GO-JO hand cleaner warning for stocks

Chris · 02-26-2005, 11:42 PM

I have ran into a snag on my method of cleaning as someone has decided after a few they are in the know of stock refinishing now. I need to set this straight before some ruin there wood. 1st a small part of this problem I ran into. Someone I have seen learn something and either run with it like it was there idea or learns something from me then a year later states they always new about this has struck again. This is the only person I have this happen with. This time they stated using gritless GO-JO hand cleaner by putting it on and wiping it off will not remove the color or harm the stock.. This is WRONG. If you do this you have left residue of the hand cleaner in the stock PERIOD. They also do not realize Walnut comes in different colors and if the stock was natural dark it will look like no color was lost. Also the oil in the cleaner is like Murphy's oil soap and leaves a oily residue which makes it hard to oil over properly.
Now I use gritless GO-JO and have recommended it for years to anyone wanting to do there own stocks so we know I do not do any of this for my own self wants as I do not need anymore work I swear. I need a break badly. But I am posting a picture below of GO-JO hand cleaner after I rinse the residue off and let dry. This is needed to properly oil it. By the way I have never ruined or lost a cartouche on thousands of stocks so far so I should know what I am doing with hand cleaner by know wouldn't you think? The purpose of this post is to stop anyone from messing around by putting GO-JO on and wiping it off thinking they did something good when in fact they didn't and this person who has just refinished a stock is now a expert at this telling me I am wrong to someoen making $400.00 a hour. Making money doesnt make you right heck look at Donald Trump and how many times he went broke from doing things wrong. Everyone whose stocks I have done knows my results and care is #1 with me. I have spent years doing this and have 25 stocks on my racks at any given time. I try to tweak things and have learned some stocks need Acetone, some Hand cleaner, some TSP and others stripper. The same as each piece of wood needs a different color stain to match things up. I don't even think much about it anymore as I have done it so much. Folks come to my shop and are amazed while watching some of my techniques and wonder how I know this. It has become second nature and fun at that.

I want folks to know I will always give instructions to work on your wood and help as much as I can. Ask my wife how many nights I am on the phone helping people or have folks from the forums stop in while in town to se the shop. I am not in this for the business end of it or I would charge 4 times what I barely do and I wouldn't give learned tricks away.

So when I state Go_JO hand cleaner will strip the color out like the picture below you better believe it.

http://images.andale.com/f2/115/106/...loatstock2.JPG

In this picture the 3 on the left are gritless GO-JO hand cleanered and the others are in various stages of oiling.
http://images.andale.com/f2/115/106/...tonostock2.JPG

eclancy · 02-27-2005, 10:21 AM

Stock Doc,
Guys I have known Rick for years and his work on stocks is the best work I have ever seen. He knows what he is talking about. Nice Work!
http://www.garandm1rifle.com
http://www.users.fast.net/~eclancy
Thanks again for taking the time and effort to read and reply to this
Clancy

Shaun · 03-01-2005, 11:26 AM

Thanks Rick I never would have thought of GoJo in the first place, I'll leave that one to you -- when I do old Mausers get the lemon oven cleaner out and that has been my tool of choice for many years

Dookiebutt · 03-01-2005, 08:33 PM

Some people never consider the source of the advice. Just beacuse I changed a tire once doesn't make me a mechanic. Same with the guy who "refinished" a stock once.
Rick speaks from years of experience with many, many stocks. I think he knows what works and what doesn't.

Dookiebutt · 03-01-2005, 08:38 PM

BTW: You may have noticed how carefully those photos were cropped so as to not show Rick's children working in that sweat-shop of a workshop where "he" turns out those beauties.

"Their little fingers get into all the nooks and crannies so much better than mine" said Rick B. to me as he passed me another ice-cold beer.

HAHAHAHAHA!

7mmag6 · 03-01-2005, 11:59 PM

well I did what doc said on my cosmo of my yugo( you know what that crap is like!!) just orange go-jo Waterless, let it dry , rinsed , hit it with tsp very gently, rinsed, presto-chango beutiful stock, looks like it came right off titos work bench, worked like gang busters, old doc is gan noc number 1

Gyrene · 03-02-2005, 12:24 AM

7mmag6 - Some of these youngsters may not know who Tito was.

