Ezra Coli
11-06-2001, 06:50 PM
Just FYI, my site is intermittent lately- Geocities limits bandwidth and cuts me off when I have too much traffic, but this article is on topic and thought some folks might find it useful. If not, fine, if so- enjoy...
C&R Rifle Cleaning/Restoration
by S. Head of Head's Bunker
http://www.geocities.com/yak23flora
When you get your Curio & Relic Federal Firearms License, the first thing to do is order that first rifle from your favorite supplier or importer. Then go shopping. Head out to the local home improvement supply or Wal Mart, even a stop at the local auto parts store may be in line. Why? Most milsurps that come out of storage need cleaning. Some are fairly clean, but the norm is a rifle caked in the preservative grease called cosmoline. Some are notoriously grungy and appear hopelessly nasty (ever order a Turkish Mauser?). You will certainly need to clean your rifle regardless of outward appearances, some will even warrant a complete restoration. Our goal is to keep the rifle in as original condition as possible. If you are ruining a perfectly good historic firearm by sporterizing your rifle (gasp! Oh, the horror!!), consider cleaning it up and restoring it first. You may find the history of the rifle will change your mind and years later you will not have to regret that process of destruction called sporterizing. "OK," you say, "I can handle that. What do I need?" I'm glad you asked!
I'll list the materials I use to clean and restore my rifles, but understand that this is just how I do it. There are other ways to go about this, but I like to think my methods keep the rifle collectible but also result in a thorough cleaning. This method works for relatively clean rifles as well as those that look sea salvaged and caked in a ball of tar.
To buy:
Water Based "purple" degreaser/cleaner. Purple Power from Wal Mart, Castrol Purple cleaner, Purple Muscle by Turtle Wax, or Zep Industrial Purple all work fine.) Purple Power is considered to be the most suitable for our purposes, and is available in the automotive section of Wal Mart stores.
0000 Steel Wool- lots of it
Toothbrush, nylon bristle brush, 1" paint brush (cheapest one you can find)
1 gallon Mineral Spirits (Odorless)
Acetone, 1 pint tin
Windex Window Cleaner
CLP BreakFree cleaner/lube/preservative
Bore solvent (Hoppe's #9 or similar)
Bore brush (for your caliber obviously, bronze and/or stainless steel)
Basic cleaning kit (with milsurps, make sure your cleaning rod is long enough for an old style barrel, a steel rod never hurts. Also, I prefer brass jags over patch holders)
1 small can of Boiled Linsee Oil (BLO)
1 small can of Tung oil (pure Tung is best, tung oil finishes sometimes have varnishes in them) I use Minwax Tung Oil Finish, which does indeed have small amount of varnish.
First Step
Examine the new arrival for obvious areas that may prove delicate. Educate yourself on how the rifle breaks down and reassembles. Be sure you understand the quirks of your particular rifle's disassembly so you don't break something or bung up some part that is irreplaceable. When you are confident in your assembly/disassembly ability, begin to separate all metal parts from the wood parts. This is usually simple and can be done with minimal fuss. I'll defer to teardown guides and manuals for particulars- many are online if you search for them. Once you have separated the metal parts such as the barreled action, magazine, buttplate, endcaps, etc. from the stock, you are ready to start cleaning. Some guns have metal parts that are best left intact in the stock. Mosin stocks, for example, are best left with the retaining springs for the barrel bands in-place, along with the stock reinforcement bolt and sometimes the end cap. Use your judgement.
Clean the majority of the grunge off with paper towels and nylon bristle brushes. Caked on cosmoline is easy to remove from narrow inlets and corners with sharp popsickle sticks. Get as much as you can stand to make the next step easier. Clean both the wood and metal in this manner
Metal Cleaning
I use a flat pan with 1/8 to 1/4" of mineral spirits in it. I dump all the metal parts in the pan, use an old nylon housepainting brush, and brush the parts clean of cosmoline. Works like a charm- the mineral spirits cut the cosmo on contact. I do the same with the barrel/receiver, just hold it over the pan and clean with the brush. Make sure to remove all the gunk, get it as clean as you possibly can. Use 0000 steel wool for light rust accumulations- it won't remove the blue unless you have a very serious rust spot. Pitted rust spots need treatment with a brass bristle brush. Brass brushes leave a brass color behind that will come off with further cleaning and oiling. Get all the rust off that you can, then do it again. Rust is like cancer and will spread even under oil. Removing some of the blue is a small price to pay for getting all the rust off and preserving your rifle for the long term. Some products are specifically designed to dissolve rust, but I wouldn't recommend these unless you have a very serious pitting problem as they usually attack the blued finish of the gun (firearm blueing is a form of controlled rusting anyway!).
