Removing wax (+Aditional Question Post 7)

DiMP

DiMP

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
81   0   0
Location
SE BC
I was given an old Cooey single shot 12 gauge recently. I was told it spent the last 10 years living in behind a hot water tank in a closet, so as you can imagine it's in great shape...:rolleyes: I am hoping to restore it and use it this coming spring. This shotgun feels like someone rubbed a candle all over the stock at some point in its past. I'm hoping to strip the stock and refinish it, but if it's got wax on it, will furniture stripper just "bead off" of it? I figured I'd ask before trying and possibly making the situation worse. I guess summary question... how do I remove wax from a gun stock easiest?

Thanks all for your insight
 
Last edited:
From my woodworking days, you can use naptha to remove the old wax finish. Areas that still have wax residue will look/remain wet while the naptha will evaporate in the areas that are wax free.
 
I used to rub minwax floor wax on my 870 before duck season. It really worked well to prevent rust of the matt blued metal and warpage of the wood stock.
I decided to put a mossy oak gun wrap on the old girl last year and revoved all the wax with laquer thinner....as trinimon said; naptha will work as will accetone.
Furniture stripper should also work as wax,laquer, shelac, and polyurethane are all common furniture finishes
 
Completely unrelated to wax removal, but my next question is too small to start a new thread on. Anyone know the thread size/type of the front bead sight on these shotguns? I thought all beads were the same, but looking online at Cabelas they have listed different thread sizes for new beads
 
Regarding wax:

I'd recommend a heat gun as well. Melt it and wipe it off with paper towels.

If you want to actually "dissolve" the wax and rinse it away entirely, Xylene or Hexane should work. Gasoline would work also. Kerosene "may" also work and would be a somewhat safer alternative to gasoline. All these are very flammable (duh!) so be careful and be outside in an open area. Many people have been badly hurt cleaning parts with gasoline, but man does it work well. One benefit of gasoline is it's so cheap and available that you could completely immerse the action in a bath of gasoline and let it sit.

As far as the bead size, I don't know. You could always err on the side of caution and order too large a bead, and then drill & tap it to fit. It's just a shotgun, after all.

Whatever route you take regarding the bead, you should file it down to proper size so it doesn't extend into the barrel.

Best of luck.
 
Last edited:
Trinimon said:
The reason I don't like using gasoline/kerosene to remove finishes is because the smell soaks into the wood.
Click to expand...

Absolutely right. It takes forever to go away. I'd never use it on wood unless I planned on putting a sealed finish on afterwards.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom