Oil on the Stock

[jdixon]

Got a buddy who is asking me about getting an oil stain out of an unfinished maple stock. The oil was cutting oil from the touch-hole drilling operation. The stock is largely finished, may have some relief carving left but that is all. Question is, is there anything anyone can suggest which will remove the oil stain from the wood, or is it best just to leave the stain?

 

[bioprof]

It's a little late now, but I always take the barrel out of the stock and pull the breech plug before I drill the touch hole. That way I can but the barrel in a vise to hold it steady and avoid hitting the breech plug with the drill. If that happens, the drill bit can be deflected causing an egg shape hole. This means that threads will be thinner on one side which can create a dangerous situation.

That's all water under the bridge however. Unless there is a lot of oil, I wouldn't worry about it. If you use an alcohol stain or aquafortis, a small amount of oil shouldn't affect the staining. If there's a lot of oil, I suppose you could lay the stock on some absorbant blotting paper or floor dry, but I don't think it would be a problem.

 

[Stophel]

You can carefully heat the area with a heat gun, or even a hair dryer, which will bubble the oil up, and put "whiting" (which is just lime) on it to absorb the oil out. Heck, flour would probably work, anything to absorb the oil. Do that, brush it off, do it again, and keep doing that for a while, and you can get a fair amount of the oil out. Afterwards, a heavy solvent like Strypeze or Zip Strip can help lift what's left of the oil out, but you'll never get all of it out.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Try using alcohol to dissolve the oil, and make it easier to lift out of the wood with paper towels, flour, clean dry cloth rags, etc.

Then use Acetone on the wood to get the rest out. Its nasty stuff you don't want to breath, so do this outside, or in a very well ventilated area, but the stuff pulls amazing amounts of oil finish, filler, and crud out of wood stocks I have refinished in the past. Since this sounds like a recent " spill " the oil is probably not that deep in the wood. NO?

 

[jdixon]

Thanks for the ideas. As I understand what happened cutting oil somehow spilled on the stock and sat there for a while. Suspicion is his cat knocked the bottle over. Anyway, the gun is one this guy started at one of the NMLRA gunsmithing seminars under Hershel Houses' instruction. It was coming along beatifully then this happened. I have already sent your ideas along to him. Thanks again, hope they work out for him (and I hope in the future he keeps the oil bottles in a safe place.