Rifle Wood Cleaning.

Thunderstreak

Thunderstreak

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Super GunNutz
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Looking for suggestions on the best methods for cleaning original rifle furniture without causing any damage or change in colour or finish. I am working on WWI EFD SMLE III* wood that has dirt, rust and even cosmoline on it. Once it’s all clean what should I treat it with to preserve it? What was used originally?

Thanks and cheers!
 
I have been trying to "clean up" various cosmoline immersed stocks for a while - particularly the cleaning rod hole in a Swede Mauser is a "bear" to get that stuff out. As per an acquaintance, he uses hot water and Simple Green detergent to "wash" that stuff off, but have to be careful not to get the wood fibres soaked with water, or they swell when they dry - and make little feathers or hairs that most often need to be scraped or sanded off. I have used Varsol and Acetone to try to cut through that crap. Much paper towel and many Q-tips. Many stocks have had bad dark bruising and marks - I gave up to clean some of that, and used Circa 1850 paint and varnish remover to strip that - sometimes previous owners will slather a finish on top of the wood - may as well get that gone. Most original stocks, I think, were treated with linseed oil, or some variation of that - soaked INTO the wood fibres, not on top of them. Hand sweat and grime from the gripping areas tends to be dark - takes some soaking with acetone (?), then sprinkle with like baking soda to "suck" those oils out of the wood. In several cases, after cleaning, I mix perhaps 50% Red Mahogany MinWax stain with 50% boiled linseed oil and apply that to try to get hand guards, front and rear buttstocks to all get to similar colour. Downside (?) of linseed oil is that it darkens as it gets worked on by oxygen in the air - so in four or five years it will be darker than what you have today. Original stuff applied in WWI might be VERY dark today - is not slam dunk easy to match to that. I am sure whole books could be written about restoring wood - removing wrong finish, using steam to "plump up" dents, how to apply linseed oil, and so on.

On a particular project, was some rust stains soaked into the wood. Internet lead me to "Bar Keepers Friend" - active ingredient is oxalic acid - was able to get some nearly pure stuff on Amazon.ca - and it worked - it does lift those rust stains, but bleaches the wood fibres to nearly white while doing so - so you have to be prepared to re-stain that area, if you use that stuff.
 
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My method was to clean all the old crud off with Varsol and "0" steel wool. I used a strong magnet wrapped around a piece of cloth to remove any steel wool residue. When I had the stock prepped to my satisfaction, I'd apply coats of Linseed oil (the original stock finish) and see where it absorbed more and where it didn't penetrate any further into the wood. When I had an even coat and the oil had dried completely, I rubbed it with fine steel wool to make a matte finish. It's your call how far you wish to take the process. You can carefully steam out compression dents and scratches or leave them as part of the rifle's history. Personally, I liked to bring them back as near as possible to "factory fresh" condition, but that's me. If you undertake the process, please post before and after pics. I'd love to see the result as I'm sure many of us would.
 
In most recent case - a Swede M96 Mauser - as I removed the rear sling swivel base and the butt plate - there was fine saw dust under and alongside those metal pieces - in the inletting of the wood - as if a former owner had sanded the stock without removing all the metal - about something that you do NOT want to do - do not SAND it!! Rub with rough cloth or similar, like those 3M pads - as you can see in post above, some people will use steel wool, but that likely will leave shards of it behind, so need to deal with that before proceeding.
 
Thunderstreak said:
Looking for suggestions on the best methods for cleaning original rifle furniture without causing any damage or change in colour or finish. I am working on WWI EFD SMLE III* wood that has dirt, rust and even cosmoline on it. Once it’s all clean what should I treat it with to preserve it? What was used originally?

