Melted Recoil Pad/Marred wood finish help

What anti-corro bag are you using?

More likely the pad disintegrated.

You do know what's in them bags right.

Silica gel?

Can you post some pics of the damaged areas?

Take a very gentle look at "lighter fluid", AKA naptha . It attacks fewer compounds than lacquer thinner, and way less than mineral spirits. I have used it numerous times. At the very least, it's cheap, over-the-counter.

Nimick said:

Unfortunately I don't have any manufacturer info on either bag

Is that a thing that happens?

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Take a picture or two or three of the bag (or what's left behind...)

And yes, recoil pads do sort of "melt". Has to do with the composition of the rubber, how it gasses out, I dunno... ozone present... and climatic stuff like heat and humidity.

I've had dense foam turn to mush. Recoil pads turn to mush. The rubber "protectors" on guitar stands and hangers turn to mush.
Let me tell ya, if you have a guitar on a stand and its rubber tubing over the body and neck support struts decides to "go", then you're into a very nasty scar on the guitar. If its lacquer finish... even worse.... it just spreads once the lacquer begins to melt along with it.

I remember a really nice BSA-Martini .22 target rifle I once had. I got it CHEEP because the rubber recoil pad had melted, and goo'd up the stock. It was a mess. Turns out it was light English Walnut. It got stripped, had an inlay put in "1957" (the year it was made) and I spent a few months applying _real_ Tung oil to the stock. Was one of the nicest I ever did. Stupidly, I sold it, to raise the funds for a Kimber All American Match. The Kimber is rare, they only made 275ish of those, and it shoots one hole groups at 50 yards with Remington Sub-Sonic ammo, but.... the BSA-Martini was way cooler, and more fun to shoot.

+1+ on Naphtha. When I finish/refinish guitars, the cleaner of choice is naphtha. It removes finger oils (and lots of other stuff) but wont touch even a sensitive lacquer finish. I'd go with that first, and steer clear of lacquer thinner, toluene, mec, acetone... they'll kill most finishes. If you have to refinish the stock, go with methylene chloride and take it down to bare wood and start over. THAT is fodder for another thread tho.

Ah! Pictures. Classic off gassing of something. Ditch the bags. Remove the pad, try naphtha (Home Depot has it).

For the wood stock.... let it sit in the air for a while, not closed up. The finish should "harden". When that happens, you may be able to sand it down with 400/800 papers and a sanding block, then build the area back up with new finish.

Looking again at the wood - you can see that its not a "mar" but actually small texture, not that deep tho. Before sanding, but after letting it sit in the air, try some Mother's mag wheel polish, on a rag. It may buff out.... but only if the finish is firm, not sticky.

I have used "Goof Off" as well to get residue from a slip on pad removed.

I'd try some #0000 steel wool to lightly buff the wood.

I feel your pain, that’s a real hassle! I had a recoil pad on my 870 melt and stick to the bottom of my old steel gun locker. I didn’t know about the naphtha treatment to remove the goo, I just gouged it off the bottom of the locker with a metal spackle spreader.

I hope it comes off easily for you!

Stay safe.

WD 40 may work?

goo gone, lighter fluid, wd-40 or even CLP will probably work fine. I tend to stop at wd-40 and lighter fluid, but ive spilled enough clp and other oils on my stocks, and not had any lasting effects (unless they are painted with poly)

How about good, old 91% alcohol...

Those recoil pads on the Remington 700's are famous for melting. I had one that did exactly that and looked exactly like that on a wood stock. The residue came off the wood stock with a little CLP but that synthetic may have reacted with it. I'll second drying CLP first, then goo gone.

It's all a plot by Limbsaver to have a significant secondary market for stock pads.

Let the wood stock air out for a few weeks. Then apply a few thin coats of Arrow finish. Be sure to apply THIN coats and let them dry overnight between coats.

The original pics show the pad on an apparently synthetic stock. Then there is a pic of a wood stock, without the pad. Which is it? Wood or plastic?
If wood, once the pad residue is removed, then Minwax would do the job. If a plastic stock then no additional finish would be needed. Minwax much easier to get than an online finish.

natman said:

Let the wood stock air out for a few weeks. Then apply a few thin coats of Arrow finish. Be sure to apply THIN coats and let them dry overnight between coats.

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That's what I was sayin' about "air out". Whatever got to that wood stock finish caused it to soften. It may harden again, or perhaps not. I'd give it benefit of doubt, and wait a few weeks in a nice warm (not hot) spot. Warm=let whatever it was, gas off. Dunno about Arrow finish. Usually I try to find out what's in it bt reading the MSDS but... I can't find one for Arrow. I'm not a real proponent of "Tru-Oil", which is really a varnish. I do like pure Tung Oil, which is available online (not the Formby crapola which is...varnish as well). Truth be told, I've finished some nasty looking laminated SKS and AK stocks, after stripping them, and used "fast drying" polyurethane. A few coats in satin, dry a week and a bit of really fine steel wool... the customers thought they were fantastic, and urethane wears pretty well. There's the good ol' linseed oil, but that is a forever to polymerize finish. Takes a long time. The french polish is nice, but fragile, which is basically a spirited shellac applied with oil and a tampon. <--- yes, thats what its called! So many finishes... you have to just judge what's gonna work and go with it, knowing that... if things go south, its a refin job. And a refin job really isn't all that bad. It promotes man-bonding with the gun!

beag_nut said:

The original pics show the pad on an apparently synthetic stock. Then there is a pic of a wood stock, without the pad. Which is it? Wood or plastic?

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The Remmy is plastic. The Savage Anschutz is wood.

For the rubber on the plastic stock, try "Plasti-master". Its a graffiti remover for plastic surfaces, even lexan and plexi. It is safe for that stock. If that doesnt touch it, goof-off would be my next choice.

For wood:
Lacquer thinner will melt that back out, if it is lacquered.
Denatured Alcohol will melt it out if it is shellac.

Polyurethane is a plastic, so solvents don't work to melt it as well. I like the recommendation of mothers mag and aluminum wheel polish. That stuff works on some plastics and removes heavy oxidation.

The better thing to use on lacquer is amalgamator, but really... if its lacquer, then a simple sand down and respray is the best route, and much easier. Don't have to sand it down to wood, just level it a bit, even if not fully. Laquer can take weeks to shrink in though. Usually wait at least... two, if not three weeks to allow for shrink in before leveling. Reflowing a poly finish is akin to bathing in unicorn tears.