Once the metal is clean of all cosmoline, dirt, and rust, you must preserve it from further deterioration. I champion the use of CLP Breakfree, a product originally developed for the U.S. Military, howitzers especially, and released without CFCs for civilian use. CLP stands for "Clean, Lubricate, Protect". After my parts are dry from the mineral spirit bath, I use a 1" housepainting brush to liberally apply CLP over all the metal. While it may be a heavy coat and drip and run in places, CLP dries a bit to leave a tough oil coating and thin film of teflon behind. Really slop this stuff on to make sure it penetrates every nook and cranny, inside and out, then you can wipe off the excess. I've never had anything rust with CLP, and I've kept a barreled receiver lying around in my garage for months now (Houston area- humidity = 95-100% most of the time). No rust!
Cleaning a 90 Year Old Bore
So your metal is now clean and you have been busy translating all the proof marks and acceptance stamps that you can now see. Wonderful! You realize you have a rare Persian Mauserlichen Carcanagant Mk.III A with a Finnish Governament stamp and a Soccer War campaign cartouch - with a triple hang tag!. Wow! Rare! You need to keep this baby in original condition. What next? Well, you want to take it out to the range and shoot the new loads you just worked up for your MC Mk.III. But that bore! Looks like a sewer pipe!
Well, if it is a shooter grade gun and has a relatively decent bore, get after it with a stainless steel bore brush, some Hoppe's #9, and plenty of rags and patches. Some milsurps have been in storage for 50 to 100 years, but were never cleaned before being dipped in cosmoline for storage. Add the fact that most powders (if not all) back in the day were corrosive and you have a recipe for gross pitting and rust. While a heavily pitted barrel is unsafe to shoot, light pitting in the barrel is fine if you don't mind a loss of accuracy. Run the steel brush soaked in Hoopes through it 5-10 times. It will be a blackened mess. Then run a patch through. You will never see a blacker patch, trust me. Repeat the bore brush treatment two or three more times. If you have a true rusted bore, some folks recommend scrubbing with a stainless steel brush at least 50 times. Remember, this is a shooter grade rifle. Don't scar up a fine collectible with a stainless brush- stick with bronze for the high-value guns.
When you have brushed until your arm is sore, run patches through soaked in solvent a few times to flush out the majority of the grunge. Then clean as normal until a dry patch comes out clean. This will take a while. As with a normal cleaning, a light coat of oil inside the barrel is all you need for storage. CLP is good for all gun metal parts EXCEPT THE BORE. Use a light gun oil or machine oil. CLP puts a teflon film on the bore that is undesireable for shooting. Be sure to run a few dry patches down your bore before firing to remove excess oil- no one wants a bulged barrel due to a high pressure spike caused by an oil pocket in your barrel.
Stock Cleaning 101
Getting the wood cleaned on your old battle veteran is usually no overnight chore. Years of use, oiling, dirt, weather, abuse and war takes its toll, then add to that a layer of protective cosmoline in some cases, to "preserve" the wood and metal for who knows how long. Despite our mutual hatred for cosmoline, we ought to be thankful it works. But removing deep soaked oils and waxes and varnished from wood is not easy.
The first step is to treat the wood as you did the metal- examine it closely for any weak spots, potential trouble areas, and then wipe off as much gunk as possible. Avoid the urge to sand down your stock, for you will certainly want to presever the various markings and cartouches that may be present under the gunk. The knicks and dings tell a story, some rifles carry inscriptions or personal marks, and these most certainly add to the historical value of the rifle. History, after all, is the reason most of us own these old military rifles.
Rifles in military service are usually finished with a traditional hand rubbed oil treatment. Linseed oil and Tung oil were common. Some countries used shellacs, varnishes and paint. British Enfields are very often painted, Russian rifles often have a varnish. Unfortunately, it is difficult and sometimes impossible to preserve a chipped up, partial finish if the original finish was varnish or shellac. Painted finishes are outside the scope of my methods, so I'll refer you to the various Curio & Relic boards in my links section below. Oil finishes are the easiest to restore, as we will see.
If you have substantial original varnish left on your rifle and you wish to keep it as is, use a lighty mositened rag and wipe down the rifle with a water based cleaner such as Simple Green or Windex. You may wish to revarnish your rifle, but this will diminish its "original" condition, and possibly, in the case of extremely rare or unique firearms, its value. If you decide to re-varnish your rifle, then remove the existing varnish with acetone or lacquer thinner and 0000 steel wool. Wear protective gloves and eye protection, and make sure your gloves are rated for the chemical stripper you have chosen- lacquer thinner and acetone react differently with various rubbers and plastics used in gloves. Once the original varnish has been removed, move on to the next step.
