Opinions on No. 4 Mk 2 stock cleaning/restoration

[Tallinar]

I recently acquired a 1955 Fazakerley Lee-Enfield No. 4 Mk 2 still in cosmoline. I am looking for some opinions on what to do about cleaning up the stock.

Here is a picture of the gun as I received it. I think the wood looks pretty darn good. A little black/dirty grime look in some places, but all in all beautiful. I am not looking to make any drastic changes. My goal is just to remove any traces of cosmoline and grime, and freshen it up a bit with some boiled linseed oil.



I believe the previous owner cleaned out the bore and gave light attention to the receiver -- just enough to make it shootable -- but cosmoline remains caked on everywhere else. I believe he may also have done some cleaning on the stock, as it was really in pretty nice shape the way I brought it home. No greasiness or stickiness to the touch. When I started stripping it down, I found good chunks of cosmoline in the stock under the trigger guard, and under the muzzle area. Not a concerning amount beyond that. I also found some light corrosion under the brass butt plate.

After doing some research online, and reading a plethora of different opinions and approaches, I decided to give the stock pieces a rub down with a moderate Murphy Oil Soap solution (about 1 part MOS to 5-6 parts water). I did not scrub it abrasively. I just rubbed it down with light pressure using disposable rags, and let it air dry.



As far as I can tell, this wash didn't do much. I did manage to remove virtually all of the noticeable, "caked" cosmoline out of the front handguard and the receiver well area, but it didn't do anything for the blackened areas. The wood also feels every so slightly more "hairy" afterward -- but nothing to concern me to think I've gone too deep on penetrating the existing finish.

Here are some pictures after it's mostly dried. I am looking for opinions on where to go from here.

Should I give it a more abrasive cleaning to try to get some of the blackened areas out? Should I hit it again with MOS, and this time maybe use a bit higher concentration and maybe some scrub pads or 0000 steel wool? Or should I leave well enough alone, and just hit it with a coat or two of boiled linseed oil and call it a day?

What would you do? Thanks in advance.

 

[rabid wombat]

@GunnyUSMC your help here would be great!

 

[GunnyUSMC]

The Irish contract No4 were wrapped in paper and cosmoline for many years. This is why the stocks have that golden brown color.
Murphy Oil Soap Is great for removing oil, dirt and cosmoline from the surface but is dos little to nothing to remove soaked in cosmoline.
Use Purple Power cut 50/50 with water. Spray it on the stock and let it sit a few minutes then scrub with a soft brush. Wash it off with water very good to remove the Purple Power. Pat it dry with paper towels and set in a cool area to dry. Once it I’d dry it will not look pretty, it will look dry. Allow the stock to sit for a few days and the deep soaked in cosmoline will come to the surface and make it look darker. This is where you need to decide if it is good enough, or if you want to clean it some more.
Once you are satisfied with how clean the stock is, you will need to smoothen the surface. Do this by Boning. Use a hard wood dowel, I prefer Ash, to rub down the stock. This will cause the stock to become smooth by compressing the surface.
Once you are done Boning the stock it’s time to apply some BLO. You are not going to need to use a lot of BLO. You are going to do what is called a polish coat. Apply a small amount of BLO to the stock and rub it in until your palms start to get warm. You should only need one coat of BLO, but can do two if you like. Just remember that after rubbing in a coat, let the stock sit for 30 minutes and then wipe dry. Then let it sit for 24 hours before applying another coat.
You will need to apply a wax top coat. This will protect the oil finish and keep dirt and grime from getting into the stock. You will need to wait 48 hours after your last coat of BLO before applying the wax top coat. If not, your wax top coat will become milky looking.
If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.

 

[Tallinar]

The Irish contract No4 were wrapped in paper and cosmoline for many years. This is why the stocks have that golden brown color.
Murphy Oil Soap Is great for removing oil, dirt and cosmoline from the surface but is dos little to nothing to remove soaked in cosmoline.
Use Purple Power cut 50/50 with water. Spray it on the stock and let it sit a few minutes then scrub with a soft brush. Wash it off with water very good to remove the Purple Power. Pat it dry with paper towels and set in a cool area to dry. Once it I’d dry it will not look pretty, it will look dry. Allow the stock to sit for a few days and the deep soaked in cosmoline will come to the surface and make it look darker. This is where you need to decide if it is good enough, or if you want to clean it some more.
Once you are satisfied with how clean the stock is, you will need to smoothen the surface. Do this by Boning. Use a hard wood dowel, I prefer Ash, to rub down the stock. This will cause the stock to become smooth by compressing the surface.
Once you are done Boning the stock it’s time to apply some BLO. You are not going to need to use a lot of BLO. You are going to do what is called a polish coat. Apply a small amount of BLO to the stock and rub it in until your palms start to get warm. You should only need one coat of BLO, but can do two if you like. Just remember that after rubbing in a coat, let the stock sit for 30 minutes and then wipe dry. Then let it sit for 24 hours before applying another coat.
You will need to apply a wax top coat. This will protect the oil finish and keep dirt and grime from getting into the stock. You will need to wait 48 hours after your last coat of BLO before applying the wax top coat. If not, your wax top coat will become milky looking.
If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.

Thanks for the advice! Interestingly, the serial number on this one (UF55A1****) puts it outside of the Irish contract serial number range, to my understanding. In any event, I’m very happy with the condition!

A few questions:

I’ve not heard of the boning technique before. Is this more or less than alternative to sanding, where you’re compressing proud fibers instead of sanding them away? Sounds like you’d suggest no sanding, right?

Any special disposal considerations with Purple Power? I’m not familiar with it. A few minutes of Googling tells me it’s probably drain safe, but your thoughts?

Any particular kind of wax you like to use?

Thanks!

 

[rabid wombat]

@GunnyUSMC thank you!

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Thanks for the advice! Interestingly, the serial number on this one (UF55A1****) puts it outside of the Irish contract serial number range, to my understanding. In any event, I’m very happy with the condition!

A few questions:

I’ve not heard of the boning technique before. Is this more or less than alternative to sanding, where you’re compressing proud fibers instead of sanding them away? Sounds like you’d suggest no sanding, right?

Any special disposal considerations with Purple Power? I’m not familiar with it. A few minutes of Googling tells me it’s probably drain safe, but your thoughts?

Any particular kind of wax you like to use?

Thanks!

Boning is an alternative to sanding. Sanding removes the surface of the stock. That is where the patina is, the aged surface.
Purple Power is pretty much harmless once it goes down the drain, or into the yard.
For wax, I like Tom’s 1/3 Military Stock Wax. I used to make my own, but Tom does a much better job.
http://www.thegunstockdoctor.com/products-page.html
Here’s some post that will give you a lot of info.
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/restoring-a-no4-mk1-enfield.825379/
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/summer-2021-stock-repair-fun.893198/#post-12021760
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/romanian-contract-vz24-cleanup.851166/
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/saving-the-roo-restoration-part-1.642320/#post-7943576

 

[Tallinar]

Thanks for the reply, and for these links, @GunnyUSMC. Great wealth of information there. I didn't realize you were the resident milsurp stock expert.

Now I have more questions!

1) Do you think I would be good to do the Purple Power cleaning and the BLO application indoors? We're in the middle of Iowa winter right now, so working outdoors isn't viable and I don't want to wait for spring if I don't have to. I do have a wide open unfinished basement to work in, though, and can ventilate fumes easily enough.

2) In your No. 4 Mk 1 restoration, I see your brass butt plate had some corrosion and you soaked it in oil and scrubbed it. Mine has a fair amount of corrosion on the underside as well. Any particular type of oil you'd suggest soaking it in? Would mineral spirits be ill-advised for this step?

3) I'm interested in learning more about the actual technique of boning. I see you mention it a few times, and I saw a picture of your buddy Matt working on it, but can you please comment more on the actual technique? Anything to be careful of? Do you work on the inside of the handguards and forestock? Do I need to be concerned about accidentally altering the bedding tension at the receiver or muzzle (which seems to be quite good on this particular No. 4)?

4) A couple non-stock-related question, since you've clearly restored many milsurp rifles. What's your preferred method for cosmoline removal? Seems like opinions out there are infinite. What is yours? My dad used to collect Mosin Nagants back in the day, and had a lot of experience with this, but he's no longer around to query, so I'm flying solo and trying to feel my way forward. I ended up soaking the small metal parts in odorless mineral spirits, drying, and oiling them. I was nervous about soaking the barreled receiver in mineral spirits, simply because I don't like the idea of handling that much mineral spirits at one time, so I just went to town -- for better or worse -- with some WD40, Q-tips, rags, and elbow grease. Worked out pretty well, but now I feel compelled to give it a wash in hot dish water to strip the WD40 and replace it with a more suitable gun oil. Maybe I'm overthinking it. Thoughts?

