Getting Oil Out of Gun Stock With Solvents....On A Budget

[Matthew Hutchinson477]

So here's what I'm working with.
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It's a 70+ year-old piece of Bastogne (European) walnut, and it has some cracks that need to be repaired so I decided to do a full strip and refinish. Gun oil soaking into stocks is a common issue and the longer it's there the deeper into the wood it seems to get. I've gotten most of the oil out of this one using a mixture of acetone and whiting powder (calcium carbonate) but there's still some oil seeping out of some areas:
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I'm thinking that at this point some of the oil that is left, especially in the cracks, is deep enough that my acetone/whiting mixture is not getting to it. The acetone in that mixture evaporates pretty quickly so it works well only with oil that is near the surface. A common method among shotgun restorers is to soak the entire stock in a solvent like acetone. With a shotgun that has a two-piece stock each piece is small enough that it can usually fit into an aluminum baking pan and requires less than a gallon of solvent to fully submerse. If it's viable it is the best method I have seen but that's the problem with this stock--I don't have and can't easily find a big enough acetone-safe container to submerse this entire thing. I've been looking around for metal tanks big enough for this stock but the cheapest option I've seen so far is $50 plus shipping, and it would probably require $25 worth of acetone as well.

So I want to explore other solvent options or other methods of getting oil out of the cracks. Finding a plastic container for the stock isn't too difficult so if there is some solvent that is compatible with plastic that might be viable. Maybe naphtha?

Anyone have any experience with issues like this or any ideas?

[Mel Fulks]

Before you give up on the tank check with a sheet metal place. I had one made up years ago, didn't cost much.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Oops - -misread the post - sorry..

[Bill Dufour]

Metal pipe with cap on each end. One removable? You can fill it up with glass marbles or sand? to reduce liquid volume needed. How long is this?
the common surplus Aluminum medical case is 31X18 by 11 high. I have three that I store my tent and sleeping bags in to keep rodents out. I have no idea if the rubber gasket would work or have to be removed and use Al tape to seal it.
Does wood float or sink in Acetone? How about Naptha, which is Coleman fuel. about $8.00 a gallon Walmart house brand. I use it for paint spraying.
Bill D.

[John Stankus]

Acetone should be ok with HDPE (high density polyethylene) recycle code 2
PP (polypropylene) recycle code 5
The wash bottles we use in the lab (filled with acetone) I think are LDPE (Low density polyethylene).

Try a little bit in one of these type containers overnight and see if you have any issues with the container swelling or dissolving. Do test it before you commit

Also think about trying to minimize the volume of acetone used. Several gallons of a volatile solvent can be a safety hazard (fire, explosion etc.) So outside, away from any buildings might be best. A couple of gallons of acetone evaporating would scare the crap out of me.:eek: (think fuel-air explosive... )

****Better idea for a container--> check the restaurant supply places in your area. They have a lot of different size pans and containers many in aluminum for relatively inexpensive.

How long is the stock? You can always do one end at a time.

John (Chemistry professor is my day job)

[Matthew Hutchinson477]

Thanks for all the ideas, guys.

I'll have to call a sheet metal shop on Monday.

The stock is 32" long, by the way. So I don't think the surplus aluminum cases would work.

John--if HDPE is okay with acetone then perhaps my best bet would be finding HDPE trash bags or something, that way I could use the minimum amount of acetone necessary. I didn't really think about the risk of having it evaporate, honestly. I know it's very flammable but I did not think spontaneous combustion would be an issue. Whatever I use will be capped/sealed but still, I suppose I should look more carefully into the setup.

I tried a restaurant supplier in town and unfortunately they didn't have anything. I was hoping to find a nice aluminum or stainless steel tub but everything they had in adequate sizes was too expensive.

[Matthew Hutchinson477]

On the subject of solvents, though, I am curious about options other than acetone. Primarily if they're cheaper but safer is nice as well.

John--being a chemistry guy do you think a weaker solvent would still work? Maybe just a bit slower?

[Alan Rutherford]

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5540820

(http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5540820)http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5540816

(http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5540816)http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=660689

[Bill Dufour]

The medical case the diagonal would be roughly 35 on the outside so they might work. or find another size that does work. I have even seen folks selling unused? metal coffins.
I recommend the cases because after the job is done you have a metal case that might have some use to you rather then a empty tube to trip over.
Bil lD.

[John Stankus]

I think Tractor Supply has a goat trough. 36x4x5. That is listed as polyethylene. For$20

I won’t venture an opinion on other solvents since I don’t know what they will do to the wood in the stock. If there is a known method that works use it. Most of the solvents I am thinking of are flammable too, save for the ones that are disposal and health problems.

On the hazards of acetone flashpoint is -4F. For 2 to 12% mixtures in air if I recall the msds correctly. I would be most worried about a source of ignition (static electricity, hot water heater, spark from a motor light or an outlet )

A cover will limit evaporation

Trash bags are probably too porous to contain solvents.

John

[Christian Setla]

It may be just me, but using a solvent to extract oil from wood does not seem to be the best way to go about it.

Solvents dilute and thin the oil which helps remove a lot of it, but then the thinned oil/solvent also gets sucked further into the wood via capillary action.... no matter how much solvent, it's still going to leave a residue.

