Oiling old woodwork

[charliemow13]

I'm tidying up an old stock for a friend and around the top of the grip, where the back of action sits in the wood, theres quite a lot of staining. I think this is because this is an area where the grain is open and its let oil or sweat soak in over the years.

Does anyone know if this is likely to cause any issues when I oil the stock? It's back to original wood, all the old finish is gone and it looks really tidy apart from some visible staining in this area. Everytime I've passed over this area its clogged the sandpaper up so obviously quite well soaked over the years. I dont want to try and rub it out as that's going to alter the shape of the stock. Getting ready for a good rub down with fine wool and thought I'd ask advice on here before I starting applying coats of oil only to find it's going to look horrible in that area.

[derekm]

Try using a very warm iron over 3 or 4 layers of kitchen paper to absorb the oil/sweat.

[charliemow13]

Cheers for that tip. Will give that a go this weekend.

[evert]

Its been called "chemical rot" by gunsmiths here in Norway, with an explanation that the mineral oils used on the action and metal reacts with the wood and causes this darkening of the wood.

[isobar]

in my experience it is very difficult to remove soaked in mineral oil from a stock,it goes deep into the open grain leaving black staining.removing the top layer with heat or solvents is easy enough but the deeper stuff seems to come back to the surface.i'm not going to recommend it but i have run stocks through the dishwasher,very harsh way to treat a stock which could go wrong for obvious reasons.forget wood bleaches,they're a waste of money

[evert]

..... i have run stocks through the dishwasher,very harsh way to treat a stock which could go wrong for obvious reasons....