I'm currently renewing a P14 stock that is oil soaked and found that Heirlooms circa 1850 worked extremly well to remove oil deep in the stock. I applied a heavy coating (the stripper will only work when wet) to the entire stock, let sit for 10 minutes, removed with plastic scraper, clean with mineral spirits, let the stock sit for a couple days or heat it with a heat gun. The oils deep in the stock will come up to the surface again and then I just repeated with the stripper. Also worked wonders on my oil soaked sks stock. Just be careful using the stripper becuase the first time I used I wore heavy nitrile gloves and it ate right through them. Another benefit to using stripper/mineral spirits is that they wont raise the grain of the wood.
How to clean a dirty oily Garand stock?
- Thread starter czscotia
- Start date
Not sure if this is good for the wood, but I've read a few different forums (via Google) to use GOJO Non-pumice hand cleaner on the stock and just wash liberally with hot water after each application.
I've tried it on my cosmoline soaked SKS stock and everything is coming along smoothly in terms of removing old crud and old finish.
I'm gonna try applying Linseed Oil as soon as the stock finishes drying in 48 hrs.
I've tried it on my cosmoline soaked SKS stock and everything is coming along smoothly in terms of removing old crud and old finish.
I'm gonna try applying Linseed Oil as soon as the stock finishes drying in 48 hrs.
It depends on what you'd like to do with the stock-if you are just looking to clean off the surface grime, I still stand by Simple Green, but if you want to completely strip and refinish it, Acetone and fine steel wool will remove ALL grease and oil based finish from the wood, which leaves you with the original, unfinished wood that you can either stain or apply BLO, etc.... I have had great results with this method as well.
Generally it's wise to avoid using water based anything to clean as it can soak into the wood and raise the grain. And if that occurs you're pretty much stuck with sanding it to get the wood back to the original sort of smoothness. And sanding of any sort will remove some or all of the patina in the wood that has occured over the years since it was made.
The old oil on the surface and in the wood darkens with age and exposure to UV and from contact with grimey hands. But oil can and should be replaced from time to time. So a good starting point would be to scrub the stock down with some mineral spirits (AKA "low odor paint thinner") along with something gentle to scrub with such as a pad of medium grade steel wool or one of the Scothbrite pads often found in the furniture refinishing section of the paint products. The mineral spirits and scrubbing should slew away much of the darkened oil and grunge of ages.
Only if this isn't working would I step up the treatment to one of the paint and varnish strippers. If you do follow the instructions faithfully.
I have never seen any writeup on wood stripping and refinishing that in any way involves any sort of detergent or soap such as Simple Green or any other such product. If you do use such a thing then you MUST flush with lots of water to remove all traces of the soap or detergent. Not to do so invites problems later with the oil finish not soaking in well or possibly not ever curing as it mixes with the residue left behind. This also goes against the idea that wood and water should not meet if you want to avoid raising the grain and having to sand it smooth again. So while folks that suggested it mean well I would not use it other than as a very distant last resort.
The old oil on the surface and in the wood darkens with age and exposure to UV and from contact with grimey hands. But oil can and should be replaced from time to time. So a good starting point would be to scrub the stock down with some mineral spirits (AKA "low odor paint thinner") along with something gentle to scrub with such as a pad of medium grade steel wool or one of the Scothbrite pads often found in the furniture refinishing section of the paint products. The mineral spirits and scrubbing should slew away much of the darkened oil and grunge of ages.
Only if this isn't working would I step up the treatment to one of the paint and varnish strippers. If you do follow the instructions faithfully.
I have never seen any writeup on wood stripping and refinishing that in any way involves any sort of detergent or soap such as Simple Green or any other such product. If you do use such a thing then you MUST flush with lots of water to remove all traces of the soap or detergent. Not to do so invites problems later with the oil finish not soaking in well or possibly not ever curing as it mixes with the residue left behind. This also goes against the idea that wood and water should not meet if you want to avoid raising the grain and having to sand it smooth again. So while folks that suggested it mean well I would not use it other than as a very distant last resort.
I used oven cleaner on my M1 stock and it worked perfect, just let it soak in for 20mins and then washed it off in the laundry sink with warm soapy water then let it dry over night.
Then a light sand with an old used piece of 220 grit, wipe away dust with cheese cloth
I then took a very light coat of minwax walnut stain ( this brought out all the old natural grains and also some of the battle dings)
Now, apply 3 coats of tung oil, and be prepared to listen to your wife complain for at least a week about the smell
Finally, i hand rubbed some chapman's beezwax on the wood to give it a nice seal
My M1 looked like crap when i got it and now everybody who sees it thinks it's original
good luck
Then a light sand with an old used piece of 220 grit, wipe away dust with cheese cloth
I then took a very light coat of minwax walnut stain ( this brought out all the old natural grains and also some of the battle dings)
Now, apply 3 coats of tung oil, and be prepared to listen to your wife complain for at least a week about the smell
Finally, i hand rubbed some chapman's beezwax on the wood to give it a nice seal
My M1 looked like crap when i got it and now everybody who sees it thinks it's original
good luck
i agree I ruined a stock with the over cleaner, it turns the stock to goo, it you want to raise the grain, soap and warm water does the trick
You can watch these videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p21MKDi3r8o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p21MKDi3r8o
I tried it all on my Garand. Everything mentioned except TSP in hot water. The TSP worked the best although small parts that would fit in the microwave also worked very well, nuc them and wipe down while hot, but be careful. I did try everything, varsol in a parts washer, acetone, whiting in a 50 degree c oven, oven cleaner, lacquer thinner etc. It was real oily. The TSP was best and then a bit of very fine steel wool cleaned it up the best possible. I then put a coat of BLO on it and it looked exactly like it did before I cleaned it!! black! at least it didn't slip from my hands at that point due to the oil and grease.
here, here to Simple Green!