He was the leader of Post WWII Yugoslavia (having been one of the main Resistance Leaders against the Germans), and through force and persuasion was able to keep the Bosnians, Serbs, and Croats from fighting. They never forgot their HATE and . . ., but they waited until Tito died to attack each other. He was seen as a Pro-Westerner by the Communist Bloc; yet he was seen as a part of the Communist Bloc by the Western Nations (the Free World).

I always believed that had Tito decided to become friendly with NATO, Russia (the old USSR) would have invaded Yugoslavia to keep Tito in line, much as they had done in Hungary in 1956. The Soviet tanks rolled through the streets of Budapest, killing anyone who looked as though he was a threat to them. This was one of the first really visible uses of the famed "Molotov Cocktail", as Freedom Fighters were seen throwing them onto the Soviet Tanks (in movie clips, on TV), where they would spread fire all over the top of the tank as the burning gasoline splashed around.

`

gunssb · 03-02-2005, 12:33 AM

yup - I know about Tito. Wasn't he supposed to be "non-aligned" (but was commie leaning under the table).
I have a few glass bottles, rags and gasoline handy to delay the gun grabber mob

TULAver · 03-10-2005, 08:29 AM

It's sad Gyrene but you're probably right about a lot of young people not knowing who Tito was. Sad like the way things went down the toilet when he died. I've always been amazed at how he kept Yugoslavia going, sorta stuck in limbo between Nato and the Warsaw Pact nations, sorta playing both sides. The middle east could really use a Marshall Tito or two right now, I think, but what do I know?

But yeah, Tito, Franco, Rommel, even Gorbachev(and many many more) are names that most twenty-somethings today probably couldn't identify. Not saying that about the people here, just in general.

Hard to blame them entirely though, I remember in school, about all my history books ever said about the Korean War(for example) was that there WAS one. Elementary school history books numba 10! Numba hocken10!

Thrawn · 03-10-2005, 06:44 PM

Do you just let the GO-JO sit for a while or do you rub with a towel?
I'm also finishing a stock with BLO how many coats should I expect?
Sorry to get a little off topic.

Stock Doc · 03-10-2005, 09:53 PM

Heck Thrawn you are on the topic. The Tito thing got out of hand. Put the Go-Jo on and let it set about 20 minutes then take a old tooth brush and rub it in a bit. Now rinse with warm water while tooth brushing it but make sure you are not to rough and be carefull around any markings. Let it dry and repeat if needed until you have gotten all of the old finish out. Now after it has set a day or two steel wool or sand burs away and use Acetone to wipe it clean. Alcohol will raise the grain but Acetone will clean it out and leave it this way. Stain to color then oil, let set about 30 minutes and rub oil off real good. DO NOT leave the rags laying around as they will self combust if balled up. I put mine in a water can full of water but sometimes hang them to dry over night then toss them once hard. Repeat oiling after at least 24 hours and repeat until you are happy with the look. Hope this helps Rick B

President of Cleveland Fiero's
www.clevelandfieros.com

Cars progress http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/049118.html

Thrawn · 03-10-2005, 10:58 PM

Thanks!:cheer: :right:

Thrawn · 03-10-2005, 11:00 PM

BTW, was'nt Tito one of the Jackson five?

I got one of his Mausers.:right:

eclancy · 03-11-2005, 10:18 AM

Hi all,
Where can you buy Go-Jo
Thanks
Clancy

jimb2 · 03-11-2005, 04:03 PM

I usually get it at the auto parts places. But be careful. most places only carry the stuff with pumice.

ltcboy · 03-17-2005, 10:45 AM

Did Tito use GoJo on His stocks?

Oxford · 03-17-2005, 07:13 PM

Stock Doc...have you fully recovered from the physical problems you had during the past year or so? Last I remember you were trying to get your heath back. Can't remember for sure what the problem was, though.

Regardless, I'm glad you're back and doing your thing again. :nod: Heck...it seems you're the only person who even comes close to being the guru for refinishing gun stocks. :right:

Ox

gunssb · 03-17-2005, 07:20 PM

Stock Doc, do you have a website or book to recommend to someone who has no prior experience but wants to refinish an old stock - say a K98. All you guys with experience should write books or write it down somewhere so that the information is not lost :right:

Stock Doc · 03-18-2005, 11:44 AM

Oxford I have recovered from Shoulder surgery and the other things like my hand were not added to the list at this time so I am doing ok for now. I started taking work in but have been hit hard with stocks and other things so it is slow going at this time.

