured alcohol or acetone with the finest steel wool possible then clean with a lint free rag

 

It is not only to apply finish it is to hydrate the wood and swell it. This wood has been stored, who knows how, and the wood is thirsty. Providing the wood is not a decrepit Cosmo soaked sponge. :-)

 

I've done many an Enfield and garand this way and they came out just great.

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US military wood gunstocks prior to WWII were immersed in tubs full of heated raw linseed oil. The stocks took quite some time to dry. I am not sure of the exact year when the US switched over to Tung oil.

There is a difference between tung oil and tung oil finish. TOF has additives in it to make it dry quicker. TOF tends to gum up when multiple coats are applied.

Tung oil does a better job keeping the moisture out of the stocks than BLO. There was an article a few years ago about the national matches when they had massive down pours during the matches. The shooters that has stocks finished with BLO had issues with stock swelling.

BLO finishes tend to be glossier, while Tung Oil will give you a matte finish.

 

For cleaning I have used mineral spirits, acetone, or denatured alcohol. Not in any type of combination, depends on what i have on hand. If the stock is really saturated with grease or cosmoline I have used an oven on low temps to heat up the stock. The cosmoline/grease will come to the surface. However, there are some rifle stocks that still ooze cosmoline when they get heated up from shooting no matter how much I thought they were clean.

 

I have on occasion used the dishwasher on high temp wash with a no heat dry to clean up a stock and steam out dings and dents. No soap added and you have to let the stock air dry for a few days before you want to do any work to it. Only use the dishwasher method if you don't care about loosing any arsenal stamps. Also, only use the dishwasher and oven if the wife is not home.

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