Simple Green is awesome and easy on the hands and can be used indoors at the kitchen table or over the sink. I have a lot of good luck using Simple green, steel wool and ordinary cabinet scrapers or microscope slides work well. The scrapers help you from getting un-even surfaces like you do when you sand the wood with sand paper. Just scrape off the soaked in Simple green and then steel wool the rest. Repeat if needed.
Simple Green is awesome and easy on the hands and can be used indoors at the kitchen table or over the sink. I have a lot of good luck using Simple green, steel wool and ordinary cabinet scrapers or microscope slides work well. The scrapers help you from getting un-even surfaces like you do when you sand the wood with sand paper. Just scrape off the soaked in Simple green and then steel wool the rest. Repeat if needed.
I have tried everything mineral spirits-15% better, Heating did bleed out some oil but no real help with color. Then I used Easy Off two times in a row and it worked great! Then I oiled it again and as Ian Robertson said -RIGHT BACK to BLACK!. I'm tempted to do it again and use some kind of varithane............!!!....
This may sound repetative, but I've probably done 20 or so sets of Garand stocks and handguards over time and am repeating what has worked well for me.
You've already tried mineral spirits, and even a couple of shots of oven cleaner, w/o satisfactory results. Oven cleaner is a caustic agent. It, water, and bleaches are very hard on wood, so all of these should be avoided.
Refinishing a stock takes time and patience in addition to whatever else is used. What I would do next is to use successive applications of Minwax Antique Refinisher. The stock should be stood upright in a plastic ctnr, like a cat litter box. The Antique Refinisher is applied with a synthetic sanding pad. The grey ones are available from CTire. These are like the green ones used for dish cleaning. The refinisher should be applied to the interior of the stock with a toothbrush. This agent will remove all of the old finish and residual oils from the wood as well as whatever new oils you have applied. Keep scrubbing the stock with this then set it aside to dry for a couple of days. If you are still not satisfied, then do it a couple of more times allowing a day or 2 between applications.
If the stock is still showing old imbedded oils after this, I would next use laquer thinner applied with the synthetic pad. Several apllications may be necessary allowing drying time between applications. If this hasn't removed all of the unsightly oils, you have no real option but to live with it or procure another stock.
Once the wood is well dried you can contemplate staining it before applying a new finish. I like alcohol based leather stains for this as they will penetrate any residual oils in the wood. Oil and water based stains are OK on new wood, but don't work well on an old military stock. Steaming out dents and refilling gouges take more time and this should be done before applying any new stain or finish. Again, allowing the stock to dry fully is critical.
For a military finish you can use successive coats of pure tung oil or raw linseed oil with the excess wiped off the surface of the wood and allowed to dry between applications. One synthetic finish which I have found to work quite well is Minwax Tung Oil finish. Unlike pure tung oil, this contains a drying agent, so it is important to follow the instructions and remove excess from the surface of the wood after 10 mins or so. 2 or 3 applications of this are usually sufficient. I would normally plan at least 2 weeks for the complete refinishing process allowing ample drying time at every stage. I'd stay away from varathane. It looks cheezy.
You've already tried mineral spirits, and even a couple of shots of oven cleaner, w/o satisfactory results. Oven cleaner is a caustic agent. It, water, and bleaches are very hard on wood, so all of these should be avoided.
Refinishing a stock takes time and patience in addition to whatever else is used. What I would do next is to use successive applications of Minwax Antique Refinisher. The stock should be stood upright in a plastic ctnr, like a cat litter box. The Antique Refinisher is applied with a synthetic sanding pad. The grey ones are available from CTire. These are like the green ones used for dish cleaning. The refinisher should be applied to the interior of the stock with a toothbrush. This agent will remove all of the old finish and residual oils from the wood as well as whatever new oils you have applied. Keep scrubbing the stock with this then set it aside to dry for a couple of days. If you are still not satisfied, then do it a couple of more times allowing a day or 2 between applications.
If the stock is still showing old imbedded oils after this, I would next use laquer thinner applied with the synthetic pad. Several apllications may be necessary allowing drying time between applications. If this hasn't removed all of the unsightly oils, you have no real option but to live with it or procure another stock.
Once the wood is well dried you can contemplate staining it before applying a new finish. I like alcohol based leather stains for this as they will penetrate any residual oils in the wood. Oil and water based stains are OK on new wood, but don't work well on an old military stock. Steaming out dents and refilling gouges take more time and this should be done before applying any new stain or finish. Again, allowing the stock to dry fully is critical.
For a military finish you can use successive coats of pure tung oil or raw linseed oil with the excess wiped off the surface of the wood and allowed to dry between applications. One synthetic finish which I have found to work quite well is Minwax Tung Oil finish. Unlike pure tung oil, this contains a drying agent, so it is important to follow the instructions and remove excess from the surface of the wood after 10 mins or so. 2 or 3 applications of this are usually sufficient. I would normally plan at least 2 weeks for the complete refinishing process allowing ample drying time at every stage. I'd stay away from varathane. It looks cheezy.
