I have tried citristrip, acetone, and have found I like purple power degreaser and hot water the best. Has anyone found anything that works better than a strong degreaser and hot water?

I've had some which I took the old yuck down with fine steel wool. Also, you can raise small dents, providing the grain is not broken or cut, with a damp cloth and hot iron. You have to repeat the process a few times but it works nicely.

I had an old Mauser and just put the stock in a large black trash bag and set it on the dash of my truck…it sweated all the old oil out of it. Then I just wiped it with a rag and some BLO(boiled linseed oil)

That kept the character of the gun, it cleaned it.

I don't refinish my milsurp stocks, or use any chemicals or abrasives. For collectible milsurps, any of those will hurt the value.

I use heat on greasy stocks. Putting it in a black trash bag in the sun works great, like MikeinNC stated.

Otherwise, I might scrub it with cheesecloth and a little either polymerized linseed oil or pure tung oil on stocks that are dirty or dry. Per the CMP's own recommendations at Section #9 here: https://thecmp.org/wood-cleaning-article/

(Use real linseed or tung oil, NOT the boiled linseed or tung oil finishes you get at the hardware store, which are chemicals with a little bit of linseed/tung oil.)

Broke out the Coleman stove, a flat bottomed teapot and about 6 feet of automotive heater hose.
Wrapped one end of the hose with duct tape to get a tight fit on the pot and wrapped the end to hold with a thick layer of rags to avoid burning yourself. Filled with water and lit the stove.
Used the resulting steam to clean the stock. The oil and dirt will run off the stock and also raised alot of the dents.
Must be careful doing this to avoid steaming any cartouche on the stock you wish to keep.
Let the stock air dry about a week before applying Linseed oil or Tung oil.
Do this outside it can make a real mess.
Not suggested for collectable stocks.

Soak the wood in mineral spirits if it has a lot of cosmolene. If not I also found Purple Power and hot water to work well!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Badhammer,

Going after a milsurp stock with steel wool or anything like sanding isn't a fantastic idea. As mentioned with steam, be careful not to raise any markings.

I was on a tear for a while doing old rifle stocks. Tung oil is what to use to finish. BLO, is a no from me, dawg. There are a bunch of products that are fine, and easier to use than Tung or BLO for beginners. But if it's a proper milsurp and you're trying to stay true...

For stripping the stock, a garbage bag on a sunny day, on a deck or corner of the driveway is a good start. Or nice hot water, or both. Get all the easy stuff that way.

Step two for me, has long been Vinyl Tile Stripper. It's not going to attack the metal, it's not going to soak in like some water based products can. Just do it somewhere well ventilated. People may or may not remember me saying that in the past, but it works the best. All these "natural" or "earth friendly" or "not harmful" degreasers and cleaners...

When I want a stripper, I want a Stripper.

Here is an old pic of a couple of stocks:


Multiple light coats, don't work it too much. You can take the shine down by waxing once the stock is fully dry, lots of choices there. After your method of cleaning/stripping, leaving the stock to dry for a long period is a good tip. Once you've done your chosen finish method, do the same. What you don't want at any stage, is excess moisture trapped in the wood. Finding somewhere to hang the stock that is stable and low humidity is key. you might remove metal or just tape it off, up to you. Some ferrules etc. aren't coming off anyway.

A lot of different methods get the job done, and if you screw up you can always strip the stock again if you must. Being patient with every step, and thorough with the cleaning, will make nearly any product choice effective. Make sure your application method is lint free...

One thing that I always thought about but never tried, was stripping a stock and then just going after it with this stuff: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Va...ner-340229/305626727 It certainly works for exterior trim repair... to a point. What an abomination if you did that to a milsurp.

I am happy with my purple power and hot water. I also prefer not to use any abrasives and use pure linseed oil to go back on it. I was just wondering if anyone had any better ideas. Thanks for the replies.

Bruh. When you say it like that, you just dissed everybody who bothered to chip in their knowledge/opinion. Add a "thank you" and it doesn't come off like "I will now ignore responses to my question because I don't care." Currently, nobody had better ideas, why did you waste our time?

Sorry that my post did not come across the way I intended. I read every single reply and appreciate the time that every responder took. I was hoping that someone had a product or method that was superior to the one I am currently using and none was offered. I took the information that was provided at face value and thanked those that responded while adding a quick note on what the resolution was.

Arc, your post was very thoughtful and well crafted and I appreciate the time it took you to compose it as well as the hard work you put into stocks you pictured, but in the end it confirmed that purple power and hot water was the best solution, so that is what I used again and I thanked you for your post. No disrespect was intended to anyone.

You can always let a thread fade, or say "hey thanks" and little else. I know you didn't try vinyl tile stripper, so how do you know? You don't. You made a decision. That's fine, just be polite if you're going to discard what people have to say.

Arc, I have tried to be polite, and after your last scolding apologized again. It very much seems that there is not anything that I could post that would satisfy you. Again I am sorry for wasting your time.

depending on the level of crustiness,

I've had good luck using mineral spirits and a course rag (think burlap type)

wet rag, good soak to the stock,
wring out the rag, get it wet again, and more of a scrub,
then progressively less spirits and the majority of the gunk comes off,

let it sit a bit (day or so, giving it a wipe now and again) and then hand rub some Linseed or Tung oil in,

I prefer the clear mineral oil, not the milky looking water based stuff,

and not had to worry about raising any cartouches since not that much gets on the stock to worry

"Cleaning old milsurp stock" is like saying "what's a good recipe for food?"

I've had them bone dry and brittle, dry rotted, soaked like a sponge with oil, wood packed deep with grease, a soggy oil/wood mushy mess and caked with cosmoline so thick you couldn't tell it was a rifle. All needed a different approach, often you don't know what's the best way till the others don't work.

As always, I'm little late to the table...
I do things like that regularly and I've tried almost everything, mineral spirits, heat, oils and solvents, you name it. The thing I found works best is cellulose paint thinner. Just apply with a toothbrush to a small section and wipe with a paper towel. It takes some time and sometimes requires multiple passes but works very well. After that, you can steam the dents (just be careful with cartouches), you can also sand it VERY LIGHTLY to remove whiskers. Then apply some linseed oil, (sparingly, it's better to do many thin coats) danish oil will work too. If you do it right, nobody will know you've ever been there but I'd recommend you practice on less valuable gun first.