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How to do a Light Oil Cleaning

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 1:30 pm
by Candyman
Well if you have one of those dirty rifle stocks, You know the one that gets you dirty whenever you touch it, you don't need to change the finish, just clean off the Crud.

Here is an easy and gental way to clean up a stock. It works great on Shellac finishes too.

It's called a Light Oil Cleaning.

First off, Our Victim will be this dirty little Romanian M44 stock.
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Wet a rag or paper towel with mineral spirits.

Wipe the stock down and let it dry. This will remove any cosmoline from the surface of the finish. Once it is dry you will see what looks like a chalky dirt on the stock.
If the stock does not have Cosmoline on it skip the mineral spirits wipe down.

Here are the things that you will need to finish up the cleanup.

BLO
0000 steel wool
A small cup or container
Rubber gloves
Clean paper towels or soft rag

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Put some BLO in a small cup or container. Dip the steel wool into the BLO and wipe it on to the stock.

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Use 0000 steel wool to wipe the BLO on to the stock.
You want to keep the steel wool very wet. Wipe the stock down but, do not scrub.
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Then allow the stock to sit for 30 min. or so then wipe it down with a clean rag. The BLO will remove dirt and not harm the finish.
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You want to wipe the stock dry and let it sit for 24 hours. Buff the stock again with a clean rag and if you like, apply a wax top coat, which will protect the Shellac finish. Tom's 1/3 mix works great.

Here is the stock all cleaned up. I did not apply wax to this stock.
You have to look very close to see the differance in the before and after pic,'s. The only thing is that now I don't get dirty when I touch the stock.
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As always I hope that this will help some ou you and if you have any questions please ask.

Re: How to do a Light Oil Cleaning

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 4:17 pm
by Woftam
I do have a question. Is there a specific reason for using the steel wool ? If you are not scrubbing why not just use a rag to apply the BLO ?

Re: How to do a Light Oil Cleaning

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 9:10 pm
by Candyman
Woftam wrote:I do have a question. Is there a specific reason for using the steel wool ? If you are not scrubbing why not just use a rag to apply the BLO ?
Good question.
A rag will soak up the BLO and you will end up using a lot more then you need to and then you will need to dispose the rag in a safe manner.
The steel wool will soak up the BLO from the container, but will release just about all of it when squeezed. You can also wash the steel wool with Denatured Alcohol and use it again at a later time.

Re: How to do a Light Oil Cleaning

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 9:36 pm
by Woftam
OK that's clear then. Thanks for the response.