For oil finished guns and guns that will eventually be re-varnished, you will want to deep clean the wood. Oil finishes over the years absorb into the wood very deeply. They take with them dirt, grime and body oils and discolor the wood greatly. We need to leach this out as much as possible. Storage and preservation wreak havoc on the wood too, as anyone who's taken an unrestored rifle into the hot sun will tell you. Cosmoline has probably wicked deeply into the wood and should be removed as well. This is a time consuming process, but necessary. A chemical will be needed that will draw out the cosmoline and oil without harming the wood. Fortunately we have just the chemical!
I use an automotive degreaser called "Purple Power" on my stocks. This brand name industrial purple cleaner is available at Wal Mart stores. If you can't bring yourself to shop at Wal Mart due to their well-publicized disregard of the Second Amendment, then look for a similar "purple" product made by Castrol, Zep Industrial Purple, or Purple Muscle by Turle Wax. The general consensus is that Purple Power works best. I have used all of the listed products except the Castrol brand, and prefer Purple Power though the Zep come in a close second. (WARNING- these chemicals are caustic- they burn when they get on your skin. Wear eye protection and gloves. It won't sting at first, but eventually will literally burn your skin. Take proper precaution and keep your little ones away. Spray the purple cleaner on with a spray bottle and let it soak. Saturate the gunstock well. I prop mine up on a chicken wire grill placed a few inches above the bottom of a bucket to catch the runoff. Let the liquid penetrate, then hose it down with the purple cleaner again. You will notice the cosmoline and grunge running off. Scrub lightly in corners and niches with a toothbrush. Now, go away for an hour or two. The chemicals will leach the grease and oil toward the surface. Some people maintain that you cannot let the stock dry, but sometimes it is unavoidable. After the initial application has done its work, spray it down again, and let it dry. It will look much different, and you may think you have destroyed your stock. Never fear, it will work out in the end! The grey or bleached-looking wood will regain its color on finishing. Examine the stock and determine if you will need to reclean. Most likely you will, especially if the wrist and neck areas are heavily discolored from use like most rifles are.
If the rifle is extremely saturated with cosmoline, you may need more than chemicals to help the leaching process. Some people let the sun heat the wood, forcing cosmoline out where it can be wiped off. I prefer the oven. I put as much of the stock in the oven as possible, with a sheet of aluminum foil to catch any runoff. I can't close the door completely, so I drape towels over the open top and sides to retain heat. Set the over for 150 degrees, anything higher may warp the wood and chemically "cook" the oil rendering it dense and less likely to be leached out. I bake my stocks for an hour or two, it depends on a visual inspection. Once I feel like I've brought as much cosmo as possible to the wood's surface, I flip it around and bake the other end of the stock in the same manner.
You'll want to then repeat the chemical cleaning process, removing the oils and cosmoline that was brought to the wood's surface layer. Repeat this process as many times as necessary. I had a Mosin Nagant that was so nasty that it took three bakings and six to ten applications of Purple Power before each baking, and a final three applications after the last baking. Even after all that I still had darkened areas!
Finally, wipe down the rifle with Windex or ammonia/water mixture (3 parts ammonia to 7 parts water) to neutralize the chemicals in the purple cleaners, then let it dry thoroughly, usually 2-3 days in most cases. I stress here, make sure the wood is absolutely dry before proceeding.
When the wood is dry, it will appear raw, sometimes grey or tan, almost white with poplar and light birch woods. That's normal, never fear. Using 0000 steel wool, smooth the wood. You want to remove the fuzziness and even the grain. minor dings and dents can now be raised using a wet towel and an iron- place the wet towel over the dent and heat with the iron. Now the wood is ready for its final restorative process.
Hand Rubbed Oil Finishes
Most military gunstocks are in some way stained. Our cleaning process is likely to have removed or bleached ast least a percentage of the stain's color. If you choose to stain the wood, be aware that you should use only a minimal application of PURE stain, not stain plus varnish or a staining finish that has addatives. It is best to leave the wood as-is, for the hand rubbed oil finish will darken it up. I'll leave it up to you whether to stain the wood or not. I don't do it, for I find that the oil finish returns the wood to a respectable and very deep color. The remaining stain left in the wood isn't visible right now, but it's there, and will come out when we begin to saturate the wood with oil. There is also some debate as to the effect of a stain on a gun's collectibility. I would prefer to have a gun in as original condition as possible, and that means adding as little material or finish as I can. Oil finishes are indeed authentic, and actually part of the gun's regualr upkeep and maintenance, so if that's as far as I have to take the restorative process, then that's as far as I will go.
