stock oil

[Paul Harm]

I've always used acetone to remove the oil in the stock. Does anyone have a better way ? Been told that heat also works, but never tried it. A well know gunsmith I at times take my guns to claims using the acetone only takes the top 1/4" or so of oil out, and a couple of years later the rest of the oil will come back to the top making the gun look bad again. I believe he uses a cabinet with heat and some sort of acid below to remove the oil. Any ideas ?

[Justin Julian]

Rather than guessing, why don't you ask your gunsmith exactly how he does it?

[allen newell]

I used an acetone bath on a LC Smith I once had. Took an incredible amount of oil out of the stock. I repeatedly took it out of the bath, wiped it clean and then immersed it again. Maybe a half dozen times. No further oil leeched out after refinishing. Yrs ago, I used a heat lamp on an old stock that was pretty well soaked w/oil. Oil came to the surface but it's an incredibly slow process. Acetone bath I found was/is much faster and no harm to the wood that I could discern.

[Bill Holcombe]

Acetone worked great for me. I soaked it for about 2.5 weeks. Changed it out once when the Acetone got to discolored. After that soaked it for a couple days in alcohol to clean it up. Then let it dry for about a week or so. Haven't had any oil come back up.

Heat works, but it takes a while and is slow. Some people put it in an oven and heat it, but I was too nervous about scorching the wood or drying it out too much.

Others suggest using oven cleaner or covering it with the stuff you use to clean up oil spills in your garage. I have never tried any of those though.

There is a post on here about someone having to get it chemically extracted because it turned out the oil in his stock was whale oil. But that doesn't appear to be a common issue.

[Gary Carmichael Sr]

Just a question for every one, how many store their guns with the barrels down, Gary

[Bill Holcombe]

It isn't that big of an issue as long as you don't leave it slathered in oil.

[Gary Carmichael Sr]

I agree! Gary

[John Campbell]

A well know gunsmith I at times take my guns to claims using the acetone only takes the top 1/4" or so of oil out, and a couple of years later the rest of the oil will come back to the top ...

Acetone works for the outer oil. And as you've been told, the stuff inside is still inside. It took 100 years to soak in there. And it isn't going to come out in a week. But in the meantime, the outside looks pretty decent. Probably last as long as you do.

[Virginia Hessler]

I have used acetone and heat with very goo results.
First I get out what I can with the acetone and then fire up the hair dryer. Just blowing hot air on it from the hair dryer you can watch the oil leach out of the wood. Then repeat acetone and dryer as many times until satisfied.
Works for me, Tom

[Paul Harm]

Thanks for the replies. Yes, I store my guns muzzle down.

[Jerry Harlow]

from Brownells + heat. It does work. Not as extreme as soaking completely.

http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/stock-work-finishing/stock-finish-strippers/1-lb-whiting-sku083032100-1133-4041.aspx?sku=083032100

[jim garrett]

Paul, I tried acetone on the "boathouse gun" and was only partially sucessful. One day while I was working on it, I stopped to do something else and in doing so I set the stock in the bed of my truck. When I came back a few minutes later, the heat had leached enough oil out of the stock that it was totally covered in oil. I wiped it off with an acetone rag and did it again. After about 3 or 4 more passes the oil was completely removed. I continued on with the stock refinishing and I have never seen any evidence of oil coming to the surface. If I can find some before and after pictures of the stock, I may write an article for Parker Pages on this one. You do have to remember that I was working in Tampa, Florida sunlight. Jim Garrett

[Robin Lewis]

I remember this topic in at least two other threads. I posted in one and related about a process that David Trevallion showed me years ago, so I went looking for that thread, if you are interested, look at http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthread.php?t=9832 for even more on this topic. If you get to my post, the item I couldn't remember the name of was diatomaceous earth.

[James J. Roberts]

Paul,I use Easy Off oven cleaner to remover oil from butt stocks.J.J.Roberts