Gunssb here is a bit of insturctions that should help I hope. Rick B

Wood Stripping
Ok here it is. First I get a hold of E-Z-GO hand cleaner or GO-JO which is waterless and gritless. Most probably any will do. I rub it on stock in sink of course and then let it set for about 15-30 minutes depending on amount of dirt and if markings are on stock. Now I take and rub on a hand full more then take a tooth brush and rub it but not real hard near edges and cartouches. I rinse with warm water again careful around markings incase there weak.Use the tooth brush to brush off hand cleaner while rinsing.
I use Bix Stripper and follow instructions on can for harder finishes,, and TSP { Trisodium Phosphate} after, if it is dark and stained or if the stocks is heavy oil still, use Trisodium Phosphate and make a watery paste out of it then tooth brush it on. Wait 10 minutes and rub some water on with the tooth brush to make sure it doesn't dry on stock. Now wait about 5-10 minutes and rinse you will see the dirt still but after it dries you will be amazed. You can repeat this method until happy but again be careful if there are Cartouches

Steaming out dents
Now you can steam if wanted I use a bucket of water ,a rag and a iron with steam cycle. I soak the rag and lay it on stock dents then iron it until steam stops or water is out of rag. I fold the rag sometimes to hold more water and the steam last longer. This is a hit or miss thing it may take days of this to see results. Most times it just lightens them up.
Now sand lightly with 100 or 120 but lightly to not put big scratches in the stock when happy with this Then take 220 and lightly sand the whole stock in direction of grain and periodically use 0000steel wool to smooth it out and see scratches that need to be 220 out. When happy with this steel wool the whole stock until smooth . {

NOTE} Some stocks especially IHC and Winchester are known to have heavy sand marks in the wood hand guard especially. This under no circumstances should be removed and only steel wooled lightly. Heck it make you're job easier. The collectors value is allot higher on a unsanded marked up fat stock over a smooth skinny one trust me. Keep in mind the very early Winchester stocks were hand carved because the lathe was not finished for them so they inletted them and carved the final. I have one of these and it is a exceptional piece with a No-Trap butt without the hinge cut out.

Dust removal, staining and oiling
I wipe the stock down with Acetone so the grain isn't lifted as alcohol will do. Now you stain to you're color preference Remembering in WWII they seemed to not stain all the wood and just oiled allot of the stocks early on so you're choice on stain now. Leave it natural if you want true history. I use Chestnut Ridge on Walnut and on Birch Chestnut Ridge and then FIEBING'S Dark Brown leather die some times to get a muddy red color. I Also use brown then FIEBING'S Mahogany on Birch to get reddish/Brown kind of Black Cherry look. Chestnut ridge and others can be put on to darken and also put on after oil is dry and on while refinishing. You should let stains dry 24 hours and 24 hours before you add another color. Be careful not to use the bottle to dip as other color on stock will contaminate the color you are using to top coat. Example if I put Mahogany on then use rag to shake bottle of Chestnut Ridge on rag to top coat for a match the Mahogany will get in to the Chestnut Ridge and slowly ruin the color. Try and get a little cup or something to pour stain into then take it from there for stock.
Now the next day If Stain lifted grain you need to lightly steel wool it down. Using Acetone to clean the wood before you stain is best and will not lift grain. Alcohol used to wipe the wood down will lift the grain. I mix Boiled Linseed oil with 20% Turpentine for a better mix that seems to last a bit more and dry better. I brush or use small piece of rag to put on a coat of Boiled Linseed Oil mix {use gloves then hand cleaner off the oil later when done to clean the gloves if needed I use surgical gloves and still clean off so they don't catch fire}and wait 20-30 minutes then take a old t-shirt and rub the oil off making sure there is no excess anywhere. I rub it to death to buff it in kinda. I repeat this every 24 hours till 5-7 coats are slightly glossy { you cut down later} and even with no dull spots. WARNING hang the rags out and never let them sit balled up on the bench they will self combust and you will burn you're house down. It almost happened to me and I was very lucky. I finished for the night and went up to my office with a stock to get some photos off for a client. About a hour later I was fighting with myself to take the stock back to the shop or leave it until morning in the office. Finally I took it back and set it in a rack outside of the shop and noticed a stock with a repair pin shining and decided to touch it with a dark brown stain pen. I walked in the shop turn on lights and fell warmth then noticed a vapor in the air like steam on hot pavement. I was confused what was going on and then smelled something weird. I looked down to my right on the bench and heard a small whoosh and low pop sound and the rags ignited in a light colored flame. I picked them up and ran to other room and tossed them in the wash tub and rinsed them. If I hadn't gone down there my home would have been lost. You can also wet them and toss them out in the yard till morning but keep them away from house. They make a special can for this purpose if you decide to do this allot.

