doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com How to remove 127 years of grime from a stock

In the past, I have used a trick I learned as a kid hanging around a gun shop. Using a soft paintbrush, flood the surface with artist grade boiled linseed oil, and allow to rest on a few sheets of typing paper, outdoors. You don’t want to use newspaper, as the ink will bleed into the work. You can use a toothbrush to work the oil into the checkering. Give it an hour, and use clean paper towels to remove the excess oil. Change the towels frequently as they become oil soaked and dirty. Get as much of the linseed oil off as possible, you aren’t trying to add finish, just cleaning up what is there. Allow to dry for a day or two. The stock will be cleaner, but not refinished. You can rub a bit more finish on at this point, using whatever concoction you like, but, you don’t have to.

Put the oil soaked rags and paper in a place they won’t spontaneously combust, outside is best.

Best,
Ted

Do you mean boiled linseed oil? I start by thinning a bit with mineral spirits.

My father firmly believed in a good oil finish and just about every gun he brought home got the treatment ah la Modern Gunsmithing by Clyde Baker, beginning with the boiling lye water. This from page 188 from Clyde's book --

He wants to preserve the originality and just "clean it", not strip and refinish it. He's said so a couple times.

To the OP, I also would not get to ambitious with the boiled linseed oil until you clean the gunk off as I've explained. While any solvent or oil can loosen the dirt, dish soap in water will work better than creating a new finish out of the old, black dirt. Get it cleaned gently, then post a picture for us to reassess.

Generally, I never advocate stripping and refinishing antique wood (not on guns, colonial furniture, old string instruments). I know in the double gun world redoing wood is more acceptible than in the antique gun collecting world in most of America.