Begin with Boiled Linseed Oil (called "BLO" from here on). Regular linseed oil is the original finish, and if you are going for absolute authenticity, then have at it- but be prepared to spend much more time. BLO dries three to four times faster than regular linseed oil, but imparts the same finish. Thin the BLO 50/50 with mineral spirits and using a 1" house painting brush, soak the gunstock. Let the BLO mixture absorb into the wood. If you dried the wood thoroughly, the BLO will absorb in mere minutes. With a durable cloth, rub the wood with the grain quite vigorously to force the BLO deep into the cells of the wood. Once this has dried overnight, repeat the process. Continue until the BLO no longer absorbs quickly into the wood, rub the final coat into the wood, and let it dry. You will notice the full color of the wood has returned. If you rubbed vigorously, your rubbing cloth generated heat, even a small amount of heat, which helped work the BLO into the pores and cells of the wood. Saturating the grain like this is what gives the wood depth and warmth. If you are restoring a rifle with a pure Linseed oil finish, it is at this point that you begin rubbing pure BLO into the wood.
Using a soft rag or your bare hand for you purists out there, rub in a small amount of BLO working in small sections at a time. There should be no visible layer of BLO, but once rubbed in you should simply have a shiny film over the previous application. Remember, we are not applying a surface treatment like a varnish or shellac, but we are penetrating the wood with each application. You should rub down the wood with 0000 steel wool after each coat has thoroughly dried from this point on. This accomplishes two things- it knocks down any bumps or streaks in the oil finish, and scuffs the surface of the underlying coat of oil so that the next layer has more surface area to bond with. Continue the process of 1.) rubbing in a smooth application of pure BLO, 2.) allowing it to dry fully, 3.) then buffing with 0000 steel wool. Once you are satisfied with the sheen, you may choose to buff one last time with 0000 steel wool to give a military dull to the wood. I've seen magnificent restorations done that were warm and deep, that the light shifted in the grain of the wood. Some of the finest require 15-30 applications of BLO though! Like I said, this is a time consuming labor of love. BLO finishes may also be waxed for a military spec finish. Some people prefer clear shoe polish or similar product, but if I wax a gun (rarely) I use a concoction I picked up off one of the message boards. Find a block of beeswax. I get my beeswax from art supply stores that cater to sculptors and jewelers. Then, over a non-flame heat source such as a halogen lamp or radiator, melt the beeswax in a coffe can. Add BLO and Turpentine to the beeswax so that the resulting ratio is 1:1:1. Mix this concoction up well and then put it in a sealable container. An old tin for shoe polish is fine, I use flip-lid metal cans that once held those curiously strong Altoids mints. The mixture will cool to a paste, and this paste can then be applied with a soft cloth to the gunstock and buffed to a smooth sheen. Your rifle is now protected from water and perspiration! Reapply wax-paste as needed.
Lets backtrack for the benefit of those among us who prefer a Tung oil finish. The proces is the same here, but you will find it much speedier. Once you have saturated the stock with a 50/50 mixture of BLO to the point at which the BLO no longer is absorbed quickly into the wood, begin rubbings with unthinned Tung oil instead of unthinned BLO. Tung oil dries quicker, but once you are to the final finishing coats, allow the tung oil to dry overnight anyway. Avoid Tung oil finishes that have addatives like varnish. Some brands don't advertise the contents well enough to know which have addatives and which do not. Behr brand Tung oil is reported to be pure. If in doubt, get your tung oil from a woodworking specialty house. Japan dryer is found in many tung oil brands, and while technically this is an addative, it is acceptable for it doesn't create a resinous film like varnishes do.
Tung oil finishes are generally harder than BLO finishes, and are more resistant to water than an unwaxed BLO finish. I prefer Tung oil for its quicker work time, and you will find that fewer applications are necessary as well. While my persoanl method for Tung oil finishes as I have described here uses an initial application of BLO thinned with mineral spirits, you do not have to use the BLO. Be aware though- the BLO helps immesnely to bring out the color of the wood- it seems to be better at penetrating due to its longer dry time. If you are concerned about restoring the color of your wood, my advice is to use the BLO before you switch to Tung oil.
Well, there you have it. reassemble your cleaned and restored rifle, step back and admire! Again, this is the method I use, you may choose different interpretations of the classic hand rubbed oil finish- that's fine. You may choose a modern spar varnish or shellac- that's fine too I suppose. Whatever your motivation, I hope my methods have been helpful.
