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Thread: Help cleaning wood stocks

  1. #1
    Senior Member binky59's Avatar

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    Help cleaning wood stocks

    [SIZE="3"] Hey guys, have any of you bought and refinished the AK stocks from APEX?
    These are the Balkan stocks that come in a sealed poly bag and have all sorts of gunk
    and cosmolene on them. I know how to refinish the wood but need to find oout the
    easiest way to get the stocks clean, Any help you can provide would be appreciated.
    Brian
    Just me and my monkey....

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    Senior Member Helen Keller's Avatar

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    Senior Member Mark Ducati's Avatar

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    I have cleaned both an unissued Yugo SKS and an Czech 8mm Mauser... both wrapped in some kind of waxy paper and a ton of cosmoline.

    Here's what I did... disassemble the rifle as much as you can and from the wooden parts. I went to Home Depot and bought large diameter (maybe 5 or 6") piece of PVC pipe and an end cap. I glued the cap on, put the rifle barrel/receiver/action in the pipe and filled it with gasoline over night. Cleaned with a tooth brush the next day, then soaked it again and that pretty much got all cosmoline off the rifle. Then I sprayed the entire metal down with non-chlorinated brake cleaner (auto store). Lastly, I sprayed it with Breakfree CLP to get it into all the nooks and crannies and wiped it down well.

    When I made that post, other said I should have used diesel due to less of a fire hazard from "vapors". I wasn't that concerned about a fire as my kids were too little to be playing in the garage at the time unattended. Anyway, gasoline worked just fine.

    As for the wood stock, I soaked that in gasoline too... only for about 10 minutes to get the outside cosmoline coat off. Then I let it sit in the sun which baked out more cosmoline... it took about 4-5 days in the sun, but I eventually got all the cosmoline out that way. The gasoline did not loosen the glue holding the rubber stock on the end of the SKS.

    If your oven is big enough, I've heard of some folks have baked the wooden stock at a low temp in the oven to get the cosmoline out of the wood... good luck explaining that one to the wife.

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    Guns Network Lifetime Membership 01/2011 old Grump's Avatar

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    Seems extreme but I had two antique shotguns bought at an auction that looked like they had been stored for years under a pile of spare parts in the corner of a shop that were filthy grungy greasy and I used a spray can of foaming tire cleaner on them. Don't remember what kind it was, just something I had on my work bench. Only took a few minutes to get down to wood and then it was back to oil.

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    Site Admin & **Team Gunsnet Silver 12/2012** Richard Simmons's Avatar

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    Best and safest method I've used for cleaning cosmolene off is mineral spirits. I've degreased many a surplus firearm in the day and that was and is my weapon of choice.

    Heck, I remember a sweet 07/15 Berthier I picked up years ago that was still in it's original shipping carton from Spiegels (bet you didn't know they used to sell guns). It last saw use in the Spanish Civil war and the cosmolene they coated it with (before they wrapped in it newspaper from Spain) had turned to the consistency of tar, not to mention the newsprint was welded onto the cosmo.

    Hell, you couldn't even work the bolt. Ended up soaking the entire rifle in a big ole chunk of PVC pipe filled with 5 gallons of mineral spirits. Took about a week to dissolve the cosmolene but I still have that rifle and she not only looks great but shoots well too.

    Try the mineral spirits. I think you'll like it.


    P.S. I've heard of folks using oven cleaner on really bad stocks but it's petty harsh and from what I read can give the wood a greenish tint.
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    Forum Administrator Schuetzenman's Avatar

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    Lightbulb

    I also indorse mineral spirits. You could use Kerosene aslo. Gasoline is very dangerous to use due to the fumes. Extreme fire hazard. I stongly urge people to not use gasoline to degrese weapons or anything else.

