Cleaning

Questions and tips about taking care of the weapons we collect and shoot.

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CaptDan3
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu May 29, 2003 12:46 pm

Cleaning

Post by CaptDan3 » Thu May 29, 2003 12:46 pm

I was wondering if anyone has tried steam to clean the cosmo off of wood stocks? Those small steamers look like they would work great at cleaning the grease out of metal as well at the wood. Would raise the grain a little but that


would lift up dings and dents then sand down nicely.


Just a thought





Dan

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m1 talker
Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Apr 28, 2003 11:34 am

Cleaning of stocks

Post by m1 talker » Thu May 29, 2003 2:13 pm

Dan- I don't know about you, but I would be afraid of doing more harm than good to the stock. Most of the milsurps have been stored for years with a thick coating of cosmoline, which effectively seals the wood in the stock from the ingress of moisture. Thus the wood under that cruddy layer is dry. I would think that steam forced at the stock would not only remove that cosmoline layer, but also force moisture into the interior wood. It would surely raise the grain, but I would be more worried about warping the stock. I tried something similiar to the handguard on a Russian M-44 once and it ended up with a curled up piece that stood up nearly a half inch in the middle!<!--EZCODE EMOTICON START : --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/ohwell.gif ALT=":">;


If you ask ten people what they prefer to do when cleaning stocks, I can guarantee you at least eleven answers! And they all will differ.:lol:;


Curt




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CaptDan3
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Joined: Thu May 29, 2003 12:46 pm

Re: Cleaning of stocks

Post by CaptDan3 » Thu May 29, 2003 2:36 pm

I agree with you about a lot of steam...I don't mean to put the entire stock in a steam box, but those small steamers that they sell for about 50 bucks has a wand handle and only shoots a small stream of steam at low preasure. When doing woodworking I have used steam ( wet rag with the wife's steam iron over it) to raise a ding or small dent in wood and it works great. Was just wondering if that might help get out all that cosmo from stocks. I think I'll try it on the ends of the wood stocks that are covered by metel bands. They always seam to hold the most cosmo and turn the wood black.





Again just trying, will post my findings.





Dan

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m1 talker
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Steaming out dents

Post by m1 talker » Fri May 30, 2003 9:57 am

Steaming out dents that way usually works fine, if the dent is not too deep and the grain of the wood is broken. I think you have the right idea to check it on a small part of the stock first. I have often wondered if it made much a difference as to what type of wood it was. Seems that some woods have a tighter grain than others, so it would make a difference in the absorbtion of the moisture. But, like I stated earlier, I really doubt that two cases would ever be the same. Let us all know how it works out for you.


Curt

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speared um
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Re: Cleaning of stocks

Post by speared um » Mon Aug 11, 2003 10:06 am

CaptDan3:


Did you try the steam on your stock, and what were the results?





Thanx Dante'


long live <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>want steam heat</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> Burul ;)

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sunray
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Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2005 7:46 pm

Post by sunray » Sat Jun 25, 2005 11:25 pm

No. Steam, being very hot water vapour, could damage the stock. Cosmoline is a petroleum based grease. It's a sort of thick Vaseline. Anything that dissolves that will work. Wouldn't suggest kerosene or gasoline though. They work, but they're toxic as hell. However, mineral spirits can be used on the steel and the wood with no fuss. It's cheap too.

Dispose of the resulting sludge properly. It'll be toxic too.
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T
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2005 12:12 am

I use ...

Post by T » Fri Jul 15, 2005 1:43 pm

a garbage bag .... I put the stock in the garbage bag on a nice hot sunny day and wait a few hours ... then I wipe the stock down and put it back in the bag ... it may take a while but I haven't had any damage to the stock doing it this way ...
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