S. Head (Ezra)
C&R Rifle Cleaning/Restoration
by S. Head of Head's Bunker
http://www.geocities.com/yak23flora
When you get your Curio & Relic Federal Firearms License, the first thing to do is order that first rifle from your favorite supplier or importer. Then go shopping. Head out to the local home improvement supply or Wal Mart, even a stop at the local auto parts store may be in line. Why? Most milsurps that come out of storage need cleaning. Some are fairly clean, but the norm is a rifle caked in the preservative grease called cosmoline. Some are notoriously grungy and appear hopelessly nasty (ever order a Turkish Mauser?). You will certainly need to clean your rifle regardless of outward appearances, some will even warrant a complete restoration. Our goal is to keep the rifle in as original condition as possible. If you are ruining a perfectly good historic firearm by sporterizing your rifle (gasp! Oh, the horror!!), consider cleaning it up and restoring it first. You may find the history of the rifle will change your mind and years later you will not have to regret that process of destruction called sporterizing. "OK," you say, "I can handle that. What do I need?" I'm glad you asked!
I'll list the materials I use to clean and restore my rifles, but understand that this is just how I do it. There are other ways to go about this, but I like to think my methods keep the rifle collectible but also result in a thorough cleaning. This method works for relatively clean rifles as well as those that look sea salvaged and caked in a ball of tar.
To buy:
Water Based "purple" degreaser/cleaner. Purple Power from Wal Mart, Castrol Purple cleaner, Purple Muscle by Turtle Wax, or Zep Industrial Purple all work fine.) Purple Power is considered to be the most suitable for our purposes, and is available in the automotive section of Wal Mart stores.
0000 Steel Wool- lots of it
Toothbrush, nylon bristle brush, 1" paint brush (cheapest one you can find)
1 gallon Mineral Spirits (Odorless)
Acetone, 1 pint tin
Windex Window Cleaner
CLP BreakFree cleaner/lube/preservative
Bore solvent (Hoppe's #9 or similar)
Bore brush (for your caliber obviously, bronze and/or stainless steel)
Basic cleaning kit (with milsurps, make sure your cleaning rod is long enough for an old style barrel, a steel rod never hurts. Also, I prefer brass jags over patch holders)
1 small can of Boiled Linsee Oil (BLO)
1 small can of Tung oil (pure Tung is best, tung oil finishes sometimes have varnishes in them) I use Minwax Tung Oil Finish, which does indeed have small amount of varnish.
First Step
Examine the new arrival for obvious areas that may prove delicate. Educate yourself on how the rifle breaks down and reassembles. Be sure you understand the quirks of your particular rifle's disassembly so you don't break something or bung up some part that is irreplaceable. When you are confident in your assembly/disassembly ability, begin to separate all metal parts from the wood parts. This is usually simple and can be done with minimal fuss. I'll defer to teardown guides and manuals for particulars- many are online if you search for them. Once you have separated the metal parts such as the barreled action, magazine, buttplate, endcaps, etc. from the stock, you are ready to start cleaning. Some guns have metal parts that are best left intact in the stock. Mosin stocks, for example, are best left with the retaining springs for the barrel bands in-place, along with the stock reinforcement bolt and sometimes the end cap. Use your judgement.
Clean the majority of the grunge off with paper towels and nylon bristle brushes. Caked on cosmoline is easy to remove from narrow inlets and corners with sharp popsickle sticks. Get as much as you can stand to make the next step easier. Clean both the wood and metal in this manner
Metal Cleaning
I use a flat pan with 1/8 to 1/4" of mineral spirits in it. I dump all the metal parts in the pan, use an old nylon housepainting brush, and brush the parts clean of cosmoline. Works like a charm- the mineral spirits cut the cosmo on contact. I do the same with the barrel/receiver, just hold it over the pan and clean with the brush. Make sure to remove all the gunk, get it as clean as you possibly can. Use 0000 steel wool for light rust accumulations- it won't remove the blue unless you have a very serious rust spot. Pitted rust spots need treatment with a brass bristle brush. Brass brushes leave a brass color behind that will come off with further cleaning and oiling. Get all the rust off that you can, then do it again. Rust is like cancer and will spread even under oil. Removing some of the blue is a small price to pay for getting all the rust off and preserving your rifle for the long term. Some products are specifically designed to dissolve rust, but I wouldn't recommend these unless you have a very serious pitting problem as they usually attack the blued finish of the gun (firearm blueing is a form of controlled rusting anyway!).