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    Senior Member Broondog's Avatar

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    i use Purple Power degreaser (available at WW or auto parts stores). it's less volatile than petroleum products though mineral spirits are always on hand for the really tough jobs.

    hang the afflicted part over an old bucket or wash tub and spray liberally. let it work but not dry and spray again as needed. use a toothbrush (not your wifes ) to get in the nooks and crannies. when you are satisfied with your work you can neutralize the reaction with Windex and then rinse with water. let dry 24-48hrs then buff with 0000 steel wool and finish as desired.

    a heat gun is good for spot treatments but i'm not patient enough to do a whole stock this way. i always wanted to make an oversized Easy Bake oven out of a galvanized metal trash can and a few light bulbs but i've just never gotten around to it. the plans for that are on www.surplusrifle.com under the cleaning and maintenance tab, but the site seems to be down (at least for me) at this time.

    if it was summertime i would tell you to cover the dashboard of your car with plastic and toss the stock parts there. a few hours there would do the trick!
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    Site Admin & **Team Gunsnet Silver 12/2012** Richard Simmons's Avatar

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    Thumbs up

    +1 for Purple Power. I've used it in the past but for cleaning the wood AFTER I removed the cosmolene with mineral spirits. Spray it on heavy and then scrub with a stiff nylon brush, flush with more Purple Power then rinse in hot water. Make sure you clean the shower good or the wife will get pissed.
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    Senior Member binky59's Avatar

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    Hey Thanks for the response I think I want to try the least volatile solution that I can, the stove's no problem
    but I wonder if my chicken is going to taste like the exaust of a D10 cat, Hey couldn't taste much worse than
    my ex-wifes cooking.
    Thanks all for the advise
    Brian
    Just me and my monkey....

  10. #10
    Site Admin & **Team Gunsnet Silver 12/2012** Richard Simmons's Avatar

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    Quote Originally Posted by binky59 View Post
    Hey Thanks for the response I think I want to try the least volatile solution that I can, the stove's no problem
    but I wonder if my chicken is going to taste like the exaust of a D10 cat, Hey couldn't taste much worse than
    my ex-wifes cooking.
    Thanks all for the advise
    Brian
    Something else I tried with pretty good success is a paint stripping heat gun. After a real good cleaning with mineral spirits followed by Purple Power and a hot water rinse I let the stock parts dry for a day or two and then use the heat gun on the wood. Don't use it so close or so long that it chars the wood but use it to heat the wood so that the cosmolene comes to the surface. Once it does wipe with a rag and mineral spirits and repeat as needed. I've found this works real well when you have a basically clean stock but a few problem areas of really soaked in comsolene remain. Why heat the entire thing when you only need to go after a few patches?
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    Easy Bake oven cleaner, scrub with stiff brush, wash with Dawn dish washing detergent, then into the dish washer...........................................

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    Forum Administrator Schuetzenman's Avatar

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    Quote Originally Posted by jojo View Post
    Easy Bake oven cleaner, scrub with stiff brush, wash with Dawn dish washing detergent, then into the dish washer...........................................
    Can warp a stock if over done. I never did it but former Gunsnet member Bustercharlie did warp a Yugo M48 stock that way. Water and wood = bad situation.

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    I hope it's not a violation to post link to other forums or anything. I found this one very helpful on refinishing (maybe more for noobs):

    http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/s...d.php?t=321453

  14. #14
    Super Moderator awp101's Avatar

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    Quote Originally Posted by Broondog View Post
    i always wanted to make an oversized Easy Bake oven out of a galvanized metal trash can and a few light bulbs but i've just never gotten around to it. the plans for that are on www.surplusrifle.com under the cleaning and maintenance tab, but the site seems to be down (at least for me) at this time
    surplusrifle.com is gone but at least part of it can be accessed as an archive through this link: http://207.36.233.89/. If you find something you'd like to refer to later, I'd copy it in case that archive vanishes as well.

    From what I gather, the owner let the domain expire (or forgot, or whatever) and found it was more trouble than it was worth to re-acquire it.
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