Thanks and cheers!
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its been my experience that simply washing the stock with #4 steel wool and lots of acetone ...scrub well..wipe clean with clean rag...repeat repeat repeat untill your cleaning rag shows no further oils are being lifted out of the wood...takes more work on some areas of the stock...let dry a few days..do it out side or you brain might go to the turdo level...to re seal and you must..i use true oil put on with #4 steel wool after its cleaned with acetone to remove anti rust oils on it[the steel wool that is]...coat ..dry no sand just apply next coat with new de oiled steel wool repeat repeat ...at 4 coats or so use dry #4 clean s w then apply last coat with small fuz proof cotton rag ..make it a nice job never any drips then in a few days rub stock well with recycled paper bag sheets cut 5x5 use both sides.and you only get a few strokes per sheet.it takes a lot go till you get the desired loss of shine...when you apply the true oil with #4 s w it cuts a little and the cuttings help fill in the pours of the wood..do not be in a hurry rub in true oil till its starting to drag your#4 s w ...let dry...works for me good luck don
 
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Go to your local car wash and ask the owner if you can purchase some of that "bubbly pink'' soap that come out of the "BRUSH"

It's different from the soap used in the wands.

The soap used in the brush is very effective at removing GREASE, softening rust and a the top layer of oil on a wood stock. It also softens the rust on the metal parts. The best thing I've come across to remove rust, right down to the shiney steel is "liquid" WIPE OUT BORE CLEANER. Wipe it on, let it sit for half an hour and wipe it off with 000000 steel wool. Touch up the shiney spots with cold blue.

The car wash soap should be applied as is, don't dilute it.

Don't let it soak into your stock.

I use a pad of 000000 steel wool soaked in the soap to apply it to the wood.

Always wipe it along the grain of the wood, rather than across it. You may have to use circular movement around cartouches. BE CAREFUL.

This stuff quickly and easily dissolves old cosmo but you may have to apply it more than once or twice in some areas.

It works great in tight spots, such as cleaning rod channels and can be applied with a tooth brush.
 
Thanks for all of the input. Very interesting to read about everyone's experiences. All very good information.
In this particular case I hope to leave the patina and current dark color on the stock. It is original WWI none refurb. I'm not trying to restore it back to new. I just want to clean off the dirt, rust and remaining cosmoline. The rust and cosmoline are mostly on the inside of the stock. The metal from the donor rifle is very rusty and pitted leaving a significant build up in the stock. This rifle has a replacement rear upper handguard that is much lighter in color. Probably a new copy. I have obtained an original that is very dark to match the stock but it is coated in cosmoline. The trick will be to clean it without bringing it back to it's original light color. I will post a few pictures of my project tonight.
 
I use mineral spirits on milsurp stocks. It is a light solvent so use only a little on a rag and wipe it down thoroughly after with a dry rag. It removes greese, oil and even cosmoline and doesn't damage the finish. Best of luck.
 
The original finish on an Enfield stock is raw linseed oil. Note, not boiled. It was originally applied by dipping the stock in a vat. If all you're after is cleaning, give Dawn dish soap a shot, you might be pleasantly surprised.
 
enefgee said:
The original finish on an Enfield stock is raw linseed oil. Note, not boiled. It was originally applied by dipping the stock in a vat. If all you're after is cleaning, give Dawn dish soap a shot, you might be pleasantly surprised.
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I had read similar - but was, I think, more like a soak overnight, or for a day (?), versus a "dip", and then I think the vats were heated RLO. I did not want to try that in my workshop - seemed too much risk to burn the place down - for some reason I chose to cut the stuff with turpentine - so about 50/50 - and at the time I was able to find a 4 litre jug of raw linseed oil to buy - so I used that - four litres of turpentine plus four litres of RLO - I soaked the wood pieces in that for like a week (?) - NOS beech wood pieces for a No.4 Lee Enfield rifle that I had got from Britain - never had ever been finished in any way - they were still wrapped up as they left the milling shop, I presume. I do recall fishing them out one by one and rubbing them down with a piece of old terry toweling - to get rid of as much excess as I could - then hung them to "dry" in the shop - pretty well dry / hard the next day. Some years later, the container that I had stored that juice in sprung a leak - on the bottom, of course - ended up with that all over a shelf and the concrete floor - most that I could sop up got chucked - never did find any more RLO to buy, so I have been using Home Hardware "double boiled" linseed oil - not likely boiled anyway - more than likely some chemical added, I suspect.

