Refinish K98 Stock?

[captain obvious]

I have one of the Russian capture Mauser K98s, and the stock is rather dirty. Im know that refinishing the stock is bad in the eyes of some - is it a good idea?

If it is, does anyone have any advice?

 

[Lonestar.45]

Well, I can tell you what I did to the Yugo SKS I just got. I put the stock in a black garbage bag in the sun, and wiped the cosmo off of it every hour or so with a rag dampened with mineral spirits. Then, I put it in the oven on some tin foil at about 150 degrees, and wiped it down every 20 min or so for 2 hours. This got most of the cosomoline off/out of it.

Then, I *lightly* sanded the stock in a few places I thought were rough (I didn't really need to do this, but after I got a splinter from handling it, well...). I've now treated it with two coats of 1/3 boiled linseed oil, 1/3 turpentine, and 1/3 beeswax. It looks great. Not glossy at all, just a fine military style oil finish. I plan to put 1 more coat on and call it done. If you do this, be sure to go very easy on the oil, and rub it in good. Wipe it down with a towel to get the excess off.

The decision to refinish is a tricky one and is all personal preference. You may want to just clean it up some and see what it looks like after that. Here's a good linke I found for more info:

http://www.jouster.com/Bulletin/refinishing.htm

 

[Steve in PA]

It depends on what you mean by "dirty". As long as its not bleeding cosmoline, then I would clean it as I did my CMP Garand a few years ago. Tore the rifle down, scrubbed the stock with some Murphy's Oil Soap, then a few coats of MinWax Tung Oil. Stock looks great.

Now, on the other hand, if the stock is bleeding with cosmoline, like a CMP 1903, then you'll need to clean it with a good solvent, like mineral spirits. I had to do this several times. Then, throw on the tung oil.