How to clean off dirt and grime

Alfonso

Alfonso

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Okanagan
What is the best remedy to gently clean off a surplus rifle such as my IH Garand or my Arisaka or MN to simply remove some of the old gunk and grime on them? I don't want to refinish them just clean em up a bit? Tung Oil? Odorless thinner?

Thanks.
 
Odourless thinner is fine.

If you really want to go all "museum quality" there is a product called Vulpex Liquid Soap, made by the same company that makes Renaissance wax. Supposed to be the greatest stuff ever, and can be used with either water, OR mineral spirits. I read about this at an antique furniture site, not sure who stocks it though, and I suspect it wil be expensive.
 
Darren.R

Thanks for that. I have bought from IMA before as well, and had no idea they stocked this. (Not surprising given the amount of Nepalese antique stuff they have though).
 
use ammonia and water 50/50 and put the wood in the sink. spray from the top and the oil and dirt will come out. Then wash with soap and hot water.
 
My suggestion for the metal:

Wipe off the initial bits with some shop towels combined with some elbow grease.

Move next to some steel wool. 0000 will work perfectly but I have used 00 with good success against stubborn bits, rust...etc without harming the finish on the metal or bluing. I have not tried this on anything parkerized. I think it may scratch the finish on anything parked so you may wish to omit this step or try a little bit on an inconspicuous part.

Finish off by rubbing some oil with a fresh shop towel.

For the wood:

I wipe off whatever I can with a clean shop towel then apply some oil and rub it in with another clean shop towel. It has worked quite well on my milsurps.

For stocks that had mud, dirt, grime..etc on them, I washed and rinsed them off in hot, not boiling, water. I then wipe them dry and apply the oil step mentioned before. This has worked quite well on a vet bring back Gewehr 98 that was just covered in mud.
 
in the military , we used sand on the carboned parts like fn fal gas piston rods.
on the wood we used varasol. with the c7 we used the green hand cleaner that mechanics use. slobbered the whole gun in and out . throw them in the shower with hot water, rinse off,then dry and lightly oil , passed inspection every time. takes 2 guys about 20 minutes to do 30 or 40 rifles.
 
A Conservator in a museum cleans antique wooden stocks with a 50/50 mixture of turpentine and raw linseed oil. A small section of the stock is cleaned with a lint free soft cotton rag dipped in the 50/50 mixture. A heat lamp is used to help bring impurities to the surface.

NOTE: Turpentine is a natural evaporative oil made from pine tree sap and raw linseed oil is a natural oil from flax seeds.

The Conservator cleans the metal parts with a soft bristle tooth brush and olive oil and wipes the metal dry and then applies a neutral PH wax to keep the metal from rusting.

If that doesn't get it clean enough for you, then go Bubba clean and put it on normal wash or go maximum Bubba and spray it with Easy-off and then run it through the pots and pans cycle and see what happens. :eek:

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Do you have a pre-wash cycle?

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Sorry, retired life is just so boring some days. :rolleyes:
 
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