Maintaining a wood stock that been in the rain.

[teddy12b]

I was out hunting last weekend and we got a rained on pretty good one morning and there was no way to keep water off the stock on my puma lever rifle.  When the day was over the stock looked like it had been sanded and almost kind of gray.  I'm sure the rifle didn't come from the factory with the worlds best sealer on it and so I wiped some gun oil on it just to give it something that would repel water.  I'd like to put some wood sealer on the stock after the season is over.  Any suggestions?

[Savage .250]

Go on-line and look up stock refinishing.   Lots of good information.   
 

[bilmac]

If the gun oil you put on it actually penetrated the wood you are going to have a much harder time getting a good finish, because a new finish won't want to stick to it. If that is the case I would just do an oil finish which is layer on layer of boiled linseed oil rubbed on by hand. To do a good job you put them on really thin and rub them really hard and long with your bare hands.

Boiled linseed oil doesn't mean you boil it, it is a type of oil you buy that way, look at the labels.

 Most likely the original finish is still intact, and if you want to refinish it it will have to be removed. Easiest way is to scrape it with a sharp edge like a piece of freshly broken glass. Hold it so the cutting edge is perpendicular to the wood and scrape lightly. If you try to sandpaper the old finish off it will clog up the paper and it will take a ton of it to get the job done.

Don't put gun oil on your stock. If you get a nick or scrape use boiled linseed . Gun oil will turn black eventually.
 

[teddy12b]

The gun oil was for more of a quick fix.  I'm not trying to refinish the rifle from scratch.  I'm just trying to restore some of the shine in the wood and help protect the wood some.  The rifle is only 2 years old if that.

[Graybeard]

Putting gun oil on a wood stock is about the WORST thing you can do to it. The oil does NOT protect the wood and in fact begins the process of ruining it. There are proper oils for wood but gun oil is not one of them. With it there I seriously doubt the tung or or other proper oils for wood will take either. You will need to some how remove the gun oil from the pores of the wood to do anything proper to it. Never ever put gun oil on wood stocks.

[teddy12b]

I was afraid of that.  I put a very thin and light coat on, but it's still on there. 

I think after hunting season gets over I'll take the stocks off & follow the steps I read online to refinish the stock.  It'll work out, but it's going to be a nice long project.  I let my cousin "ole-gutshot" borrow the rifle & some ammo since he just wounded another deer over the weekend.  Hopefully he'll have better luck with my rifle, because I know it's setup right.

[jschance]

A way I've found to weatherize a wood stock is to give it a good coat of paste wax.  Put it on, rub it in, let it dry a bit and then buff it off.

One way I've heard of leaching oil out of a stock is to take it off the gun and bury it in kitty litter.  Leave it there for a while, then take it out and clean it off.

If you just gave it a light coat and it's sitting on top of the finish, you might get away with cleaning the stock off with something that will cut the oil, like simple green or wiping it down with lacquer thinner.

You might try just giving the stock a good wipe off and then trying the paste wax.  Ya can't hurt it any worse than it already is.

[bilmac]

Light oils like gun oil vaporize somewhat. I wouldn't get too worked up, there probably was some sort of original finish left that kept it from penetrating. I think I would try a hand rubbed linseed oil finish before I did too much. Put on a light film and rub it hard and long. If you like it you can do as many coats as you like, if you don't no harm done your old finish won't be any harder to remove, or almost any finish you want will stick to linseed.

[stuffit]

Glo Coat   or Glo-Cote by Johnson's.    As close to weather proof for wood as you can get.
s.

[Win 88]

It seems that the gun had a bad oil finish, which didn't stand the rain. Polish it with fine sand paper and wet it with a wet cloth. Work over it with fine sand paper again. Unscrew the buttplate. Then take some linseed oil, a brush and a hot air gun. Warm the wood without burning it, and apply the oil with the brush. Go on so until the wood is soaked, and end with wiping off any extensive oil. Let the stock rest a couple of day, and then give it the same overhaul with oil. Finally, put the butt plate back and polish the surface with fine steel wool and linseed oil.