An older-than-me neighbour used to work as a carpenter - he tells me it was not uncommon "back in the day" to spread Raw Linseed Oil onto fine finish troweled concrete floors - acted like a sealer, apparently, once it "set". I would imagine it was also cheap and readily available then, as well. Another neighbour worked at the Lanigan PCS potash mine when they did their expansion - he said several concrete floors, there, were also treated with linseed oil to seal that concrete.

And for sure a wash-down with Dawn dish soap water will cut and remove a tremendous amount of crap from the wood surface - just be careful not to get the wood fibres soaked.
 
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Some project pictures as promised. Both EFD built SMLE III*, non FTR with original barrels. One really rusty (1916) and one really nice (1918) that was sporterized but uncut. Pics are of freshly disassembled state, nothing cleaned yet. The nice one is matching, bolt, receiver and barrel. All of the accessory metal parts from the 1916 rifle are a mix of parts from different manufacturers, Enfield, BSA, etc. I have managed to collect replacements for everything in very good condition and “EFD” marked. All from a variety of locations, local, NY, Arizona and even the UK. Still waiting on a few bits to arrive. Note the reproduction rear upper hand guard, I have a cosmoline covered NOS one sitting in my mailbox across the border.
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Not sure what to do with the rusty one. The bore is actually ok, headspace is good even with the mismatched bolt. I actually used to shoot it 30 plus years ago! Should I part it out or clean it up and put the sporter stock on it? I would be a little concerned selling it to someone else.

Thanks for looking and thanks for all of the advice! Cheers!


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Raton57 said:
Easy Off oven cleaner is known to remove oil from places around the action and such.
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I never used it on wood, but went through a full squirt bottle and part of a second one to clean up ancient grease, crud and corruption from an old lathe that must have spent decades in a barn or similar - I completely dismantled it to pieces - and used many products to clean the parts before re-assembly. As I recall, you might need to use rubber gloves for that Easy Off oven cleaner stuff - will burn your skin off if you don't - but sure worked to get crud off!! But might be like many other products that you could get 30 years ago - still same brand name, but altogether different chemicals that are apparently much better for environment - some even work as good as they used to, but most do not - but same brand name, and 10 times the price.
 
All sounds a little harsh to me and in danger of removing real patina. I would suggest something gentler like Murphy's oil soap.

Never use sand paper and steel wool only if necessary and then only very gently...
 
55recce said:
All sounds a little harsh to me and in danger of removing real patina. I would suggest something gentler like Murphy's oil soap.

Never use sand paper and steel wool only if necessary and then only very gently...
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THIS!!! I recently received a nicely patina'd made 1915 to 1920 Steven Favourite - got all carried away to strip it down - firing pin fell out in two pieces, so that needed replacing. While waiting for part to show up from USA (weeks), I got carried away with an ultra-sonic cleaner - 80 degree C water and Dawn for a couple 20 minute cycles, then tried a freezer bag with Ed's Red for a 20 minute cycle - I was going after the grunge and old stuff inside - now I have a steel coloured receiver - not anything left for "patina" on that metal and about no trace of the original Colour Case Hardening colours either. That old barrel and the receiver do not look close to the same any more. That barrel was too long to fit into this ultra sound machine. So most definitely can get too aggressive on the cleaning thing!!
 
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55recce said:
All sounds a little harsh to me and in danger of removing real patina. I would suggest something gentler like Murphy's oil soap.

Never use sand paper and steel wool only if necessary and then only very gently...
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It depends on what he's doing and why.

If the rifle is a put together, make it look new.

Patinas are nice on rifles that have been there and done that. With the proper TLC and attitude, many rifles of lower significance can be brought back to their former glory with a civvie version of an ''armorer's'' FTR if the job is done properly.

Some collectors won't look at a firearm that's even had the dirt taken off with a soft toothbrush. Even if the dirt was gathered after it's service.
 
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