What to clean a old guns wood stock with

[sabot88]

Hello,
So I own a Mosin Nagant, Enfield no 4 mk 1 and no 5 mk 1 and a Yugoslavian mauser. These guns have a ton of grease dirt and grime all over the wood and i want to clean them WITHOUT damaging the factory finish. I have posted in a dozen different forums and googled like crazy and no one understands this. What should I use to clean the factory finish on these antique rifles that will not harm the finish at all?

 

[k22fan]

I have washed military surplus rifle stocks with warm water and a little mild soap. These stocks spent long periods out in the rain so a sloppy wash down with water is not going to damage them. After most of the dirt and sweat are gone reevaluate what you've got. U.S. and British rifle stocks were finished with linseed oil or tongue oil so a perfect cleansing of grease and oil without removing any of the original oil finish is probably not possible.

After the wash rubbing on a coat of oil is appropriate. They were occasionally oiled while they were in service.

The number one thing to avoid is sand paper with a finer grit than originally used.

 

[mrsig]

Welcome from Tampa

 

[coachray]

Agree with K22fan. Welcome from Cincinnati

 

[JH1951]

Yep, what K22fan said pretty much covers it. I would avoid any abrasive.

 

[MSG Glenn]

Welcome from Wisconsin!

 

[MCorps0311]

Welcome........

 

[Arik]

Is it something that's just in the cracks or are the stocks covered with grease and cosmoline?

If it's just from decades of use just let it be. Otherwise if anywhere you grab leaves your hand sticky and greasy from old cosmoline and grease you can wrap the stock in newspaper and paper towels. Several layers. Put all that in a black plastic bag and set it outside (or in your car) on a hot day. The grease and cosmoline will heat up and get absorbed into the paper. May have to do it several times depending on the amount of gunk and paper
Just keep in mind that this wood has probably been soaked in this stuff for decades, especially the Mosin. The wood is probably saturated with it. It may never completely come out or you may need to do the absorption thing many times. You may find it to be done only to one day take it out in the hot sun and realize that the wood gets stickier the long the rifle is in the sun

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[S&W Oldtimer]

Welcome to the forum from Va.

 

[Targets Guy]

Welcome to the forum.

Have you tried Murphy's Oil Soap?

 

[wingriderz]

Welcome A Boatd from the Sunshine State

 

[Infadel]

Is it something that's just in the cracks or are the stocks covered with grease and cosmoline?

If it's just from decades of use just let it be. Otherwise if anywhere you grab leaves your hand sticky and greasy from old cosmoline and grease you can wrap the stock in newspaper and paper towels. Several layers. Put all that in a black plastic bag and set it outside (or in your car) on a hot day. The grease and cosmoline will heat up and get absorbed into the paper. May have to do it several times depending on the amount of gunk and paper
Just keep in mind that this wood has probably been soaked in this stuff for decades, especially the Mosin. The wood is probably saturated with it. It may never completely come out or you may need to do the absorption thing many times. You may find it to be done only to one day take it out in the hot sun and realize that the wood gets stickier the long the rifle is in the sun

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Arik,
Curious, after the oils transfer to newspaper is there a risk of newspaper ink staining the stock?
Thanks

 

[Arik]

Not that I've seen (may depend on how much cosmoline and how long it's left out) but you can put paper towels first. Sometimes the paper towels will stick a little and leave some fibers behind but hose can be picked off or just carefully dampened and pulled off.

If you don't want to risk using newspaper anything that absorbs will do. Regular white towels... anything white that won't stain

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[StakeOut]

In the old Corp we hand rubbed the wood stock of our M1 Garands with pure raw linseed oil.

 

[Arik]

I don't think linseed oil is going to clean off half a century of soaked and caked on cosmoline

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[italiansport]

The easiest way to clean/restore a finish as described here is go to a Lowe's Hardware and buy a can of Restor-A-Finish which comes in multiple shades like walnut. You simply put this on with 4000 steel wool and after letting it set for a couple of minutes wipe it off with paper towels. The difference is usually amazing. I've been working on firearms for over 40 years and have tried everything under the sun and to clean the original finish and I've found nothing better.
Jim

 

[rwt1405]

Welcome from Delaware!

 

[tekarra]

Welcome aboard.

 

[W.E.G.]

Cosmoline liqifies at 130 degrees.

Blow-dryer, mineral spirits, nylon brush, rags, linseed oil, and fire pit

 

[StakeOut]

I don't think linseed oil is going to clean off half a century of soaked and caked on cosmoline

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Half a century maybe not but at 16 years where the guns were in storage from the end of WWII to 1961 it worked like a charm with a lot of elbow grease.