The hot air gun speeds up the work with applying oil. A correct, traditional oiling will need some months until the stock is satied with oil, but this method makes it a lot faster. However, I would just use it on a working gun, where aesthetics are not primary, but function is. I also think that the air gun will cure the application of gun oil.

Pete

[Lloyd Smale]

to help get the oil out heat it to about 200 degrees in an oven the wipe it down with a bleach and water solution. repeat this a few times. then follow the instruction on a bottle of tru-oil stock finish. I had to chuckly when you said puma. My buddy had a 454 and we were shooting it on an exceptionaly hot day and laughed when we noticed that both of us had there cheap stock finish on our faces!

[Little Joe]

I  have great results with Birchwood Casey gun stock wax. I use it after I have been out hunting and the season is over. My wood stocks are in great shape. That’s even when I have been out in the rain. It will even hide small handling marks. Nice product.

Little Joe

[teddy12b]

I picked up a small can of boiled linseed oil last week.  This gun season ends this Sunday night so I'll be trying the linseed oil out then.  I tried looking around for the wax but never found any.

[jschance]

I found my can of Johnson's paste wax in the floor section of the local hardware store.  You can probably find it at something like Home Depot or Lowes.  Ask in the finish section.

[ftlupton]

Have done trap stocks for guys for many years and they get a lot of hard use. Depends on how much work you want to put into it but I would strip it with a good stripper and let dry for a day or two. Sand with 220 down to 400, get a propane torch ready, lightly wet the stock, lightly hit it with the flame then sand it down with 320 or 400 wet/dry. I don't like stain but stain if you must, put on a sealer coat let dry for 24 hours. Sand smooth with 400 w/d until like glass. Use Tru-Oil but thin the first 2 coats 50/50 with mineral spirits. You want the finish in the wood at this point, not on the wood. Then rub in very thin coats of Tru-oil until you get what you want. Easy way? Sand it down with 320 and use Tung oil, put on thick wait for a few minutes then rub off and do the same thing for a few days. Good luck and have fun, I have for 35 years. Still love the look and feel of good walnut. Almost forgot! seal the butt and interior of the stock with 2 coats of sealer. 

[thickstrings]

 Get some Minwax brand finishing wax, They usually have it in hardware or Lowes, then get some tutpentine........mix 1/3 turpentine to 2/3 Minwax, heat it up and stir till its all one. let it cool.....apply to the wood, ley dry, buff it off,repeat, repeat....put it on the metal also..........take it apart and put it on the inside........the Minwax by itself will leave finger prints. I guess the turp. acts as a hardener....I got this from a guy on  Mauser Central.........He said he checked this by puting the stock in the shower, with no ill effects.........if you only have a light layer of gun oil on the stock, I would'nt worry about it........think of all those old milsurps.

[Oldtimer]

First, to get the oil out of the wood, take it to a furniture refinisher and have it run through the stripper tank, just don't tell the wife that you are going to see a man about using a stripper .  Then, if the wood needs it, apply a stain.  I redid the stock on my Rossi and the color of the wood looked like a diaper that had been ruined by a very sick baby, so it was stain or shame.  Tung oil is as easy to apply as linseed oil, but is much more protective.  Build several thin coats and it will look great.  Precaution:  if you are very allergic to poison ivy, oak, or sumac, then use some other finish.  The tung tree is in the same family, and there was a rumor of poisoned Japanese rifles in WWII that stemmed from soldiers getting rashes from contact with the tung oil on the stocks.

As for the wax, a car wax works fine.  Look for the word carnauba on the label.  It is the hardest kind of wax.  As others mentioned, do the stock before mounting any metal, and also the metal, both exposed and covered surfaces.  I have seen guns that looked great assembled, but taken down, it looked like they had been used as sewer pipes.

[deernhog]

Did the old finish come off of the rifle stock when it got wet. If not,the oil did not penetrate it into the wood if it was only a lite coat of oil as he described wiping the gun down with.