I'm currently working on refurbishing a flood damaged Lee Enfield No. 5. The gun overall is not in that bad of condition, it was in the water long, but it has these areas where finish has seemingly bubbles up and leeched out and formed black oxidized crust. I'm more a metal guy than a wood guy. What would be the least invasive way to remove this? Obvious I don't want to sand or remove wood, any markings or cartouches. Should I use varnish stripper and a scraper then refinish the gun with boiled linseed oil (which seems to be the correct finish but I need to delve into more research because they may have blended it with other ingredients)? I'd rather preserve the aged look as much possible.
Also, I'm going to put it through the typical conservation process to stop the rust, but the original Suncorite finish is unlikely to survive the process. I may have to re parkerize and completely refurbish it. There's a few suggestions online about paints that approximate it well, but I wanted to see if any gunsmiths or autists here had any useful input?
Currently binging Mark Novak stock videos.
send it
Lay some rags over the stock and steam it with an iron, this will pull the oil along with dirt out of the pores, then you can lightly buff with 0000 steel wool and use boiled linseed oil
Was considering testing that. I'm already going to be steaming the dents out.
Another method I forgot to mention is you can use a slurry of calcium carbonate and acetone, once it's been slathered and it's dried you can brush it off. This method may lead to some bleaching. I'd also take care to inspect the recoil facing area in the rear of the forestock if it's loose recoil will eventually wreck it
you can also just soak it in acetone
I want avoid bleaching. I don't want to make it brand new. I like honest look of old milsurps where the parts that get handled more are darker, I just want to remove the oxidized linseed oil off the surface without leeching too deep into the wood. If I have to use acetone, I will.
I'm no expert, but I imagine it'd be something similar to this process. Sand/scrape that shit off, then oil it often. I've hear it's supposed to get oiled once a day for a week, once a week for a month, once a month for a year, then once a year for the rest of the life of the stock.
>Sand
No, bubba no.
I did every 3 days when I did other guns.
The finish is boiled linseed oil.
It's a combination of boiled linseed oil, hand oil that has reached the surface. I know there's videos out there explaining it and how to remove it. It has just been so long, I don't remember where I saw it.
The original finish would have been blond in color. BLO oxidizes as it ages. The goal is not to make it new. The goal is to remove the sticky crusty mess on the surface without damaging the wood, and ideally not removing the oil under the surface of the wood. Then hand rub a few fresh layers of BLO.
Was watching that one earlier, will definitely be making the scraper. I already know it works because I used it on another project.
No sandpaper
I think its midway or some video with two old fudds that made a video and they show how to get rid of those ol stains. Might have been on a shotgun video!
https://www.youtube.com/@midwayusa/videos
>The finish is boiled linseed oil.
Are you sure its wood+oil and not pigmented wood that got oiled?
denatured alcohol and elbow grease
you can typically use a UV light the check progress
then danish oil to finish
If it's original wood don't do anything, you will only make it worse.
Don't do anything honestly. I don't think that darkness is due to flood; you'd see water lines and nastiness. I'm not sure what that dark and rough surface is honestly. But if you just remove that you'll never color match it to the surrounding wood; just trust me anon. If you really want to do some good, remove the rifle from the stock and look inside the channel for the barrel and receiver and the butt storage (if any). If it really got wet, it will have white fuzzy mold which should be brushed with diluted bleach to prevent your stock going moldy and possibly spread. Mold can go very dormant for long amounts of time.
Backyard Ballistics (an Italian armorer occasionally doing contract weapon forensics work) has a bunch of videos on restoring badly damaged weapons.
He also built some ghetto gyrojet ammo.
scotchbrite + soapy water
scotchbrite + acetone
scotchbrite + naptha
heat gun + scraper
start from bottom and work your way up. if it’s mold or mildew you honestly need to remove all of the finish and treat the wood. if you put a finish over the top of live damage it will just get worse over time. naptha and heat gun will likely dry out the wood and kill anything growing in there
Sand it down to the wood and then revarnish it.
If it's linseed oil rather than varnish then still stand it down to the wood and then apply the oil. Keep on applying coats of oil until the wood stops absorbing it.