Here is the butt plate:




5) Here is the barreled receiver after a good WD40 scrub. I was not able to get the rear sight, sear, or trigger pins to budge, even after blasting them with WD40 and letting them sit for a few hours, so I left them in. I'm a little timid about being overly aggressive. I was thinking of trying to hit them with some Kroil or something in hopes that it would penetrate better so I can get them out. Or maybe I should just leave them. Any thoughts on that?




Here are most of the small parts after being soaked in mineral spirits for a couple hours, rinsed, dried, and oiled with Ballistol. Was a bit of a tedious chore, but turned out well, I think. I am waiting for a firing pin removal tool to arrive this week from Numrich so I can fully disassemble the rest of the bolt and soak it with the magazine parts.




Thanks for reading!

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Purple Power doesn’t give off harmful vapors. In cold weather, I have used it in the bathtub. If you have a wife, she may not want you to clean your stock in the bathtub.

The oil I use for soaking parts is Break Free CLP. Just apply a generous coat and let it sit for a day or two.

On page five of this topic I go over the basis of Boning.
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...oad-trip-to-the-cmp-south-store.835226/page-5

My preferred method of removing cosmoline from metal parts is boiling water.
I first wipe away any large amounts of cosmoline with a rag. Attached copper wire to hold the parts and spray them down with a cleaner such as Purple Power. I use a kettle to boil some water. The kettle makes it easier to pour the water onto the parts. Putting the small parts into a pot below the barreled action so that the hot water goes into it, will clean them at the same time.
The hot water will remove the cleaner and the cosmoline. The heat from the water will cause the metal to dry. Before it cools off, apply a good gun oil.
I avoid WD40 when it comes to guns.

 

[Tallinar]

Thanks again! That link is very helpful.

I went ahead and washed my barreled receiver in hot Dawn dish water this morning, and then rinsed it off with a pot of boiling water. This caused about 90% of the water to evaporate in seconds. I then ran a dry patch through the bore, and then oiled everything liberally with Ballistol and wiped away excess. Done. This was so simple that I regret not just using hot dish water sooner. I suppose it's just unintuitive for many of us to think about using water on gun metal.

I'm going to give the Purple Power a go tonight. I robbed a couple rungs from an old broken kitchen chair I had in the garage. Seems like these are smooth and hard enough to make good candidates for boning once everything has dried.

I appreciate all the advice. I'll report back with pictures.

 

[BBBBill]

...My preferred method of removing cosmoline from metal parts is boiling water...

...I went ahead and washed my barreled receiver in hot Dawn dish water this morning, and then rinsed it off with a pot of boiling water. This caused about 90% of the water to evaporate in seconds... This was so simple that I regret not just using hot dish water sooner. I suppose it's just unintuitive for many of us to think about using water on gun metal...

Long ago, when I was in basic training, I cheated on cleaning my M-16. Being a good bit older than most recruits, already owning an AR-15 Sporter, and having grown up with guns, I knew a thing or three although I did not advetize that to the drill sergeants or anyone else. Best not to draw unwanted attention to yourself. You never left your weapon with anyone else, so when I went to the latrine I took my M-16 along. The latrine was on the third floor of the barracks. I had the whole floor to myself, so I went down to the cleaning closet and used some detergent and the super hot water to clean my M-16. The water evaporated very fast and as soon as I got back downstairs to the quad I proceeded to clean and oil as usual. Of course I got through well before everyone else. The drill sergeants or arms room guys would always have fun finding something wrong with the job you did, but they always seemed to come up short with mine. They never caught on to my shortcut.

 

[Tallinar]

Thought I'd give an update on today's progress. This morning I sprayed down and scrubbed the stock gently with the 50/50 Purple Power solution, following Gunny's instructions pretty closely. Here are some before and after pictures. The stock has been drying for about two hours at the time of these pictures.

A few minutes after this wash, I can see a few gummy areas where some additional cosmoline has pooled more visibly to the surface. At this point, I plan to deal with those areas gently, rather than wash the whole stock again. I'm pretty happy with what I see.

Will let these dry for a couple days, and then try my hand at boning with my newly repurposed chair rung.

Before:


After:



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After:



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After:



Before:



After:



Oh, and here is my collected grimy rinse water.

 

[Tallinar]

Here’s the butt plate after about a 12 hour soak in CLP and a scrub.

Before:



After:

 

[Blue68f100]

Coming along nicely..Time consuming but well worth the effort.

 

[Tallinar]

So for a boning tool, I took a rung from a broken kitchen chair I had in the garage. No idea what kind of wood it is, but it's definitely nice and hard. While I was at it, I figured I'd also take this opportunity to have fun and try to make this little rung into a "proper" boning tool, and use it as an opportunity to acquaint myself with BLO, as I haven't used it before.