Final
Now I take 0000steel wool and lightly dull surface with it. Then I take Minwax Furniture Polish for dark colors {light one will stick in grain and look like white paint if you leave it to long}and put two coats of this on and I am done.

Well hope this helps let me know if you have any questions. Thanks Rick B

gunssb · 03-18-2005, 12:37 PM

that was quite exhaustive...thanks

02-27-2005, 10:21 AM	#2
eclancy Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: N. Catasauqua, Pa Posts: 1,338	Stock Doc, Guys I have known Rick for years and his work on stocks is the best work I have ever seen. He knows what he is talking about. Nice Work! http://www.garandm1rifle.com http://www.users.fast.net/~eclancy Thanks again for taking the time and effort to read and reply to this Clancy __________________ http://www.garandm1rifle.com http://www.users.fast.net/~eclancy

03-01-2005, 11:26 AM	#3
Shaun Super Moderator Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Nashville, TN Posts: 8,592 Images: 1	Thanks Rick I never would have thought of GoJo in the first place, I'll leave that one to you -- when I do old Mausers get the lemon oven cleaner out and that has been my tool of choice for many years __________________ "Homeland Security is the responsibility of an armed citizen" ME http://webpages.charter.net/s.s.v/

03-01-2005, 11:59 PM	#6
7mmag6 Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 337 Images: 1	well I did what doc said on my cosmo of my yugo( you know what that crap is like!!) just orange go-jo Waterless, let it dry , rinsed , hit it with tsp very gently, rinsed, presto-chango beutiful stock, looks like it came right off titos work bench, worked like gang busters, old doc is gan noc number 1 __________________ This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine Last edited by 7mmag6; 03-02-2005 at 12:09 AM.

03-10-2005, 08:29 AM	#9
TULAver Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Southeast Texas Posts: 372	It's sad Gyrene but you're probably right about a lot of young people not knowing who Tito was. Sad like the way things went down the toilet when he died. I've always been amazed at how he kept Yugoslavia going, sorta stuck in limbo between Nato and the Warsaw Pact nations, sorta playing both sides. The middle east could really use a Marshall Tito or two right now, I think, but what do I know? But yeah, Tito, Franco, Rommel, even Gorbachev(and many many more) are names that most twenty-somethings today probably couldn't identify. Not saying that about the people here, just in general. Hard to blame them entirely though, I remember in school, about all my history books ever said about the Korean War(for example) was that there WAS one. Elementary school history books numba 10! Numba hocken10! __________________ It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that any people you meet from time to time are merely the product of a deranged imagination. Last edited by TULAver; 03-10-2005 at 08:32 AM.

03-10-2005, 09:53 PM	#11
Stock Doc Moderator Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: North Middle Ohio I see water Posts: 838	Heck Thrawn you are on the topic. The Tito thing got out of hand. Put the Go-Jo on and let it set about 20 minutes then take a old tooth brush and rub it in a bit. Now rinse with warm water while tooth brushing it but make sure you are not to rough and be carefull around any markings. Let it dry and repeat if needed until you have gotten all of the old finish out. Now after it has set a day or two steel wool or sand burs away and use Acetone to wipe it clean. Alcohol will raise the grain but Acetone will clean it out and leave it this way. Stain to color then oil, let set about 30 minutes and rub oil off real good. DO NOT leave the rags laying around as they will self combust if balled up. I put mine in a water can full of water but sometimes hang them to dry over night then toss them once hard. Repeat oiling after at least 24 hours and repeat until you are happy with the look. Hope this helps Rick B President of Cleveland Fiero's www.clevelandfieros.com Cars progress http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/049118.html __________________ If I cant fix it,, It must REALLY be broken!

