Ok. I have been a stainless / synthectic guy for a long time.

I bought a wood / blue rifle recently.

What is the best way to clean 30-40 years of dirt / grime off the stock without damaging the finish?

Thanks

dave

It depends on the finish. What model is it?

Thick plastic finishes like most Remington 700s, A-Borts, Sako, and lots of others can be wiped clean with soapy water, dried, and waxed. If there is crud that did not come off rubbing alcohol on a rag will get most out. A toothbrush will get the junk out of the checkering.

A damp warm rag used quickly will be okay with most finishes, but do not leave it wet for more than a few seconds... wipe and then dry immediately.

Use wax after cleaning but do not use car wax, ever. Bri-Wax is my favorite, johnson's is okay.

I like Skidmore's Cream to clean old wood and Renaissance Wax to make it look good.

Sitka, why not car wax?

Silicones in the car wax can cause a lot of different issues in any finishing or bedding job done later.

I'm not familiar with these products. Do you use both on the wood? Thanks

The Renaissance wax is good stuff. I also use it as the release agent when epoxy bedding barreled actions. Never had anything stick to it. It has essentially no thickness unlike the blue Brownell's release agent, and it doesn't matter if you clean every bit off because it actually helps protect the steel from the elements.

Ren wax, Trewax, Moser's, Butcher's are all waxes I have on the shelf, and frankly I don't see much difference in them aside from ease of buffing away streakiness if raw wax is left to sit too long before buffing. Some are better than others in that regard, but the end result is pretty much the same.

I had a buddy, recently deceased, who built a bunch of traditional muzzle loaders using good hard tightly "curled" Pennsylvania maple. He experimented with using nothing but paste wax (Johnson's in this case) as a finish because he long ago realized the folly of relying on oil. I was a little skeptical at first, but his initial finishes turned out quite nice and weathered the years quite well. He started with something like 10 applications, and then re-waxed every time he used a gun. After a while they took on a very pleasant patina, and were certainly better protected than if straight oil had been used.

Almost 20 years ago now, I had the opportunity to replace some curly maple flooring in the den of Howard K. Smith, ABC Newsman from the 50's-70's some of you old timers may remember. (A Klieg light exploded while filming Walter Cronkite sitting at the desk.) Anyway, the burn marks resembled cigarette burns and couldn't be sanded away- I had to replace/match new wood. Turned out the entire floor never had any finish other than paste wax, so that's what I used. It turned out nice, but was a b*tch matching the patina of the rest of the floor. Mr. Smith was so happy he tipped me a case of very old single malt, since he was under Dr.'s orders to cut out the alky. I also had the chance to meet Walter Cronkite while I was working, which lead to me to doing some custom cabinetry in his sail boat here in Annapolis.

Wax works.

Skidmore's Cream is an excellent wood cleaner and Renaissance Wax is an excellent wood preservative and sealer. A guy who buy/sells/restores antique furniture put me onto these products.

Clean with damp cloth. Rub with 0000 steel wool lightly. Clean with damp cloth. Johnson paste was and let dry. Reassemble.

Try to avoid steel wool if you can. Teeny bits of steel can lodge in the surface and manifest themselves as teeny brown rust freckles if they get wet. Not a huge major issue, but a very real one nonetheless.

I hedge my bets by using bronze wool. That stuff isn't always easy to find, but luckily for me it is a common item in the hardware stores here in a town that worships the marine industry. One advantage to rubbing shoulders with and participating with marine finishers is you learn about what works for wood protection in extreme conditions, and what protocols to avoid.

So use Skidmore's Cream with bronze wool? I take it that bronze wool is graded like its steel sibling? Not to hijack this thread, but I recently picked up a "bucket list" rifle (1922 M2 Springfield) and the stock could use a little cleaning. Heck, I guess this really isn't a hijack as it is still on topic.

If you cannot find bronze wool, go to an auto parts store and get some very fine Scotchbrite. The light grey or white pads work well for me, I clean stocks using these pads and acetone. I have also used Murphy's Oil Soap to clean dirty stocks.

ACETONE?????

Wow!

There are many finishes that are okay with it... but WOW, just WOW! Many will be toast immediately!

Not to mention the effects on kidneys and liver...

If you're too ignorant to know how to use it perhaps you ought to STFU and MYOB mister know it all.

I might be tempted to use acetone on a black greasy army rifle stock that went through two world wars and had absolutely no redeeming value. Beyond that, never, and I go through acetone in my shop like sh*t through a goose for a wide range of applications. It'll disrupt many a finish, with the possible exception of the horrid clear armor Browning used/uses, and I wouldn't want to experiment on mine to boot. Acetone was used forever as an active ingredient in paint strippers, and may still be for all I know. I do know it is a wonderful chemical for softening varnish before scraping it off.

Cleaning an old oil finished stock with Scotchbrite pads and acetone may well be a viable protocol, but only if further re-finishing afterward is in the plan. Not a good idea IMO if the goal is a simple cleanup of accumulated grime and schmeck. And if you do that, for god's sake wear nitrile gloves (I double glove) whenever you mess with acetone. Not many nastier carcinogens are to be found out there.

No, look at the upside versus the down...

It has a place, just not there...

No, wait! Gunwhizzer says it is okay!

As if you weren't enough of a PITA already, this just put you on permamanent "ignore". Jackass!

What about the Murphy's Oil Soap? Seems like it would be safe used with a lightly dampened rag. I suppose the best way to know for sure would be to try it on a sample with some different gun stock finishes to be sure though.

Yep. Caution is the better part of valor.

He's special.

Hello gnoahhh, a mate of mine that cleans an awful lot of old badly oiled/saturated stocks generally immerses them in a pipe full of the paint thinners the car paint shops use, he then fishes them out and lets dry before refinishing.

I cannot tell you it is perfect, but he has been doing it for a lot of years and it does yield good results for him.

Murphy's Oil Soap used aggressively will remove the finish on a pre-64 M70. Don't make me admit why I know this! Never tried gently.

I have used Murphy's Oil Soap on one stock. It was on a Saiga 308 wood stocked sporter. It had some very light white flecks of paint or something on the cheek piece. I lightly scraped some off with my thumbnail, but to avoid chipping the finish, I used water mixed with Murphy's Oil Soap on a lightly dampened rag and gently rubbed them off. Each time after wiping some, I'd wipe the stock dry to check the progress. The goal was to work short, lightly damp sessions without allowing the stock to soak too much. Final session was a damp rag with water only to rinse and then wipe dry. Worked great. Now the Saiga wasn't an heirloom grade finish, but it actually wasn't a bad looking stock either. No harm was done to the finish in that sample of one.

Yeah, aggressive might be bad even with plain old water .