advise on cleanig old wood on english S/S

[Ballie]

I have just bought myself an very old William powell S/S a very nice gun indeed.

 

However it does need some TLC, some of the work I feel I can do myself before I give it to a gunsmith for some re bluing and stock lengthening.

 

The forend is very black in colour which I think is just years of sweaty dirty hands does anyone know the best way to clean this dirt off so that I can get it back to the walnut and re-oil it.

 

Thanks

[Soulboy]

Turpentine finest quality mineral or gun turpentine and a brass wire suede brush should do the trick,plenty of it,scrub all the muck off/out of the chequering,wipe the dirt off with paper towel as it comes out.

 

Leave it to dry out for a day or so and you should have a lighter colour,if not repeat above.

 

Hope that helps.

[henry d]

Occaisionally with older guns the blackening can be years of over vealous oiling and if you leave it in a warm, I repeat....WARM, place the oil will slowly weep out of it. If it comes clean the way soulboy says you will save a lot of time as the oil is a swine to get out if it is heavily soaked.

[mry716]

My method is a little more drastic but usually 100% successful. The only time I find problems is when there are cracks in the wood. Cracks open with heat and need special treatment so PM me for specifics if you find your woodwork is cracked.

 

So what do I do?

 

Before you sand the wood take an oatmeal (breakfast cereal dish) full of methylated spirits and a 1†paintbrush. Using an electric heat gun …quot; the sort like a powerful hairdryer …quot; and holding the one end of the wood heat the other slowly until the oil oozes. Keep the hot air moving so as not to char the wood but heat to quite hot. When there is oil on the surface hold over the oatmeal and wash off with the brush and plenty of meths. Keep heating and washing until no more oil shows. Don’t worry if the surface looks a tiny bit scorched (and I mean just a little) as it will come off with a light sanding.

 

Now do take care when washing as the wood can get hot enough to ignite the meths.

 

If it does DON’T PANIC.

 

You are then unlikely to hurt yourself or the wood. First smother the wood …quot; that’s the important part - then put it down and using your other hand smother the burning hand. Then smother the bowel of meths if alight. Meths tends to burn gently on the surface with a partially visible flame so rarely actually burns your skin or even hurts. Screaming, jumping up and dancing about can easily tip up the bowl, set fire to your house and then you end up with an even darker woodwork than you started with …quot; charcoal black. I keep a couple of damp tea towels to hand just in case and although I have set fire to myself on various occasions have yet to be hurt or damage anything.

 

The reason I make such a point is so you know of possible consequences and DON’T PANIC if you do set things on fire. It is not a big deal …quot; really.

 

Now, next day soak the fore end in a tin or dish full of ‘Panel Wipe’ for 5-10 mins. Panel Wipe is the degreaser used by car body shops to clean the paintwork before spraying and costs about £10 per gal. Do not use this instead of meths at the heatingt stage as this WILL burn you and everything else …quot; its better at it than petrol.

 

The stock ‘head’ can be easily soaked in a jamjar up to the comb which is usually the only area where oil has darkened the wood.

 

When taken out and left to dry for 10 mins it will look white. A light sanding will remove this and any browness from the heating. Recut the checkering and refinish. I tend to use a pine colour stain as the walnut is often too dark on such wood and you should be able to pick up a 12 bottle sample kit of colours for about £10. These will each do at least 2 stocks and forends with each colour so with 12 colours to choose from are a super buy.

 

Hope this helps but if you need more specific detail feel free to pm me.

 

M