02-26-2005, 11:42 PM	#1
Chris HMFIC Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: North Carolina Posts: 3,834,168 Images: 19 Blog Entries: 18	GO-JO hand cleaner warning for stocks I have ran into a snag on my method of cleaning as someone has decided after a few they are in the know of stock refinishing now. I need to set this straight before some ruin there wood. 1st a small part of this problem I ran into. Someone I have seen learn something and either run with it like it was there idea or learns something from me then a year later states they always new about this has struck again. This is the only person I have this happen with. This time they stated using gritless GO-JO hand cleaner by putting it on and wiping it off will not remove the color or harm the stock.. This is WRONG. If you do this you have left residue of the hand cleaner in the stock PERIOD. They also do not realize Walnut comes in different colors and if the stock was natural dark it will look like no color was lost. Also the oil in the cleaner is like Murphy's oil soap and leaves a oily residue which makes it hard to oil over properly. Now I use gritless GO-JO and have recommended it for years to anyone wanting to do there own stocks so we know I do not do any of this for my own self wants as I do not need anymore work I swear. I need a break badly. But I am posting a picture below of GO-JO hand cleaner after I rinse the residue off and let dry. This is needed to properly oil it. By the way I have never ruined or lost a cartouche on thousands of stocks so far so I should know what I am doing with hand cleaner by know wouldn't you think? The purpose of this post is to stop anyone from messing around by putting GO-JO on and wiping it off thinking they did something good when in fact they didn't and this person who has just refinished a stock is now a expert at this telling me I am wrong to someoen making $400.00 a hour. Making money doesnt make you right heck look at Donald Trump and how many times he went broke from doing things wrong. Everyone whose stocks I have done knows my results and care is #1 with me. I have spent years doing this and have 25 stocks on my racks at any given time. I try to tweak things and have learned some stocks need Acetone, some Hand cleaner, some TSP and others stripper. The same as each piece of wood needs a different color stain to match things up. I don't even think much about it anymore as I have done it so much. Folks come to my shop and are amazed while watching some of my techniques and wonder how I know this. It has become second nature and fun at that. I want folks to know I will always give instructions to work on your wood and help as much as I can. Ask my wife how many nights I am on the phone helping people or have folks from the forums stop in while in town to se the shop. I am not in this for the business end of it or I would charge 4 times what I barely do and I wouldn't give learned tricks away. So when I state Go_JO hand cleaner will strip the color out like the picture below you better believe it. http://images.andale.com/f2/115/106/...loatstock2.JPG In this picture the 3 on the left are gritless GO-JO hand cleanered and the others are in various stages of oiling. http://images.andale.com/f2/115/106/...tonostock2.JPG __________________ Rules \| Contributing Members No one has the right to deny my personal safety Please be descriptive in your thread titles! Last edited by Chris; 12-05-2007 at 01:10 PM.

03-01-2005, 08:33 PM	#4
Dookiebutt Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: America's North Coast Posts: 1,163	Some people never consider the source of the advice. Just beacuse I changed a tire once doesn't make me a mechanic. Same with the guy who "refinished" a stock once. Rick speaks from years of experience with many, many stocks. I think he knows what works and what doesn't.

03-01-2005, 08:38 PM	#5
Dookiebutt Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: America's North Coast Posts: 1,163	BTW: You may have noticed how carefully those photos were cropped so as to not show Rick's children working in that sweat-shop of a workshop where "he" turns out those beauties. "Their little fingers get into all the nooks and crannies so much better than mine" said Rick B. to me as he passed me another ice-cold beer. HAHAHAHAHA!

03-02-2005, 12:24 AM	#7
Gyrene Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: CA Posts: 886	7mmag6 - Some of these youngsters may not know who Tito was. He was the leader of Post WWII Yugoslavia (having been one of the main Resistance Leaders against the Germans), and through force and persuasion was able to keep the Bosnians, Serbs, and Croats from fighting. They never forgot their HATE and . . ., but they waited until Tito died to attack each other. He was seen as a Pro-Westerner by the Communist Bloc; yet he was seen as a part of the Communist Bloc by the Western Nations (the Free World). I always believed that had Tito decided to become friendly with NATO, Russia (the old USSR) would have invaded Yugoslavia to keep Tito in line, much as they had done in Hungary in 1956. The Soviet tanks rolled through the streets of Budapest, killing anyone who looked as though he was a threat to them. This was one of the first really visible uses of the famed "Molotov Cocktail", as Freedom Fighters were seen throwing them onto the Soviet Tanks (in movie clips, on TV), where they would spread fire all over the top of the tank as the burning gasoline splashed around. `

03-02-2005, 12:33 AM	#8
gunssb Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: socal Posts: 1,833	yup - I know about Tito. Wasn't he supposed to be "non-aligned" (but was commie leaning under the table). I have a few glass bottles, rags and gasoline handy to delay the gun grabber mob

03-10-2005, 06:44 PM	#10
Thrawn Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Okeefenokee Posts: 1,618 Images: 6	Do you just let the GO-JO sit for a while or do you rub with a towel? I'm also finishing a stock with BLO how many coats should I expect? Sorry to get a little off topic.

03-10-2005, 10:58 PM	#12
Thrawn Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Okeefenokee Posts: 1,618 Images: 6	Thanks!:cheer: :right:

03-10-2005, 11:00 PM	#13
Thrawn Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Okeefenokee Posts: 1,618 Images: 6	BTW, was'nt Tito one of the Jackson five? I got one of his Mausers.:right:

03-11-2005, 10:18 AM	#14
eclancy Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: N. Catasauqua, Pa Posts: 1,338	Hi all, Where can you buy Go-Jo Thanks Clancy __________________ http://www.garandm1rifle.com http://www.users.fast.net/~eclancy

03-11-2005, 04:03 PM	#15
jimb2 Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 513	I usually get it at the auto parts places. But be careful. most places only carry the stuff with pumice. __________________ I am a nobody. Nobody is perfect. Therefore, I am perfect...

03-17-2005, 10:45 AM	#16
ltcboy Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Chicagoland area Posts: 496	Did Tito use GoJo on His stocks? __________________ Up Bin Laden's ***!

03-17-2005, 07:13 PM	#17
Oxford Super Moderator Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Gladstone, Missouri Posts: 13,023 Blog Entries: 4	Stock Doc...have you fully recovered from the physical problems you had during the past year or so? Last I remember you were trying to get your heath back. Can't remember for sure what the problem was, though. Regardless, I'm glad you're back and doing your thing again. :nod: Heck...it seems you're the only person who even comes close to being the guru for refinishing gun stocks. :right: Ox __________________ "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right".

03-17-2005, 07:20 PM	#18
gunssb Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: socal Posts: 1,833	Stock Doc, do you have a website or book to recommend to someone who has no prior experience but wants to refinish an old stock - say a K98. All you guys with experience should write books or write it down somewhere so that the information is not lost :right:

03-18-2005, 11:44 AM	#19
Stock Doc Moderator Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: North Middle Ohio I see water Posts: 838	Oxford I have recovered from Shoulder surgery and the other things like my hand were not added to the list at this time so I am doing ok for now. I started taking work in but have been hit hard with stocks and other things so it is slow going at this time. Gunssb here is a bit of insturctions that should help I hope. Rick B Wood Stripping Ok here it is. First I get a hold of E-Z-GO hand cleaner or GO-JO which is waterless and gritless. Most probably any will do. I rub it on stock in sink of course and then let it set for about 15-30 minutes depending on amount of dirt and if markings are on stock. Now I take and rub on a hand full more then take a tooth brush and rub it but not real hard near edges and cartouches. I rinse with warm water again careful around markings incase there weak.Use the tooth brush to brush off hand cleaner while rinsing. I use Bix Stripper and follow instructions on can for harder finishes,, and TSP { Trisodium Phosphate} after, if it is dark and stained or if the stocks is heavy oil still, use Trisodium Phosphate and make a watery paste out of it then tooth brush it on. Wait 10 minutes and rub some water on with the tooth brush to make sure it doesn't dry on stock. Now wait about 5-10 minutes and rinse you will see the dirt still but after it dries you will be amazed. You can repeat this method until happy but again be careful if there are Cartouches Steaming out dents Now you can steam if wanted I use a bucket of water ,a rag and a iron with steam cycle. I soak the rag and lay it on stock dents then iron it until steam stops or water is out of rag. I fold the rag sometimes to hold more water and the steam last longer. This is a hit or miss thing it may take days of this to see results. Most times it just lightens them up. Now sand lightly with 100 or 120 but lightly to not put big scratches in the stock when happy with this Then take 220 and lightly sand the whole stock in direction of grain and periodically use 0000steel wool to smooth it out and see scratches that need to be 220 out. When happy with this steel wool the whole stock until smooth . { NOTE} Some stocks especially IHC and Winchester are known to have heavy sand marks in the wood hand guard especially. This under no circumstances should be removed and only steel wooled lightly. Heck it make you're job easier. The collectors value is allot higher on a unsanded marked up fat stock over a smooth skinny one trust me. Keep in mind the very early Winchester stocks were hand carved because the lathe was not finished for them so they inletted them and carved the final. I have one of these and it is a exceptional piece with a No-Trap butt without the hinge cut out. Dust removal, staining and oiling I wipe the stock down with Acetone so the grain isn't lifted as alcohol will do. Now you stain to you're color preference Remembering in WWII they seemed to not stain all the wood and just oiled allot of the stocks early on so you're choice on stain now. Leave it natural if you want true history. I use Chestnut Ridge on Walnut and on Birch Chestnut Ridge and then FIEBING'S Dark Brown leather die some times to get a muddy red color. I Also use brown then FIEBING'S Mahogany on Birch to get reddish/Brown kind of Black Cherry look. Chestnut ridge and others can be put on to darken and also put on after oil is dry and on while refinishing. You should let stains dry 24 hours and 24 hours before you add another color. Be careful not to use the bottle to dip as other color on stock will contaminate the color you are using to top coat. Example if I put Mahogany on then use rag to shake bottle of Chestnut Ridge on rag to top coat for a match the Mahogany will get in to the Chestnut Ridge and slowly ruin the color. Try and get a little cup or something to pour stain into then take it from there for stock. Now the next day If Stain lifted grain you need to lightly steel wool it down. Using Acetone to clean the wood before you stain is best and will not lift grain. Alcohol used to wipe the wood down will lift the grain. I mix Boiled Linseed oil with 20% Turpentine for a better mix that seems to last a bit more and dry better. I brush or use small piece of rag to put on a coat of Boiled Linseed Oil mix {use gloves then hand cleaner off the oil later when done to clean the gloves if needed I use surgical gloves and still clean off so they don't catch fire}and wait 20-30 minutes then take a old t-shirt and rub the oil off making sure there is no excess anywhere. I rub it to death to buff it in kinda. I repeat this every 24 hours till 5-7 coats are slightly glossy { you cut down later} and even with no dull spots. WARNING hang the rags out and never let them sit balled up on the bench they will self combust and you will burn you're house down. It almost happened to me and I was very lucky. I finished for the night and went up to my office with a stock to get some photos off for a client. About a hour later I was fighting with myself to take the stock back to the shop or leave it until morning in the office. Finally I took it back and set it in a rack outside of the shop and noticed a stock with a repair pin shining and decided to touch it with a dark brown stain pen. I walked in the shop turn on lights and fell warmth then noticed a vapor in the air like steam on hot pavement. I was confused what was going on and then smelled something weird. I looked down to my right on the bench and heard a small whoosh and low pop sound and the rags ignited in a light colored flame. I picked them up and ran to other room and tossed them in the wash tub and rinsed them. If I hadn't gone down there my home would have been lost. You can also wet them and toss them out in the yard till morning but keep them away from house. They make a special can for this purpose if you decide to do this allot. Final Now I take 0000steel wool and lightly dull surface with it. Then I take Minwax Furniture Polish for dark colors {light one will stick in grain and look like white paint if you leave it to long}and put two coats of this on and I am done. Well hope this helps let me know if you have any questions. Thanks Rick B __________________ If I cant fix it,, It must REALLY be broken!

03-18-2005, 12:37 PM	#20
gunssb Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: socal Posts: 1,833	that was quite exhaustive...thanks