King Cobb....Here's what I do to de-oil old stocks. I'm not saying its the best way, or even the right way, but it has worked well for me dozens of times. KEEP IN MIND THE FLAMMABLE AND HEALTH DANGERS OF SOLVENTS AND ALWAYS WEAR PROPER GLOVES AND FACE SHIELD AT ALL TIMES, AND ONLY DO THIS IN AN OUTSIDE LOCATION.
1. Once the metal is removed from the wood, place it in a plastic tub outside and spay it thoroughly with Easy Off oven cleaner. Let it sit for a while and you will notice the foaming action lifting away old oil and crud. Take a tooth brush and, while wearing rubber gloves, gently brush all the surfaces that you can reach. Hose it off and repeat the process two more times, or until you can wipe the wood with a white cloth and not get an oily stain on it.
2. Dry the wood carefully, which will look much lighter in color, with a hair drier or clean rag. Inspect it carefully. If the head and wrist area are darker than the rest, its because it is soaked with oil, which is a common problem with old butt stocks. Stand it in a mason or pickle jar and fill to the rim with new acetone. Use aluminum foil to seal the top of the jar to the stock to help slow evaporation of the acetone. Let it stand for two days. If the acetone turns dark like tea, replace it and let stand another day.
3. Once most of the oil has leached out of the head and wrist of the stock, submerge the entire stock in clean acetone and cover the tub with foil, crimping down the edges, unless you have a lid of course. Be sure to place it in a safe location....ACETONE IS FLAMMABLE TO THE POINT OF BEING EXPLOSIVE. Check on it daily. When the acetone looks like tea, replace it and let it soak some more.
4. After it seems to be fully de-oiled, you're probably only half way done. Take the wood out of the bath and, after its dry, use a heat gun to heat up the head and wrist. Be careful not to burn the wood. Any remaining oil will boil up out of the stock pores, and you can wipe it away with a rag and Tilex bathroom spray. Repeat until no more oil rises when heated. You may find that you have to soak the head end in the jar of new solvent again. I will often place the wood on a sunny window sill for a couple days to let it dry and absorb some heat from the sun. Then try to raise oil again with the heat gun.
5. If the wood is badly soaked with oil, you may need to repeat the process with another type of solvent. I use lacquer thinner for the really stubborn ones. Eventually, all the dark oil spots will go away and you won't be able to raise any oil with the heat gun. That's when you know you're done.
Good luck, and keep us posted on your results.
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