Once the metal is clean of all cosmoline, dirt, and rust, you must preserve it from further deterioration. I champion the use of CLP Breakfree, a product originally developed for the U.S. Military, howitzers especially, and released without CFCs for civilian use. CLP stands for "Clean, Lubricate, Protect". After my parts are dry from the mineral spirit bath, I use a 1" housepainting brush to liberally apply CLP over all the metal. While it may be a heavy coat and drip and run in places, CLP dries a bit to leave a tough oil coating and thin film of teflon behind. Really slop this stuff on to make sure it penetrates every nook and cranny, inside and out, then you can wipe off the excess. I've never had anything rust with CLP, and I've kept a barreled receiver lying around in my garage for months now (Houston area- humidity = 95-100% most of the time). No rust!
Cleaning a 90 Year Old Bore
So your metal is now clean and you have been busy translating all the proof marks and acceptance stamps that you can now see. Wonderful! You realize you have a rare Persian Mauserlichen Carcanagant Mk.III A with a Finnish Governament stamp and a Soccer War campaign cartouch - with a triple hang tag!. Wow! Rare! You need to keep this baby in original condition. What next? Well, you want to take it out to the range and shoot the new loads you just worked up for your MC Mk.III. But that bore! Looks like a sewer pipe!
Well, if it is a shooter grade gun and has a relatively decent bore, get after it with a stainless steel bore brush, some Hoppe's #9, and plenty of rags and patches. Some milsurps have been in storage for 50 to 100 years, but were never cleaned before being dipped in cosmoline for storage. Add the fact that most powders (if not all) back in the day were corrosive and you have a recipe for gross pitting and rust. While a heavily pitted barrel is unsafe to shoot, light pitting in the barrel is fine if you don't mind a loss of accuracy. Run the steel brush soaked in Hoopes through it 5-10 times. It will be a blackened mess. Then run a patch through. You will never see a blacker patch, trust me. Repeat the bore brush treatment two or three more times. If you have a true rusted bore, some folks recommend scrubbing with a stainless steel brush at least 50 times. Remember, this is a shooter grade rifle. Don't scar up a fine collectible with a stainless brush- stick with bronze for the high-value guns.
When you have brushed until your arm is sore, run patches through soaked in solvent a few times to flush out the majority of the grunge. Then clean as normal until a dry patch comes out clean. This will take a while. As with a normal cleaning, a light coat of oil inside the barrel is all you need for storage. CLP is good for all gun metal parts EXCEPT THE BORE. Use a light gun oil or machine oil. CLP puts a teflon film on the bore that is undesireable for shooting. Be sure to run a few dry patches down your bore before firing to remove excess oil- no one wants a bulged barrel due to a high pressure spike caused by an oil pocket in your barrel.
Stock Cleaning 101
Getting the wood cleaned on your old battle veteran is usually no overnight chore. Years of use, oiling, dirt, weather, abuse and war takes its toll, then add to that a layer of protective cosmoline in some cases, to "preserve" the wood and metal for who knows how long. Despite our mutual hatred for cosmoline, we ought to be thankful it works. But removing deep soaked oils and waxes and varnished from wood is not easy.
The first step is to treat the wood as you did the metal- examine it closely for any weak spots, potential trouble areas, and then wipe off as much gunk as possible. Avoid the urge to sand down your stock, for you will certainly want to presever the various markings and cartouches that may be present under the gunk. The knicks and dings tell a story, some rifles carry inscriptions or personal marks, and these most certainly add to the historical value of the rifle. History, after all, is the reason most of us own these old military rifles.
Rifles in military service are usually finished with a traditional hand rubbed oil treatment. Linseed oil and Tung oil were common. Some countries used shellacs, varnishes and paint. British Enfields are very often painted, Russian rifles often have a varnish. Unfortunately, it is difficult and sometimes impossible to preserve a chipped up, partial finish if the original finish was varnish or shellac. Painted finishes are outside the scope of my methods, so I'll refer you to the various Curio & Relic boards in my links section below. Oil finishes are the easiest to restore, as we will see.
If you have substantial original varnish left on your rifle and you wish to keep it as is, use a lighty mositened rag and wipe down the rifle with a water based cleaner such as Simple Green or Windex. You may wish to revarnish your rifle, but this will diminish its "original" condition, and possibly, in the case of extremely rare or unique firearms, its value. If you decide to re-varnish your rifle, then remove the existing varnish with acetone or lacquer thinner and 0000 steel wool. Wear protective gloves and eye protection, and make sure your gloves are rated for the chemical stripper you have chosen- lacquer thinner and acetone react differently with various rubbers and plastics used in gloves. Once the original varnish has been removed, move on to the next step.
