Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Whiting (Calcium Carbonate question) and more.

I have a Shotgun stock that I want to refinish and it's oil soaked in a big way. I have it hanging in front or an electric heater and the oil is literally dripping off it. I have only used Whiting to extract oil from a stock once and I need some advise. I recall making a paste and applying it to the stock and removing it when it dries. Am I right so far? How do I best tell when I have all the oil, or all the oil that will come out, out? Given the situation what finish would best be applied to this hunk of wood? Throwing it in the stove is not an option yet! Thanks, Ken

I remember a lengthy thread on this topic (removing oil from a stock) on accuratereloading.com . You may want to do a search in the gunsmithing section.

There were many ways to skin a cat. Heat, wrapping in a trash bag, making a paste, etc. One thing to try is bentonite. Bentonite is a highly lipophilic (oil loving) clay. It is sometimes called drilling mud. I believe it similar to kitty litter. It IS in calamine lotion (poison ivy treatment-designed to soak up the ooze).

I used to use bentonite for paper manufacturing applications. I would add it to some paper stocks that had high levels of wood pitch, and it would not only detackify the material, but suck it up. Once it sucked up the organic wood pitch, you could remove it from the process in the paper without much downside.

Try rubbing some calamine lotion on your stock. I guarantee you that bentonite is MUCH more effective than either ground or precipitated calcium carbonate (CaCO3). Try making a past with some (clean) kitty litter. A paste in the 10% solids range should be good. Put the paste on the oil-soakeded area, and let it dry. Rub off with a soft rag. Inspect, and apply again.

There was some variation of the whiting agent or bentonite. Essentially apply a heavy paste to the stock. Wrap the stock in a large garbage bag. Place the wrapped stock in a heated vessel (one suggestion was a droplight with ~ 60-100 watt bulb in a metal garbage can. The heat (warmth) of the light bulb would help ooze out the oil, and then the whiting/bentonite paste will absorb the oozed oil. The plastic wrapping is supposed to keep the paste moist.

I don't agree with the plastic wrapping. The dry bentonite will absorb oozed oil.

Many ways to remove the oil. I know bentonite can do it very effectively-but it is not well known in gun circles. Old ways die hard. Chemically, bentonite outperforms CaC03 (whiting agent) by at least 100x, if not 1000x. Proof to that is papermachines normally running 20% CaC03 as a filler (for opacity) still can have wood pitch (chemically equivalent to "oil") deposition problems. If you add 0.5% -1.0% bentonite, you will remove the wood pitch levels. There is no contest. Bentonite is a fantastic, but overlooked, option for oil-soaked stocks.

I would tell my prospective customers about the effectiveness of bentonite and its' oil-loving properties. I gave them a sample of our special bentonite slurry, and asked them to take it home to their garage. I asked them to pour some of the slurry on HALF of the oil spot in their garage (from underneath the parked car). After the slurry dries, I ask them to sweep away the dried bentonite and notice if the oil spot in the concrete looks any different. Just about everyone who tried it would state the part of the oil spot where the bentonite was applied, was much lighter (equating to less oil remaining).

I can tell you if you get bentonite on your hands, it will suck the oils from your hands, until you get cracked cuticles. This is from personal experience-which is why I kept a tube of handcream in my brief case when working on a bentonite application.

This is from my 20 year experience as an engineer in the paper process chemical business. My specialty was paper machine chemistry. Bentonite is tremendous. Try some calamine lotion, or a kitty liiter paste, heat the stock a little, and let it ooze. Reapply as needed. Don't forget to use some hand cream after you apply the paste.

buttstock, I appreciate you taking the time to share your knowledge with me. I'll follow your advise. Regards, Ken

buttstock, thanks for the info. I will try it on a stock I have. I did notice your signature.

"Free advice is generally worth what you paid for it."