I worked on an oil spot on my driveway for years and could not get all the oil out. Someone put me on to a special dust product that wicks the oil out and it worked a treat. The company also makes a liquid solution that gets under the oil and apparently lifts the oil back out or something like that (rather than diluting). I don't know all the specifics, but the silly named "flubber dust" worked in 24 hours for me. Could it be used on a gunstock? I have no idea, but an email to the company might be in order? The company is called Oillift and a couple of their products are available at a local chain store in my area, which is where I got it from.

Stains in gunstocks often include dust and metallic components (rust, dissolved oxides and the like), not just oil, so the complete removal of old stains may not be possible.

[Robbie Buckley]

Bowling centres use solid 'oil-out' absorbents to remove oil from the lanes and approaches all the time (or did before all the lanes went synthetic). Dump a shovelful on the stain, pour on some solvent and sweep it up the next morning. There are about a million different non-flammable degreasing solvents for cleaning machinery that would work, check with a fuel supply place that does bulk solvents. Bentonite, diatomaceous earth (pool filter powder), vermiculite or cat litter (absorbent type, not crystals) should all work fine. The idea is the solvent soaks the absorbent, wets and dissolves the stain and then as the solvents dries from the surface of the absorbent it wicks the solvent and oil out of the wood.

[Larry Edgerton]

Soak in a bag with solvent, then use vacuum to pull it all out.

[Matthew Hutchinson477]

It may be just me, but using a solvent to extract oil from wood does not seem to be the best way to go about it.

Solvents dilute and thin the oil which helps remove a lot of it, but then the thinned oil/solvent also gets sucked further into the wood via capillary action.... no matter how much solvent, it's still going to leave a residue.



This is true. My understanding is that through repeated washings with acetone the oil gets diluted to the point that it does not cause any issues. I've done the acetone soak method with pieces before and after a couple days the acetone will be brown and dirty so you change it with clean acetone, and after a few washings the acetone will stop turning brown meaning all-or almost all-of the oil is out of the wood.

I took a look at Oil Lift but I'll have to wait to actually speak to someone there. I'd bet that it does about the same as old-fashion "whiting" powder which is just calcium carbonate but who knows. Maybe that's the ticket at this point.

When I'd used a whiting mixture before I'd made up a paste of whiting powder and acetone and caked it on the wood. I wonder if just burying the wood in a pile of powder would increase the pull of the absorbent substance.

[Matthew Hutchinson477]

Stains in gunstocks often include dust and metallic components (rust, dissolved oxides and the like), not just oil, so the complete removal of old stains may not be possible.

Yep, I'm still trying to figure out what this stuff is:

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That inletting is where the safety goes so there was a piece of blued steel there but I've never seen blued steel leave a substance like that behind. It looks like copper.

[Christian Setla]

Copper sulphate mixed with water was often used as a layout fluid for metal work. Dissolved copper sulphate coats steel with a thin coating of copper which allowed scribe marks to show. Later, layout dyes became more common to use, such as Dykem Steel blue.

Of course 70 years could allow for a great many things to infiltrate such inlet bits. Bore cleaners that dissolved gilding metal fouling, assorted gun oils and other cleaners. Perhaps your best bet is to simply allow some of the 70 years worth of patina to show through.... it has been around for a while. A bit of blackness or tarnish bothers me a whole lot less on a stock than that blasted plastic coating they put on Weatherby's and the like. I'll take a hand rubbed oil finish any day, even with a few blotches from years of use. As for inletting stocks..... I liked the idea of just strapping the hardware to a growing walnut tree instead of doing it the usual way. I never did like that kind of work. I'd do metal work with hand tools and woodwork with woodworking tools in the gunshop, but marrying the two was something I could just not wrap my head around well enough to be happy with the results. (Yes, I'm an awful critic of my own work).

As for Oillift, they use some nifty bacteria in some of their cleaners that break down oil. The Flubber dust can be swept up after use and left exposed in bright sunlight for a day or two and placed back in the container for use another day as the oil is completely broken down. One of the liquids they sell bubbles up the oil to the surface of porous materials where the Flubber dust can finish absorbing it and break it down. The inventor uses these products for his household laundry, cleaning outdoor carpets and who knows what else. I think it would be well worth an email... That chap has had a bee in his bonnet for many years about the pollution caused by using solvents in an attempt to clean up oil.

Good luck with your project.

[Matthew Hutchinson477]

So, fun fact, turns out most heavy-duty contractor/garbage bags are made of either HDPE or LDPE. I put a little bit of acetone in a Hefty contractor bag and 8 hours later no apparent damage. So there's my solution there.

[Keith Outten]

There was a time long ago when poor people used firearms to provide food for the table that they applied used motor oil on gun stocks to protect them from the weather. This was also true in both World War I and II so its pretty common to find very old military gunstocks that have been totally saturated with used motor oil.

[Christian Setla]

Just for giggles.... Here is a video excerpt from a Jon Eakes monthly webcast where he shows the results of using "Oil Lift, from Save the Oceans Inc." to clean the carpeting his own indoor stairs. It may be made for lifting oil stains on concrete, but it can be used in lots of other scenarios.

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/113151609?t=1741

[johnny means]

I've dealt with similar situations by making a fitted "tray" out of aluminum foil.

[William M Johnson]

I have had excellent results using lacquer thinner to remove oil. Most recently I used it on an English shotgun made in the 1870s. The wood was almost black. After the thinner and a heat gun I found a piece of wood that would be irreplaceable today. The heat gun helped a lot.

Bill