Interesting Piece o' Wood!

[Ruff Hunter]

I've had to soak several oil stained old stocks in solvents including acetone, lacquer thinner, and/or denatured alcohol to de-oil them thoroughly, and never had any problem with wood damage as a result. From the numerous articles I've read on the subject, that's SOP for de-oiling an old stock; not something I invented. I would note that the de-oiling process does tend to remove both the natural and artificial stain in the wood too, so it will likely need some re-staining prior to finishing to restore the desired coloring. The open pores in the inlet areas will also need to be sealed.

Just by way of example, here's two photos of a D grade stock I recently re-finished. When I got the gun, the wood was black with oil most of the way back to the remnants of the disintegrated Silver's pad, and the checkering worn almost smooth. I did not even know it had such nice grain until after soaking it in acetone for a few days to remove the oil and grime.

I lightly stained it with Galazan's "pre-64 red" before applying the hand rubbed oil finish. The wood to metal fit did not change one iota as a result of the de-oiling process. Of course, your experience may be different. I'm just saying that I've done this about a dozen times with satisfactory results every time so far.

[Twice Shooter]

Beautiful job! Tom

[ch]

WOW Justin that is something.

[Roundsworth]

Very nice, Justin!

I have been working on the oil quite a bit. Being retired, along with inhospitable weather, gives me plenty of time to de-oil. So far, so good! I found one hairline crack, about 5/8" long, that I opened up a bit with a tiny burr in my Dremel tool. I stabilized it with Acraglas. It is well hidden within the upper tang inletting.

[Ruff Hunter]

Every old oil stained stock that I have de-oiled has also revealed cracks of varying size that I've repaired during the refinishing process, which undoubtedly makes the stock stronger and less prone to further cracking in the future. It always amazes me how many problems and pleasant surprises can be concealed under a layer of old darkened oil and crud.