So i have been slowly cleaning out my dads hobbyroom, and yesterday i got to the closet and found there is mold and mildew on a few of his long guns. I tried to look on youtube w/o luck whats the best way to clean them up its mostly on the wood stocks of them.
I know before i got back in there i'm getting a mask and some gloves i can throw out. it is nasty in there. my wife is allergic to mold and it made her eyes water. I started feeling bad a lil while later after being in there.

I would start with something relatively gentle, like Murphy Oil Soap, trying it only on a small section, and scrubbing it gently with a soft nylon brush. You will mix it with water, so obviously you would need to be careful around metal parts. Not sure what "long guns" you are referring to, but if you can remove the wooden stocks, that certainly would be preferable for cleaning. Murphy Oil Soap is vegetable-based, and can be used on finished wood. If the mold has penetrated the finish and wood (specifically blackening the wood), then you will need to consider a more harsh treatment, such as oxalic acid. There are plenty of You Tube videos on how to do that.
Most likely there are some woodworking experts here who can give you plenty of additional ideas.

I'm not a wood working expert. For your conditions, I'd start with warm water and Dawn dishwashing liquid detergent. Dawn will clean almost anything but dried oil base paint from my hands. If there is still "nasty" on the wood, I'd try bleach and nylon bristle brush like 'hard or stiff' new tooth brush.

I sprayed down the ceramic tile walls of a shower / tub enclosure with straight bleach, came back 30 minutes later, rinsed the tile with hot water out of the shower hose, tile was clean and grout lines were white. No mold, soap residue, grime, or anything -- just clean.

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S&WHF 366

Thanks you two, Kinda surprized as both of those involes water. I wouldn't think water would be good. I was hoping there was something i could maybe spray on and rub and wipe off. I will see if i can get pictures. I am not sure what all is in there, I seen a very long old looking double barrel and think one is a 22 rifle maybe, not sure on others. im going to town today to get a mask and gloves. i will get all out take some pictures. I guess I can upload pictures here. Don't know if i ever tried.

Ballistol or a 50/50 mix of Ballistol and water would work well and prevent it from returning.

Whatever you use, particularly any bleach products, do it in the open air, not indoors.

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SWCA 3255 SWHF 615

Diesel fuel on a rag.

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S&W Accumulator

WD40 works fine, wood or metal. Spray on a cloth, wipe the mildew away.

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Pisgah

Vinegar and water. Dry and put out in the Sun if you can.

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Still Running Against the Wind

Some types of mold are very dangerous, please be careful.

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

A lot of mold on gun stock wood is caused by old, multiple applications of 'raw' linseed oil.
It was the go-to gunstock finish for many decades and many still like to use it.

It doesn't really oxidize and harden much over time, so like any other vegetable oil that it is,,it goes rancid and mold can result with the right conditions.

Not uncommon at all to find mold in older gunstocks inside the inletting. On the outside of the stocks if they've been left untouched and in a darkened space for a time.

What ever you do, it's best to first remove the wood from the metal of the gun.
If there's mold on the outside,,there's likely mold inside the inletting as well.
Plus, if you treat the outside mold condition with something like Bleach and get that onto the metal parts,,the bleach will take most any metal finish off the surface as well.

Bleach (sodium hypochlorite) if it gets down into the wood and down inbetw the wood and the metal parts in the inletting and left there can cause severe rusting to the metal as well.
It's a powerful oxidizer.
The chlorine in the bleach kills mold on hard surfaces but doesn't penetrate into porous materials . The chlorine stays on the surface so mold can continue to reappear. It's good for hard surfaces like tile, ect.
The same goes for ammonia, vinegar and oxalic acid (wood bleach). Their chemical stays on the surface and kills the mold there. But doesn't penetrate deep enough to kill the mold down in the wood so it reappears.

For wood and especially a gunstock, Hydrogen Peroxide is a better choice IMO. The OTC stuff from the drug store.
Brush it on and scrub lightly. Let it soak in. Reapply if you want to. Rinse and let it dry. It may lighten up any mold darkened spots as well as kill the mold on the surface and down in the wood.

Any removal of mold on wood generally also removes any finish that was once there. Actually the finish is already gone as that is what the mold formed on and fed off of,,the rancid oil in most instances.

A little touch up to the finish when done can bring the looks back in line. Certainly better than a mold covered piece of wood.

All the above is for conserving the wood,,killing the mold and getting it to stop from reappearing.
If you just want to wipe it from the surface of the assembled gun and make it look nice for the time being. A simple spray and wipe down with most any of the gun oils on the market will do.
But the mold will likely return at some point. Especially if the storage conditions are right for it's re-growth.
It's still down in the wood.

Vinegar is what I'd use. You can do a 50:50 mix or just use straight vinegar. There's no need to worry about getting the stock wet as long as you completely dry it within a reasonable time.

Depending on how deep the mold is you might have to let it sit for a little while. If it's just a small amount on the surface you could wipe it off and it'd probably never grow back if stored correctly going forward.

I'd get a box of borax and rub down the stocks (actions removed)
with handfuls of borax. Do it outside, it'll be messy.

The borax will scrub off the surface mildew and penetrate into
pores/nooks of wood. Leave the residue there, borax is a good
anti-fungal.

Scrub the stocks with a damp vinegar rag, and then wipe them down and let them dry. Follow this with furniture paste wax and buff. Removes the
mildew without harming most finishes, and not toxic to you or anyone else.

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Mike H

Thanks everyone. I got them all cleaned up yesterday.. they wasnt as bad as i thought from a distance but did have surface mold on them.
one of the straps on one of them had to be removed. not sure any hope for it. i put it in a bad and hung up outside under the cover on our porch out of the rain. but not sure.. I thought maybe spray it with something and let set maybe.

My personal preference would not involve water in any way, shape, or form. Water never does anything good to wood. I have collected many antique long-guns over the years and many smell bad, have who knows what on them and need cleaning, but stripping is never an option with my vintage guns.

It is true that raw linseed oil never seems to cure, but that is not the sole reason why guns gather mold. One of the most accepted cleaning solutions for fine and antique furniture is a combination of equal parts of the boiled linseed oil, turpentine, and white vinegar. Boiled LO will cure and it will also dissolve raw linseed oil from wood surfaces.

To a thorough job, remove all hardware from the wood stock. I then saturate a cloth rag and continually wipe down the stock until the rag comes away clean, signifying it has removed all the surface grunge and dissolved any old raw linseed oil that might have been used in the past. Let it cure for a week and buff the surface to get a shine. One can also use hard paste wax to further seal the finish. Use a soft bristle toothbrush to get in the cracks and crevices, the barrel channel, behind the butt-plate.

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Gary
SWCA 2515

I guess I was a day late and a dollar short. If you are talking about a leather sling (strap), go to the store and purchase a bottle of leather cleaner. I always prefer to use something that the label says it was designed for. After cleaning and drying, I like to apply Neatsfoot oil. It penetrates and softens the leather, a good preservative.

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Gary
SWCA 2515

Thank you, Im pretty sure its leather. one of them wasnt to bad just dirty i wiped it off but the other is covered in nastyness.