Getting Cosmoline OUT of the stock

[briang2ad]

I have a stubborn lower hanguard for an M70 Yugo AK. It has what seems to be cosmoline soaked into the stock. I have been baking it for days in a toaster oven to bake out the oil. It seems to surface , but does not really bleed out, and I am still baking. The area is now larger, so I guess there is more cosmoline in the wood. The surplus rifle sites tell you to bake it out. OK - trued that - is ther another PROVEN method that works much faster???

 

[rero360]

what temp is your toaster oven at? I remember the one site I checked out said that you need a temp of about 150 and to wipe the cosmoline that surfaces often. never done it myself though.

 

[silhanek]

I've used the handheld steam cleaner to work cosmo out of wood. Just spray it until it starts to melt and then wipe away with a rag.

 

[briang2ad]

No steam cleaner

I don't have a steam cleaner, and I am baking at about 200 degrees. Just talked to a former Marine at an ACE hardware - he used to put his m1 stocks on a hot bath overnight.

How about boiling water?

 

[BEARMAN]

goto ( www.surplusrifle.com ) goto their ARTICLES at the top of the page they have lots of ideas on cleaning stocks, one involves putting it in the dish washer . The heat, the steam ,the water all seem to bring back greasy stocks. CHECK IT OUT.

 

[briang2ad]

goto ( www.surplusrifle.com ) goto their ARTICLES at the top of the page they have lots of ideas on cleaning stocks, one involves putting it in the dish washer . The heat, the steam ,the water all seem to bring back greasy stocks. CHECK IT OUT.

Bearman:

I STARTED with the dishwasher technique. Did it twice. It doen't do much to oil which is soaked INTO the wood - just cleans the surface. I also did this on an M1 Carbine stock. It is an OK technique for a stock which has a few minor dings, and is not oil soaked. My Carbine pistol grip is still oil soaked after two dishwasher runs, stipper, and a whole lotta sanding.

 

[BEARMAN]

There is also a method of mixing , I believe powdered chalk ( calcium carbonate) with alcohol or acetone and painting it on a warm stock ,as the alcohol evaporates it leaves the chalk to absorb the oil, when all dry brush off, repeat if necessary. BROWNELL'S ( www.brownells.com ) sells it called " OLD FASHION WHITING" $6.22/ 1 LB. OR $12.47/3 LB. There is a short explaination on BROWNELL'S site. I had an M-1 stock that I had to set out in the sun to let the sun sweat the cosmoline out,I would go out every couple of hours and wipe the oil off the stock with a rag ,turn it over and wait another couple of hours and repete . It took a couple of weekends.

 

[palerider1]

i talked with a guy who was into military rifles and he said to wipe the stock down with mineral spirits and a cotton cloth, its supposed to take it right off without damaging the wood at all. you can get mineral spirits at any paint or home improvment store. i have never done it before so i would try it on a spot before wiping the whole gun down.

 

[palerider1]

i talked with a guy who was into military rifles and he said to wipe the stock down with mineral spirits and a cotton cloth, its supposed to take it right off without damaging the wood at all. you can get mineral spirits at any paint or home improvment store. i have never done it before so i would try it on a spot before wiping the whole gun down. also reapply boiled linseed oil if your stock has an oil finish.

 

[ArmedBear]

Steaming and dishwashing are not good for the wood, at least according to the CMP website. Dishwashing detergent leaves a lye-like residue that leeches out of the stock doing nasty things to the metal parts in contact with it.

Here's something to try. This worked for me with soaked-in preservative oil. I have not yet tried it with Cosmoline.

There's this spray-bottle stuff at Home Depot called Hotsenbocker's Liftoff 2 made for getting grease stains off garage floors, out of work clothes, etc. I doused the wood with that stuff, let it work, rinsed it out with water, then did that again a few times.

THEN I baked the thing. Note that baking starts to work at maybe 250 degrees or hotter but you don't want to get the thing too hot for too long. Be careful not to warp things, make charcoal, etc. Wrap the whole thing in aluminum foil lined with kitty litter if you want to set it and forget it for a while.

A propane barbecue works, too, if you're careful. House doesn't smell like oil that way. Don't turn it up too high.

Alternate between the cleaner and the baking process.

