I know this may have been discussed before, but what is the best way to strip a 100 year old stock finish? There does not seem to be much oil in the head near receiver, looks walnut colored, and the original oil is worn thin. Should I first use citri-strip and if need soak the stock in acetone

As usual,

Thanks

This should start some interesting discussion. I think the answer you're going to get is that you should not completely strip the stock at all unless absolutely necessary.

That depends of course on what you're after. What kind of gun is it?

Here's an article by Dig Haddock that might give you some guidance. https://www.pressreader.com/uk/sporting-shooter/20170801/281599535512688

I'm a newcomer to stock refinishing, and what I've discovered most clearly is that there are many opinions on how things are done...

What I have done, in order to do the least amount of damage and removal of too much stain, is use steel wool and rubbing alcohol. You just wet the steel wool, rub the stock and wipe off the grime and old oil with a paper towel. It works very well if you just want to do a sympathetic restoration.
This was advice from Dig that I read somewhere as well.

The wood has nice figure, for a lower grade, but it is near to impossible to see as the old finish or maybe dirt hides it. I,ll go the path of least resistance as per above, first and see what surfaces from the grime.

Thanks for the posting.

Seems like Dig has updated his website and I can't find the original article, but I did save a copy a year ago or so. Here's what he had to say about finish removal:

"Before you start the stock, clean out the checkering.
Do this with a brass wire brush and steel wool. Soak the steel wool in surgical spirit and dab onto the checkering. Rub a little then clean gently with the brass brush, following the line of the checkering. Repeat the process until the dirt is all removed. A surprising amount of dirt will come out of the checkering and it will look and feel much sharper. A stock that looks like it needs re-checkering is often just clogged with palm grease and can be refreshed simply in the manner described above. An alternative, perhaps gentler, method is to use a paint stripper such as Polystrippa and a camel-hair paint brush.

Now clean off all the old finish.
Once your checkering is cleaned out, begin to take all the years of grime off your stock by applying surgical spirit to a medium fine grade of wire wool and rubbing back and forth. Soon, a dirty scum will begin to lift from the stock, as it does, wipe it off with the kitchen roll before it sets. Apply more surgical spirit and continue until no more dirt will lift off.
Now allow the stock to dry. Then rub it all over with kitchen roll and then fine wire wool until the wool is not lifting any more dirt. This early preparation will make the papering stage faster and easier, as there will be less to clog the paper in the early stages. If you have left finish and dirt behind it will be clear to you when you start papering, as the paper will get filled up with a shiny wax polish type of sheen very quickly. If that happens, go back to wire wool and surgical spirit or scrape very gently with a new Stanley knife blade. Be sure to remove only dirt, not wood with the blade."

I popped over and read Haddock's article. His traditional home brewed finish is actually the recipe taken from James V Howe's, "Modern Gunsmith" published in 1938. Howe also has three more variants of this BLO based finish that add increasing amount of Japan dryer. I have used this many times but only as a 'refresher' coat over an existing clean 100 year old oil finish that is most likely BLO based.

Jim,

Do I assume “surgical spirit” is 70 or 90% rubbing alcohol? The checkering is in very good condition for a gun from the 1880s but I,ll follow the instructions above and clean with a brass wire brush first.

I saw Digs formula on the old web site and brewed up a batch along with the recipe Ernie/Damascus posted above. I ordered the material via eBay and Amazon along with alkanet, which is steeping in BLO, for the time being. Will see what happens when I get to that stage of the process.

Many thanks all

My understanding is that in the UK, surgical spirit is the name used for what americans call rubbing alcohol. Unfortunately, that can be ethanol, methanol, or isopropyl alcohol. So the question remains somewhat.

I read somewhere that folks will even use everclear which is 90% ethanol, i believe. I ended up buying ethanol based rubbing alcohol.

The picture in Dig's article on his website shows what he's referring to which is Care's Surgical Spirits. According to Amazon, that is 90% methanol.


Care 200ml Surgical Spirit https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0014IW3WK/ref=cm_sw_r_em_apa_i_7MeuEb594S1TP

I found some 190 proof denatured in the garage, at least 15 years old, not sure it can still be purchased, and used that with both 4-0 and 1-0 steel wool. Work well: The dirt and grime floated off revealing nice fiddle and mineral stripes and some shading hidden under 100 years of use. I,ll let it dry for a day or so then steam out the dents. It does not look like it was treated with alkanet oil, no reddish-brown tint, then again I am too inexperienced to say for sure. It is smooth and the checkering cleaned up well with a stif tooth and brass brush. A good learning experience.

Post some pictures when you get a chance

I am in the middle of several stock de-oiling and re-finish projects.

In the beginning I was acetone heavy but at this point I am using Citri-strip to initially remove finish and rarely pull out the acetone.

I know there are many ways to skin a cat but has anyone found any disadvantage or the Citri-strip or is there just a generally accepted better way?

Acetone is just harsh and expensive.

Thanks

I use Citristrip but When done I wash the stock in hot water and Dawn dish soap. Scrubbing the checkering with a stiff nylon brush . The hot soapy water clean the stock nicely and raises dents.

I follow up the freshly stripped stock with hat water rinse and then a spray of foaming "Crud cutter" doing its thing for 5-7 mins and then another hot rinse and one more application of the Crud Cutter. I Rinse off again and then let dry to evaluate what de-oiling and repair effort may be next in line. Probably does about the same with the dawn rinse. I have to say the foaming Crud cutter does a yeoman's job of this first step cleaning.

So far I have not noticed any ill effects but I also have not gotten past the de-oil and repairs on any but a couple stocks. I am just starting to re-apply finish on those.

I am taking plenty of pics so I will eventually report with pics.

I just removed most of the finish of a 1920 era LC Smith field grade stock with nothing but denatured alcohol and a cotton reg. Left most of the stain. Varnish was all flakey and wrinkely but clean it up pretty good.

What this means is that the finish was not varnish. Denatured alcohol won't remove varnish. What you removed was almost certainly a shellac finish. Old shellac often gets flaky and wrinkled. Your alcohol dissolved the old alligatored shellac and some of the thinned shellac probably went into the wood.

I also found a shellac finish on a 1920's 16 ga. L.C. Smith Field Grade gun that I picked up at a gun show. The stock looked like crap, which certainly contributed to the low price. This finish was easily removed with alcohol, right down to the wood. There did not seem to be any other finish underneath, so this makes me wonder if Hunter Arms didn't use shellac on some of their guns, because it didn't appear that the gun had ever been refinished. I also bought a Baker double that had a very alligatored finish. I was sure it was refinished with shellac, as it was even slopped onto the metal. I removed it with denatured alcohol, and found that the original stock finish underneath was still intact and in good shape.

yes the wood on this stock is really nice and the finish came off pretty easy it's going to be a really easy refinish no cracks no dark oil spots straight forward just refinish