Enfield Help?
So after cleaning with oil soap and one application of Lin-Speed (boiled linseed oil and a little solvent), I'm at a loss here.
I'm not happy with the look so far.
Should I strip and start over? Leave alone and put back together? I need your help!
Personally, strip it and use a clear lacquer to bring out the natural wood grains. Just my $.02
ReplyDeleteI hate to ever criticize another man's gun but I gotta agree with K.
ReplyDeleteStrip it and start over. It's just got too many years of crud on it.
ReplyDeleteOven cleaner is good start with.
Use either a heat gun or a heat gun to warm up to wooden stock enough to liquefy the preservative oils which have embedded themselves within the upper wood grains. If at all possible use something like a small metal trash can or larger popcorn can set up at a slight angle. Hang the stock and forestock inside so they are not in contact with the containers surface. Heat up interior gradually until you begin to see the preservative oil/grease begin to weep out than maintain that temperature. Once no further fluid is coming out of the stock pieces remove the heat source, wipe down the wood, sweat out any dents or gouges with a damp cloth and steam iron. Now all you need is a bit of steel wool to knock down any raised grains, apply some Tung oil and you’re finished. The stock has not been stripped and furthermore has not been refinished, so its full character is still present.
ReplyDeleteDid you try a light scrub with 4 aught steel wool and oil soap?
ReplyDeleteHubby had a bear of a time getting the cosmolene out of the stock of his 30-06 Enfield. He ended up first soaking the stock in acetone (finger nail polish remover) and then rubbed it down with steel wool and clean rags. One it dried, he wetted it down and steamed out the big dents with an iron. Then he refinished it. He used a water based product but was not entirely happy with the results. He recommends oil based stain and varnish for the final finish. Just keep in mind that the water based finishes do not darken with age but the oil based ones do. It just depends on how dark you want it to become.
ReplyDeleteI washed my Krag and M1 Carbine stock in TSP and scrubbed it with #000 steel-wool, and then let it dry thoroughly...
ReplyDeleteI know it sounds crazy, but an automatic dishwasher and regular dish detergent works wonders on an old stock like that.
ReplyDeletePull it out as soon as the dry cycle starts. Let it air dry and finish with some steel wool.
Oven cleaner. Repeatedly. With a stiff (but not metal) brush. Until it looks like driftwood. Only then do you actually have the cosmolene and crap out.
ReplyDeleteThe trick is that you MUST flush it with water like you're trying to decon after a nerve gas hit. After every single oven cleaner scrub.
Then use an oil based stain (in part, to recondition the wood), lightly sand, and seal with hand rubbed satin polyeurythane (lightly burnish with 000 steel wool between cured coats.)
The end result will look like a perfectly aged without getting gromy stock finished in lacquer or the like -- only it will be weather sealed, and not even residual cosmolene will ooze through.
Did a Moisin Nagant -- it went from looking like it was painted with tar (and CONSTANTLY oozing cosmolene on warm days, no matter what non-chemical methods I tried), to looking like a cherry-picked "hand select" Moisin that was never stored in cosmolene, and it NEVER leaves cosmolene on my clothes or hands, no matter how hot it is.