This worked for me. I got oil-soaked old military pistol grips looking like pretty walnut again. I had to be careful not to destroy the checkering. The whole mess gets soft sometimes. Handle the wood very delicately while soaking or washing it, or while it's really oily.

I like B/C Tru-Oil (linseed oil mixed with plastic type varnish). In the case of these pistol grips, it gave strength back to the wood. Cosmoline, oil, etc. are not good for wood fibers. Something that will bond them back together like a plastic product, combined with oil to rejuvenate the wood and make it look like wood again, works like a champ. That's what Tru-Oil is.

See the story and a picture of the results here: http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=180254

 

[ribbonstone]

... BROWNELL'S ( www.brownells.com ) sells it called " OLD FASHION WHITING" $6.22/ 1 LB. OR $12.47/3 LB. There is a short explaination on BROWNELL'S site. I had an M-1 stock that I had to set out in the sun to let the sun sweat the cosmoline out,I would go out every couple of hours and wipe the oil off the stock with a rag ,turn it over and wait another couple of hours and repete . It took a couple of weekends.

I can witness the effectivenss of the above...will get the deep stuff out. May have to keep making applications, but only in the sections that show teh stuff bleeding out (will turn the whiting brown). Afte a couple of full coverge applications, will be working on the brown areas...then the brown spots...and at the end, have gotten all that you can get out.

Doesn't seem to be all that damaging to the wood...may end up steaming some areas to get dents to rise, but that works best when the stokc has had the "gunk" aken out of it anyway.

 

[Firehand]

One thing might try is pack & wrap it tightly with paper towels, wrap in foil, then bake it; the paper soaks up the stuff as it bleeds to the surface.

 

[briang2ad]

I ended up...

Soaking in Acetone for several hours, then baking. Much came out in the Acetone, but it is still hard. NOTHING takes out old oil and cosmoline well from a stock that has been sittting in it for years. What is soaked in for years, doesn't come out in days.

A couple articles over on surplusrifle.com make you believe you can simply heat it out - WRONG!

 

[Sir Aardvark]

This has been hashed out here in THR before:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=125959

Cabinetman gave some good hints:

"The truth about Cosmo cleaning is that you're only dealing with the very surface of the stock when using any cleaning agent. If exposed long enough, cosmo will soak to the core of the stock. If you don't believe me, look at these old stocks which were ruined and not retrievable.

When cosmo gets that deep and you only clean the surface, eventualy it will precipitate right out as soon as the stock gets warm.

So, cleaning the surface with caustic stuff won't do very much. I won't use any lye-based materials. It's really not doing anything more than a good solvent like acetone or lacquer thinner will do and you're not using any water. Water is the enemy of any wood....especially old stocks.

So, heating the stocks in black plastic bags with kitty litter in the sun works as do 'heating tubes" or oven bakes as some have mentioned. The goal is to draw as much oil as possible to the surface. Since it's warmer outside than in, the colder oil will flow to the surface and get absorbed by the litter. Keep doing that as long as it comes out. Truthfully, you will NOT get it all out.

After you've heated the stock, clean the surface with acetone or lacquer thinner and let it sit until all of it is evaporated. The stock will appear much lighter. DON'T use mineral spirits. It's too oily and will only slow down the process.

When the stock is finally ready to refinish, you can dye back any color that's missing. Cosmo tends to neutralize the pigment if left long enough. After coloring with an alcohol based dye, the next step is important. I recommend that you shoot it with a coat of shellac. Spray shellac from a can is fine. Shellac is impervious to oil and will seal in any remaining cosmo. Hang the stock and shoot it twice with complete but light coats of shellac. Then sand just the finish lightly with some stearated (lubricated) sanding paper....220 works great. Finally go ahead and finish the stock with either oil or shellac depending on the original finish. When you're done, you can then burnish the finished surface with some 0000 steel wool dipped in oil (never use steel wool dry!) . That will produce a very authentic looking finish in either case unless you want a really shiney stock.

Never, ever, bath a stock in anything. It will absorb anything you bath it in and I've heard of many cases where gasoline or keroscene was used and the stocks become "water logged" with those items as they replace the cosmo.

Cosmo is a bugger but it can be mitigated with these suggestions and you can reproduce a great, authentic finish using modern dyes and finishes.

Rome"