Stripping Pietta Grips - only oil on there?

[Mictlanero]

I read somewhere that Pietta grips have oil only applied - so no stain or anything, just oil? Is that right?

I have a project in mind to convert the wood to look just like ivory using minwax white pickling stain and tung oil - i have done it on some bows i made and like the look.

The thing is the Pietta grips have some stuff on there i just want to confirm is only oil - not much room for sanding since the grips fit great - except they could do with some sanding near the right side of the recoil shield where nipple caps are put on.

So I am thinking that using acetone or mineral spirits would remove everything down to clean, unstained wood?

Let me know if i am wrong, please..... if the wood is already stained not sure i would bother to do this.

 

[scrat]

i just light sanded mine didnt use any mineral spirits or anything as that might raise the grain. Mine however are painted black about 20 coats of black laquer
before

after

 

[craiso]

The last two NIB brassers that I bought this year had handles that were oiled.

 

[arcticap]

I read somewhere that Pietta grips have oil only applied - so no stain or anything, just oil? Is that right?

I don't know the answer and maybe only Pietta would know.
For instance, Cabot makes a tung oil product that contains a stain in the mix which comes in 76 colors. It's a premium wood stain with a subtle color added that's fade resistant.
So IMO anything is possible regarding Pietta's use of a wood stain along with an application of oil.

Cabot Oil Wood Stain

http://www.cabotstain.com/products/product/Oil-Wood-Stain.html

 

[Old Fuff]

I have a EMF Remington New Model Army made by Pietta. Out-of-the-box the stocks are apparently stained and then lacquered or varnished. There was also some lockwork tuning. I suspect that the quality of whatever finish is applied to the stocks may depend on what the importer pays for. Looking at the underside of the stocks might give you a clue concerning what the unfinished wood looks like.

 

[Mictlanero]

Thanks everyone for the help -
Scrat, what you did to the grips looks really good - i like that contrast with the pistol - is that pistol's bluing removed in the second picture?
Old Fluff - that makes sense that different importers would get different finishes - yes i will check the inside of the grips to see the original wood

 

[unknwn]

The grip wood on a 2012 produced Pietta '60 London I am working on was stained with something that I needed to remove prior to sanding because it loaded up the best sand paper I could buy.
I followed a recommendation from someone here (I apologise for losing your name fella') and scrubbed the grip panel wood with acetone until my rags no longer discolored to the red end of the spectrum, and I increased the usable life of the sandpaper tenfold. Was it oil? Probably, but I really can't say for certain other than I'm fairly positive that there was no urethane or equivalent on them. That resulted in a quite brown looking wood of a fairly unimpressive grain structure.
I tried the same method on the wood of a Pietta branded accessory shoulder stock for an 1851 and that most certainly did have a thick urethane coating applied to it.Once it was chemically stripped (very mild soy-based stripper) I found that any of the cross grained wood that was suspected of having been stained sanded to bright white wood with very little material removal, end grain areas never did loose a heavy red tint even post-sanding that I did to help promote a better metal to wood fit. That effort exposed a much lighter wood with a recognizable walnut sort of grain structure that is decidely more open-pore than any of my true American walnut gun stock specimens.
I intend on coloring both pieces with an oil-based stain to -hopefully- match the appearance between them and finish with as many applications of Tru-Oil as the walnut? will absorb.
Pictures to follow as long as I have produced something worth bragging about.
I have some other 2012 manufactured Pietta '60 & '51 grip stocks that will eventually be stripped and sanded for better fit as time allows. Those aforementioned look to be most VERY red of stain whether it be part of the oil? finish or a pre-applied stain.
I will probably try some comparison methods between them ( acetone -versus- chemical stripping) to better educate myself (and anyone here willing to read my reports) about what is the best way to prep them for fitting and refinish.

 

[Mictlanero]

I removed the grips and stripped them with a commercial degreaser and scouring pad while wearing plastic gloves and glasses -- seems to have cleaned off the stain (definitely was stained on there a red/brown) and removed all visible traces of oil.

After this i rinsed it down with hot water and dish soap. Did this a total of 2 times with the degreaser and dish soap.

I lightly sanded it with 320 wet/dry and next going to 400 - looks pretty smooth - and i already reshaped the only part of the grips which did not fit perfectly.

After i sand it again, i may use acetone to see if i can get any oil out - but probably it is fine and ready for the next step of my ivory look process - minwax white pickling stain!

 

[scrat]

Yep bluing removed and the gun is polished out. I just use some mag and wheel polish and it will shine up really nice..