For oil finished guns and guns that will eventually be re-varnished, you will want to deep clean the wood. Oil finishes over the years absorb into the wood very deeply. They take with them dirt, grime and body oils and discolor the wood greatly. We need to leach this out as much as possible. Storage and preservation wreak havoc on the wood too, as anyone who's taken an unrestored rifle into the hot sun will tell you. Cosmoline has probably wicked deeply into the wood and should be removed as well. This is a time consuming process, but necessary. A chemical will be needed that will draw out the cosmoline and oil without harming the wood. Fortunately we have just the chemical!
I use an automotive degreaser called "Purple Power" on my stocks. This brand name industrial purple cleaner is available at Wal Mart stores. If you can't bring yourself to shop at Wal Mart due to their well-publicized disregard of the Second Amendment, then look for a similar "purple" product made by Castrol, Zep Industrial Purple, or Purple Muscle by Turle Wax. The general consensus is that Purple Power works best. I have used all of the listed products except the Castrol brand, and prefer Purple Power though the Zep come in a close second. (WARNING- these chemicals are caustic- they burn when they get on your skin. Wear eye protection and gloves. It won't sting at first, but eventually will literally burn your skin. Take proper precaution and keep your little ones away. Spray the purple cleaner on with a spray bottle and let it soak. Saturate the gunstock well. I prop mine up on a chicken wire grill placed a few inches above the bottom of a bucket to catch the runoff. Let the liquid penetrate, then hose it down with the purple cleaner again. You will notice the cosmoline and grunge running off. Scrub lightly in corners and niches with a toothbrush. Now, go away for an hour or two. The chemicals will leach the grease and oil toward the surface. Some people maintain that you cannot let the stock dry, but sometimes it is unavoidable. After the initial application has done its work, spray it down again, and let it dry. It will look much different, and you may think you have destroyed your stock. Never fear, it will work out in the end! The grey or bleached-looking wood will regain its color on finishing. Examine the stock and determine if you will need to reclean. Most likely you will, especially if the wrist and neck areas are heavily discolored from use like most rifles are.
If the rifle is extremely saturated with cosmoline, you may need more than chemicals to help the leaching process. Some people let the sun heat the wood, forcing cosmoline out where it can be wiped off. I prefer the oven. I put as much of the stock in the oven as possible, with a sheet of aluminum foil to catch any runoff. I can't close the door completely, so I drape towels over the open top and sides to retain heat. Set the over for 150 degrees, anything higher may warp the wood and chemically "cook" the oil rendering it dense and less likely to be leached out. I bake my stocks for an hour or two, it depends on a visual inspection. Once I feel like I've brought as much cosmo as possible to the wood's surface, I flip it around and bake the other end of the stock in the same manner.
You'll want to then repeat the chemical cleaning process, removing the oils and cosmoline that was brought to the wood's surface layer. Repeat this process as many times as necessary. I had a Mosin Nagant that was so nasty that it took three bakings and six to ten applications of Purple Power before each baking, and a final three applications after the last baking. Even after all that I still had darkened areas!
Finally, wipe down the rifle with Windex or ammonia/water mixture (3 parts ammonia to 7 parts water) to neutralize the chemicals in the purple cleaners, then let it dry thoroughly, usually 2-3 days in most cases. I stress here, make sure the wood is absolutely dry before proceeding.
When the wood is dry, it will appear raw, sometimes grey or tan, almost white with poplar and light birch woods. That's normal, never fear. Using 0000 steel wool, smooth the wood. You want to remove the fuzziness and even the grain. minor dings and dents can now be raised using a wet towel and an iron- place the wet towel over the dent and heat with the iron. Now the wood is ready for its final restorative process.
Hand Rubbed Oil Finishes
Most military gunstocks are in some way stained. Our cleaning process is likely to have removed or bleached ast least a percentage of the stain's color. If you choose to stain the wood, be aware that you should use only a minimal application of PURE stain, not stain plus varnish or a staining finish that has addatives. It is best to leave the wood as-is, for the hand rubbed oil finish will darken it up. I'll leave it up to you whether to stain the wood or not. I don't do it, for I find that the oil finish returns the wood to a respectable and very deep color. The remaining stain left in the wood isn't visible right now, but it's there, and will come out when we begin to saturate the wood with oil. There is also some debate as to the effect of a stain on a gun's collectibility. I would prefer to have a gun in as original condition as possible, and that means adding as little material or finish as I can. Oil finishes are indeed authentic, and actually part of the gun's regualr upkeep and maintenance, so if that's as far as I have to take the restorative process, then that's as far as I will go.
