doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Is it safe to assume.....

I got you to look didn't I. What I am asking is after soaking a stock in acetone and alcohol to remove old finish and oil.....i use a heat gun too, if no more oil comes out with the heat gun, is it safe to assume the the oil has been removed and the discoloration is a stain from the oil?
If not, I am not sure what else to do...I have and sometimes do use whiting, but I hate the stuffing find it very hard to remove all traces after using it.

So is my assumption correct? Or is this a slippery slope? (Pun intended)
Jerry

An oil soaked stock probably took many years to get that way, and the oil has soaked very deeply into the wood. Solvent soaking and heat will get a lot of it out, but when I have put stocks aside for awhile after solvent soaking, but before refinishing, I've noticed that more oil usually comes to the surface to darken the wood again. And of course, your dirty solvent will have traces of oil in it unless you keep changing it out for fresh clean solvent.

On the flip side of this dilemma is the probable damage you are doing to the chemical structure of the wood by prolonged and repeated harsh organic solvent baths. I like to start with a solution of household ammonia to saponify the gun and skin oils, and to remove most of the embedded grime. Then I rinse thoroughly with water, and then use heating along with kitty litter or toilet paper wrap to absorb the oil that will come to the surface easily. Then proceed to denatured alcohol or stronger solvents such as acetone or lacquer thinner if necessary. Then do any dent removal, glue repairs, and refinishing before traces of remaining oil can come back to the surface to affect glue adhesion or affect final staining or finishing.

But to answer your question, no, I don't think it is possible to ever remove all traces of oil without damaging the structure of the wood.

Smart Alec answer to your question:

When you "Assume" you make an Ass out of You and Me.

R.

Smart alec answer to your reply.

I guess you live in a perfect world where all the unknowns in the future are able to be determined by you ahead of time.

SRH

The discoloration is remnant oil and altered wood.
You'll never get all the oil out, ever. It's a little like oil reservoirs - there's always some left no matter how hard you try.
The question is how will the impossible to extract residue impact your intents for the stock. Which are what?

Jeremy

Any time you are soaking one (acetone or whatever solvent) or packing it with Whiting, you are only able to remove the oil that comes to the surface. You need to give the remaining oil, once beneath the surface, time to run. Use MILD heat to bring that to the surface, sunlight (ie, on the dash of a car sitting in the sun) or artificial heat. You will need to repeat that process several times to get a good result. It took a long time for the oil to run into the wood; it will take some time and patience to get it out.

I have not found whiting to work well for me, but I've only used it several times. I make the paste, put it on, and it does not change color or seem to soak any oil out. I leave it on for several days and see no change. Maybe it only works on heavily oil soaked stocks and does not work as well on minor oil problems which seem to be recent issues.

Even with prolonged soaking in acetone I have found that oil will still come to the surface many days/weeks later.

I like to use heat at first to drive oil to the surface and to wipe as much away as possible, but at some point my wiping away seems to just push the remainder back into the surface of the stock.

So, the next step is to use ammonia or some other degreaser (purple power) mixed with very hot water. I just run it over the stock and then use a toothbrush to scrub the areas repeatedly. This seems to get the surface oil that I can't wipe off out of the stock.

Then I let the stock dry for a few days and heat again to see if oil continues to come out.

I try to stay away from a full acetone soak if at all possible as it seems that it really just removes too many good oils from the wood. I'll use acetone in spot treatments, but not a full soak.

Either way, acetone or water/degreaser, dries out the stock and I have to watch for small cracks developing that need attention before I start refinishing.

Has anyone utilized a vacuum chamber to remove oil from a stock?

jlb

I would be willing to bet that ammonia is more detrimental to walnut than acetone. And there are many top-shelf gunstock specialists and gunsmiths/stockers who have used acetone/lacquer thinner in very aggressive treatment of oil-soaked wood many, many times without damaging the wood. For all practical purposes, walnut, of any variety, has no naturally occuring oil in it, good or bad.

Bottom line, soak it 'til you get it.
JR

Can't argue with that. I would only add that OCD as some appear to be that there is a point of diminishing returns. Also to take into consideration that solvent activity is temperature related. If you have the stock in a tub of acetone sitting in a freezing garage there ain't much gonna happen.
just a thot