Whiting and solvent works but is very slow. A much faster and proven method is known as Wonko's Brew:

Wonkos brew

Old Finish Removal

Get a disposable aluminum roaster pan at the supermarket that is large enough for the stock. Stop by your Home Depot or whatever and get a gallon of acetone and a gallon of alcohol. If the stock has a plastic finish you might want a can of some paste stripper too. Use that first if the outside finish requires it. If the stock has a varnish or oil finish the acetone will lift that with no problem. Then toss the stock in the roaster and pour in the acetone (it will also neutralize the paste stripper). Cover the wood until it floats. Then pull off a good length of aluminum foil and make a cover for the "tank", sealing it as well as possible. Be aware that acetone is highly volatile and smoking the cigar over the top of it is not recommended. Let the things soak for several days, turning the wood over a couple times a day. When you feel like you're tired of that, and the acetone looks like it has quit changing color, pour the acetone back in the can, rinse the roaster out with alcohol, and then soak the stock in the alcohol just like you did in the acetone. When you yank the baby out of the alcohol bath it will be CLEAN! And you can seal it and refinish it anyway you want after you let it dry a couple days.

Buttstock, I'm game to try some bentonite. Where could I get some powdered form of this without having to buy a 55 gal drum of it? Are you saying Kitty litter is Bentonite? Is this the same thing as fuller's earth? Kitty litter would be too granular but maybe I could buy a flea market blender and reduce it down to a power.

Don't believe calamine is the answer for a stock as I believe it is water-based. Be kinda pricy too.

Ken: Using whiting, Bentonite, whatever, you have to repeat the process several times. You can lighten the wood with 2-3 applications, but set the stock aside for a couple of weeks and it will darken again as deep soaked oil works its way out. I've got an Enfield wood set I'm working on now that probably has 8+ applications of whiting and solvent. More is needed.

Kitty litter is bentonite (at least the cheap stuff is). You don't want the premium "urine clumping" stuff. That has superabsorbant polyacrylamide added to it (same stuff in super diapers). You want plain ol' kitty litter. "Speedy dry" is also bentonite-if you can find some of that.


You may not need to get too fancy with a blender (though it's a clever idea) to make a powder. You may get good swelling without it-worth a try. Use hot water (to speed up reaction). Try a slurry mix, of 1/2 cup kitty litter + 3 cups of hot water. Put in a container (covered if possible, like an empty gladware container). Shake well or stir. You stir as you add the water to avoid making a hunk of mud. Let it soak over night to swell. If you get a pudding like consistency, you are all set. Add a little water if too thick (REALLY thick pudding), and stir. Apply the past on an oily section of the stock. Wipe of with a soft rag or dry tooth brush.

The bentonite (or whiting agent) will only remove the oil that comes to the surface. This is why its usually recommended to heat the stock, or keep it in a clean metal garbage can with a heat source (drop light) for a few days. Perhaps you can carefully use a heat gun (don't scorch your stock), speed up the process.

Acetone, engine degreaser, brake cleaner, oven cleaner, simple green/power purple are other ways I've read about to de-oil a stock. Do them outside in well ventilated areas. Try the oven cleaner-than may help.

Don't mix volatile solvents with heat gun, you'll torch the house.

Try one area of the stock first, and measure the results, then you can move on to another area. Soaking in acetone may work, but I'm not sure if that may cause any stock/fiber swelling. Maybe not, don't know. Sounds interesting. It would certainly provide penetration into the stock, to remove the oil. I'd try it locally in one spot first, before I soaked/floated a whole stock in it.

Go slow, and be patient.

Buttstock,

Appreciate the input. Next one will be Kitty litter. I've done dozens of military stocks and tried most every method - this'll be a first. Not going to use water though. Causes swelling and ruins cartouches, checkering, etc. I only use water nowadays for spot steaming dents and whiskering. Going to try making my kitty-paste with a solvent like Tri-clor or MEK. Next up: an ancient A-5 stock.

Let us know how your experiment comes out.

What about that stuff you can buy at auto parts stores for putting on your carport/garage floor? Would it work?

It looks like Kitty Litter. Might even be the same thing.

The blender Idea worked great except my wife said she better not catch me doing it again. This project is going to take a while. Thanks for the help. Ken

123..,
The old gas station stuff was/is fuller's earth. The garage guys would buy that by the 50# bag Maybe still do.

I have read of some using fuller's earth around a stock, enclosed in a dark plastic bag and placed in the sun. No doubt that would work some, but I have found the best approach is to mix up a "pancake batter" with a solvent so it will flow into crevices and checkering. A fine powder of whatever absorbent media is needed to make a nice batter.

Ken, Oil from the action followed the stock bolt down as your shotgun was stored upright. Makes it tougher (like No 1 or No 4 Enfields). Also a domestic tip for you: next time don't use Kitty Litter from the cat box in that blender.