Begin with Boiled Linseed Oil (called "BLO" from here on). Regular linseed oil is the original finish, and if you are going for absolute authenticity, then have at it- but be prepared to spend much more time. BLO dries three to four times faster than regular linseed oil, but imparts the same finish. Thin the BLO 50/50 with mineral spirits and using a 1" house painting brush, soak the gunstock. Let the BLO mixture absorb into the wood. If you dried the wood thoroughly, the BLO will absorb in mere minutes. With a durable cloth, rub the wood with the grain quite vigorously to force the BLO deep into the cells of the wood. Once this has dried overnight, repeat the process. Continue until the BLO no longer absorbs quickly into the wood, rub the final coat into the wood, and let it dry. You will notice the full color of the wood has returned. If you rubbed vigorously, your rubbing cloth generated heat, even a small amount of heat, which helped work the BLO into the pores and cells of the wood. Saturating the grain like this is what gives the wood depth and warmth. If you are restoring a rifle with a pure Linseed oil finish, it is at this point that you begin rubbing pure BLO into the wood.
Using a soft rag or your bare hand for you purists out there, rub in a small amount of BLO working in small sections at a time. There should be no visible layer of BLO, but once rubbed in you should simply have a shiny film over the previous application. Remember, we are not applying a surface treatment like a varnish or shellac, but we are penetrating the wood with each application. You should rub down the wood with 0000 steel wool after each coat has thoroughly dried from this point on. This accomplishes two things- it knocks down any bumps or streaks in the oil finish, and scuffs the surface of the underlying coat of oil so that the next layer has more surface area to bond with. Continue the process of 1.) rubbing in a smooth application of pure BLO, 2.) allowing it to dry fully, 3.) then buffing with 0000 steel wool. Once you are satisfied with the sheen, you may choose to buff one last time with 0000 steel wool to give a military dull to the wood. I've seen magnificent restorations done that were warm and deep, that the light shifted in the grain of the wood. Some of the finest require 15-30 applications of BLO though! Like I said, this is a time consuming labor of love. BLO finishes may also be waxed for a military spec finish. Some people prefer clear shoe polish or similar product, but if I wax a gun (rarely) I use a concoction I picked up off one of the message boards. Find a block of beeswax. I get my beeswax from art supply stores that cater to sculptors and jewelers. Then, over a non-flame heat source such as a halogen lamp or radiator, melt the beeswax in a coffe can. Add BLO and Turpentine to the beeswax so that the resulting ratio is 1:1:1. Mix this concoction up well and then put it in a sealable container. An old tin for shoe polish is fine, I use flip-lid metal cans that once held those curiously strong Altoids mints. The mixture will cool to a paste, and this paste can then be applied with a soft cloth to the gunstock and buffed to a smooth sheen. Your rifle is now protected from water and perspiration! Reapply wax-paste as needed.
Lets backtrack for the benefit of those among us who prefer a Tung oil finish. The proces is the same here, but you will find it much speedier. Once you have saturated the stock with a 50/50 mixture of BLO to the point at which the BLO no longer is absorbed quickly into the wood, begin rubbings with unthinned Tung oil instead of unthinned BLO. Tung oil dries quicker, but once you are to the final finishing coats, allow the tung oil to dry overnight anyway. Avoid Tung oil finishes that have addatives like varnish. Some brands don't advertise the contents well enough to know which have addatives and which do not. Behr brand Tung oil is reported to be pure. If in doubt, get your tung oil from a woodworking specialty house. Japan dryer is found in many tung oil brands, and while technically this is an addative, it is acceptable for it doesn't create a resinous film like varnishes do.
Tung oil finishes are generally harder than BLO finishes, and are more resistant to water than an unwaxed BLO finish. I prefer Tung oil for its quicker work time, and you will find that fewer applications are necessary as well. While my persoanl method for Tung oil finishes as I have described here uses an initial application of BLO thinned with mineral spirits, you do not have to use the BLO. Be aware though- the BLO helps immesnely to bring out the color of the wood- it seems to be better at penetrating due to its longer dry time. If you are concerned about restoring the color of your wood, my advice is to use the BLO before you switch to Tung oil.
Well, there you have it. reassemble your cleaned and restored rifle, step back and admire! Again, this is the method I use, you may choose different interpretations of the classic hand rubbed oil finish- that's fine. You may choose a modern spar varnish or shellac- that's fine too I suppose. Whatever your motivation, I hope my methods have been helpful.
S. Head (Ezra)