None of what I'm about to share has anything to do with the rifle itself, but practice is practice, and it's the little things in life that make things interesting.

Here's the rung as it was when I began with it, after I had sawed off the ends. I then filed the ends and tried to round them off. It's nice and hard, but the surface had some coarseness to it.



So I took some sandpaper to it, starting with 120 grit and ending at 220 grit. I didn't really take any care to go with the grain; I just wrapped a piece of sandpaper around it and scrubbed back and forth. I then dusted it off and took a damp paper towel to remove remaining particles. Here's a picture of the wood after it had dried. Notice the raised fibers. Pretty rough.



So I thought to myself, what a great opportunity to try to bone the wood! I took a smaller, beat up dowel rod I had hanging around and spent a couple minutes boning the wood. Here was the result. Pretty snazzy result.



I then decided to go ahead and try to apply a coat of BLO, just for kicks. Rremember, this is all for exposure and practice; we're not exactly shooting for greatness here. I took a paper towel and rubbed down the wood. The wood seemed to drink it all up instantly. I waited about 20 minutes and came back to wipe down the excess. There really wasn't any.

So I went ahead and rubbed on another coat (though if I was doing this for real, I'd probably have waited a day). This time I rubbed the oil in with my palm until it felt warm, as Gunny suggested for the stock polish coat.

Here's the finished product, drying.

Behold, my glorious stick. There are many like it, but this one is mine. It's a lot smoother than it was when I began, and the edges are pretty nicely rounded. Should be ready to use when I work on the stock in a day or two.

 

[Tallinar]

Boned the stock today and applied first coat of BLO. Pretty happy with what I am seeing so far.

Before boning:



After boning:



After first coat:

 

[rabid wombat]

Behold, my glorious stick. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

 

[Tallinar]

Second coat of BLO is on. Before applying, I did take a piece of 1000 grit sand paper and VERY gently buffed some areas where some fibers from the paper towels I had used to apply BLO the day prior — just enough to knock out those fibers. Note to self, paper towels are not ideal for applying oil to wood.

I applied the second coat by hand with nitrile gloves on and rubbed it in. I decided I don’t really see any benefit of using a cloth to apply the oil in this case if I’m rubbing it in by hand anyway.

I noticed the wood did not drink in the oil nearly as readily as it did yesterday, which seems to affirm this second coat is as far as I need to go, as Gunny said.

Here it is drying. Slightly darker than yesterday but not much. I did order some of Tom’s wax, as suggested. Should be here in a few days, giving the BLO plenty of time to cure.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

@Tallinar Sorry I haven’t posted sooner, getting over Covid
Your stock is looking great. As you are discovering, it’s really not that hard once you have good instructions. The biggest problem most people have is getting into a rush.
Over the next couple of months you’re stock will darken up a little more. This is not caused by the BLO, like many people think. It’s caused from the deep soaked in cosmoline coming to the surface.
Now BLO does cause the surface to get darker, as it oxidizes, but this takes years of exposure to sunlight.
Once you have the Tom’s 1/3 mix on the stock, it will look great and your finish will be protected.
Tom is a great guy and makes a great product.

 

[Tallinar]

@Tallinar Sorry I haven’t posted sooner, getting over Covid
Your stock is looking great. As you are discovering, it’s really not that hard once you have good instructions. The biggest problem most people have is getting into a rush.
Over the next couple of months you’re stock will darken up a little more. This is not caused by the BLO, like many people think. It’s caused from the deep soaked in cosmoline coming to the surface.
Now BLO does cause the surface to get darker, as it oxidizes, but this takes years of exposure to sunlight.
Once you have the Tom’s 1/3 mix on the stock, it will look great and your finish will be protected.
Tom is a great guy and makes a great product.

Thanks again for your guidance. Get well!

 

[Tallinar]

Here’s how we’re looking after two coats of BLO, and about 96 hours given to cure after the last coat.



Just applied the first coat of wax. Will see how it looks tomorrow and decide if it’s time to put it all back together.

 

[rabid wombat]

Sorry I haven’t posted sooner, getting over Covid

Get better Gunny…

 

[Tallinar]

Here’s the completed stock after giving the wax about 16 hours to dry. The wax made a huge difference in the feel of the wood, but not a lot in the appearance. Smells great too.

Now to put it all back together.

 

[Blue68f100]

Looks good

 

[Tallinar]

And here’s the finished product! Thanks again for the guidance and for cheering me on, fellas; especially you, @GunnyUSMC. This has been a great journey.

Before:



After: