What are the solutions, techniques, people like to use to extract old gun oil from the head of a stock, and inletting, that does not involve refinishing the stock?

I have done plenty that needed refinishing by stripping, and a lengthy acetone soak, but when a refinish is not needed, what's the procedure?

Thank you.

I have had a decent success with just placing the stock under a 200 watt shop lamp and putting whiting on the inletting to soak up the oil that will seep out. Takes a long time and you will not be able to remove all of it. But it helps.

You could place it in a micro wave with paper towels and you will be surprised at how much oil and how fast the oil comes bubbling out.

It sure will! But you have to be very careful when using this process. I was repeatedly microwaving forearm wood from an Ithaca Flues several years ago, and was amazed at how much oil was being absorbed by the toilet paper I had used to wrap it. I kept wrapping it in fresh paper, and zapping it some more, and the wood was getting very hot. Then I heard a fairly distinct crack from within the microwave, and found that my forearm had split lengthwise. Further cleaning with solvent removed enough oil that I was then able to glue the clean split, and it was all but undetectable. A happy ending, but it created extra work , and could have been avoided by just going slower and not letting the wood overheat.

You are smart to try to avoid the use of harsh solvents. They do remove original finish, and no matter what anyone says, organic solvents do degrade the cellular structure of the wood. Of course, so does the oil, but it is still best to minimize the use of solvents.

Keith,

Thanks for posting going slow with the microwave. That will keep me (hopefully) from some extra work. I'm trying not ot use the acetone as much as I used to.

Jack K

Make sure there isn't any metal in the wood before microwaving it. Personally I wouldn't be comfortable using a microwave for this purpose.

I do not believe that my microwave is large enough for a buttstock.

I am sure I have suggested before using a electrically heated gardeners seed propagator along the lines of the one in the photographs. They get hot enough to make the oil flow too the wood's surface though not hot enough to cause any heat damage to the wood. I prefer to surround the stock with cat litter to absorb the oil coming out of the stock though toilet tissue works well also kitchen paper towel, changing the most oil soaked litter or tissue as necessary. This method is not fast but it is extremely thorough I have left really bad cases in the propagator for four months with no problems.

That is awesome. What brand and model is that one? I want to give it a try. Thanks for sharing.

Has anyone tried a vacuum chamber of some kind?

I took an old martini Henry to Albuquerque a few years back when I visited a relative. Gun was dry when we arrived, but after a few days indoors at 6000 ft of elevation, it was sweating oil.

Not much of a pressure change, but some and no significant temperature swing, but oil was coming out of the wood.

Just a thought.

Travis. This propagator is some 40 plus years old it came with the gardener I married. Though on this side of the pond we Brits are a race of gardeners and heated propagators are available at every garden centre. In your case ebay do seem to have a number for sale so a look there will help you. As for the propagator they are usually between 60 and 100 watts available in many sizes.
Ahall. Yes I have tried a vacuum method to remove oil from a gun stock it is possibly the quickest safest and best method of all. The unit I used was built for use in a production line to impregnate high voltage transformer windings with an insulating resin working the opposite way around with the transformer placed in the tank of resin then the vacuum applied removing the air from the transformer windings then the vacuum was removed slowly with the resin now being drawn into all the spaces. In a period of down time I placed a oil saturated gun stock in the vacuum chamber applied the vacuum and the oil poured out. I did think of building a unit to do it BUT! To produce a good workable vacuum the cost of a two stage high vacuum pump made it impractical, at the time about £800. The chamber to place the gun stock in could be constructed out of 1/2 inch Aluminium plate and bolted together using rubber sheet as gasket material. The chamber construction has to be capable of holding the vacuum ideally permanently because continuous running of the pump will shorten its life rapidly. In short I did it a number of times using a commercial unit and it worked like a dream but to construct a high vacuum chamber is not cheap on this side of the pond. Should have also said that some form of heating is required for the vacuum chamber to get the oil to flow easily though this being the easiest thing to do.

Many thanks.