doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Oil stains & Whitting - need advice

Okay,

I must be doing something wrong, because whenever I try to remove oil stains with whitting compound all I do is get white stuff everywhere. What an I doing wrong? I follow Brownell's directions and I just make a mess. Usually resort to bleach after it fails.

Redoing a nice LC with lots of oil.

Please help

Jerry

Jerry, Whitting only removes the oil not the stain.

It seems to leave a white mess every time I use it.

Jerry

You will get the white stuff everywhere, no way to avoid that.
I mix the whiting powder with cheap rubbing alcohol to make a paste about the consistancy of mayo. Mix it up in a small jar that you can cap. Paint it on the stock with a small paint brush. It shouldn't run, but stick pretty much where you put it. It'll dry in a few minutes.
If you mix it up with acetone, it drys too quickly and crumbles off the wood as you try to build up the stuff.

Once you've got a coating built up where you want it, hang the wood somewhere and forget it for a few days and let the stuff soak up the oil. Don't mess with it after it drys as it's fragile and will crumble off the surface if you handle it. Just leave it alone and let it work.
It'll turn brown. Then it's time to scrubb the whiting off with a toothbrush. I do it over a trashcan outside. The dust is terrible and will get all over.
Recoat it again. Use the old stuff in the jar,,add some more powder and alcohol to it to mix it up again.

After the final time, I wash down the wood with warm water and the brush. You'll have to pick some of the whiting out of the corners of inletting but it comes right out.

I then bleach the wood with 'wood bleach',,,not laundry bleach,,.
Get it in crystal form in the home depot type store in the paint and stain dept. Comes in a plastic container usually. It's oxalic acid actually I think.
Mix up a few table spoons in a quart jar of water. Warm that up in the micro wave for 30seconds or so. While the stock is still wet from the washing you gave it to clean it of the whiting powder, brush the warm 'wood bleach' solution onto the wood and it'll lighten the wood and remove the stains at the same time.

It really evens up the color and gives a very nice base to start a finish from. Rinse the wood after using the wood bleach and blot the wood dry. Hang it again and let it dry for a day or two. Careful with it when it's wet as it will dent and bruise easily.

Some people quick dry it with a torch but I just let it dry on it's own. A torch will raise the grain if that's of an advantage at that point though. Careful you don't scorch the edges with a torch.

The wood bleach will sting your hands pretty good so you might want to wear gloves. Definetly some eye protection.

Whiting isn't fast but it does work. I usually do other work while the stock(s) are going through the whiting process. Otherwise it's like watching grass grow.

Kutter,

I guess I am on the right path, because what you describe is similar to what I do,. I use liquid bleach. I guess I am a bit messy er and a bit more impatient.

Jerry

MEK is far superior as a solvent for mixing with the whiting. It is at least as good as acetone but evaporates considerably slower. Alcohol is not very good, as petroleum based oils have limited solubility in alcohol while MEK has no such limitations.

OB

What is MEK and where is it sold ?

Methyl Ethel Keytone

http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/m4628.htm

http://www.pemro.com/items.asp?Cc=CHEMHP

MEK can react with most oxidizing materials, and can produce fires. It is moderately explosive; it requires only a small flame or spark to cause a vigorous reaction. MEK fires should be extinguished with carbon dioxide, dry chemicals or alcohol foam. Concentrations in the air high enough to be flammable are also intolerable to humans due to the irritating nature of the vapour

The type of solvent you use to mix up the whiting has little to do with how effective the process procedes.

The effect of acetone, or MEK, or any solvent in pulling out some of the surface oil in the few moments it exists before evaporation in the mixture is so temporary, it makes little difference in the overall process. Each whiting coating will sit on the wood for a couple of days doing it's work. That solvent and any good it'll do for the process is gone before I can hang the stock on a handy rafter hook.

And so it is also with the alcohol. It is there to make a paste to apply and then evaporate to leave a hard coating of whiting on the wood surface.
The hazards of continuous handling of solvents like acetone, MEK, etc. should be avoided too in my opinion.

Alcohol works nicely because it gives you a decent working time with the paste before it hardens up. You can build up a coating that won't crumble while you're applying it. Plus it's cheap and reletively safe compared to the others.

But everyone has their own way of doing things..this just happens to be mine.

Would there be any value in adding a heat lamp to the stock with the whiting "crust" ?