What oil/wax/polish to use on an old M39 stock?

[karlb1025]

Hi guys. I have a little downtime and wanted to clean up that M39 I picked up a little while ago. (still have no range report, but the snow is melting so should be coming soon) Just wondering what oil or polish rouse on that gorgeous arctic birch to not only protect it, but make that wood grain pop. Also, any recommendations on the rest of the metal? This is my first "old" gun so any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

Brandon

[qz2026]

Old English Lemon Oil - can get at Wal-Mart. With the metal after cleaning I just put a light coat of CLP on it.

[bunkysdad]

Well Brandon, I use Lemon oil that Is found in the furniture Polish section at Walmart. It treats the wood, and doesn't alter anything and smells good too. Lately though I have been cleaning and oiling my rifles with Ballistol (smells like licorice) and was really surprised that it works well on the metal and wood. It leaves a shiny oily coat that makes for nice picture taking. Kind of expensive compared to the lemon oil.

[jimpierce7]

not wanting to high jack the thread but along the same line, when I finish cleaning after a trip to the range I wipe down the whole rifle with my oil rag. Lightly coated with Hops. That ok? It seems to just let the whole gun shine. But the wood usually soaks it up.

[Bugelson]

not wanting to high jack the thread but along the same line, when I finish cleaning after a trip to the range I wipe down the whole rifle with my oil rag. Lightly coated with Hops. That ok? It seems to just let the whole gun shine. But the wood usually soaks it up.

All mineral oils will eventually rot the wood. It will take a long long time but it will. Do not mess with gun oils. Plus as I have understood also your typical lemon oil is mineral oil with scent...not good.

Only linseed based etc. bio-oils are good for stocks. Ballistol is semi harmless I think as it is one kind of bio-oil too.

But why would you guys treat your stocs anyway in a first place? There is no reason for that.

[qz2026]

I agree generally... Keep the solvents away from the wood though. Linseed oil is a finish - don't use it on your Milsurps.

[millman]

I generally don't anything to them. They have been fine for many decades, and I don't think sitting in the safe is gonna hurt them.

[Joeinthehills]

I used the pine tar mixture from thomas@thegunstockdoctor.com

To restore my M27 from a poly finish (no pun intended) using my M28 as a guide on what it should have looked like when it left Finland.

The Finn's are still using it to treat their Birch wood skies, and I thought everybody used composite material skies...

It has a funny kind of smell like a barbecue pit aroma to it, I guess it's the pine tar.

[Junk Yard Dog]

I use lemon oil for taking pics and such, but otherwise I just leave the stocks alone, they do not need help.

[martin08]

Ambient air between 55 and 75 degrees, and 35-40% humidity. Everything else is an additive to a stock that is just fine without outside help.

[bunkysdad]

Spoken like a true HVAC man.

[jimpierce7]

See now, I wasn't seeing it as helping the stock or even really conditioning it for that matter. I was cleaning it I guess. It was an auto pilot thing from the way back days when I was a kid. This is why I need to not be scared to ask questions I think are too simple to ask. Life long problem there. That silicon rag thing that came with the cleaning kit will be used for the bolt only now.


I note that I haven't seen or read anything about orange oil. I'm guessing it is too much like a finish to be used here? I've used it on cabinets and furniture for years, but not the guns.

[millman]

See now, I wasn't seeing it as helping the stock or even really conditioning it for that matter. I was cleaning it I guess. It was an auto pilot thing from the way back days when I was a kid. This is why I need to not be scared to ask questions I think are too simple to ask. Life long problem there. That silicon rag thing that came with the cleaning kit will be used for the bolt only now.


I note that I haven't seen or read anything about orange oil. I'm guessing it is too much like a finish to be used here? I've used it on cabinets and furniture for years, but not the guns.

I have used Pledge with orange oil to dust them. They look shiny for about an hour then they just look like normal. Honestly, though, nothing is probably better than anything. Oil for the metal, and a towel for the wood henceforth.

[m1guy]

The more I think about it, the more I am becoming an advocate of doing nothing at all.
I have to admit that, in the past, I used linseed oil on some Garand stocks. I never did any sanding, dishwashing or any such crazy stunts, but it never occurred to me in a million years that even the tickiest old bastard of a purist would have a problem with linseed oil on a stock originally finished with it. Joining this board opened my eyes to the lemon oil, which is accepted. I still have mixed feelings of my own about whether or not I really think it is OK vs. linseed oil being an alteration.
But I stopped using it anyway just because I figure that there are people who know more that I do about collecting and that if anybody thinks it is bad, then its better to be safe than sorry.
When I bought my first lemon oil and read the Old English bottle, where it says "contains petroleum distillates greater than 10%", it got an eye roll. I was thinking, "Sure, its is probably 10wt motor oil or something with some fake lemon scent added." Apparently, that is not far from the truth. As I understand it, the commercial lemon oils are a mineral oil with lemon scent. And, here is the kicker-- a coloring. So, they take a clear oil that would not darken the wood and then add a coloring so that it does basically become a light stain. That is the opposite of non-alteration!
Try this experiment for yourself. Get a piece of very light colored unfinished wood and rub some linseed oil on one part of it and then lemon oil right beside it. They both darken the wood. Neither would be make a difference on a dark milsurp stock, but it can be seen on light wood. The linseed oil will darken it a little more and will dry to a shinier appearance, but they both are both oils and are absorbed by the wood.

Anyway, I don't want to get on a rant here, but the moral of the story is, to me... that the best thing to do to any stock is NOTHING. No linseed oil, no cleaners, no lemon oil, no chemicals... nothing.

In fact, just a few weeks ago I used some Kotton Klenser on an M1 stock. It seems universally accepted as OK. But the more I think about it, I'm even a little regretful that I did that much. It did look different after I cleaned it, so in that way it was altered. I know the next one I get from the CMP is getting no cleaner, no oils, nothing.

People have their own opinions about what is ok and what is alteration. We all know what opinions are like. The only thing you can really be sure of is that if you do absolutely nothing to it, you can't get in trouble for altering it.

[millman]

[Junk Yard Dog]

Lemon oil does nothing to any stock in my entire collection but give it a very temporary shine that is useful for making the grain pop for photographs, in a half hour or so the wood is dry and looking as it always has. mind you I wet a rag and wipe down the stock, I do not submerge the stock in a vat of oil and leave it in there for a week. Using lemon oil in this manner will harm nothing, change nothing , and has never changed the color of anything I have used it on, and that includes a lot more than gun stocks. Lemon oil does not have the capacity to break down the original finish or penetrate it with coloring agents, shellac is a coating remember, it does not penetrate the wood so much as cover it over like paint. Oil based finishes do penetrate the wood, but even the lightest colored military oil finish is still darker than any lemon oil furniture polish. Even the Balkan used M91/30's, rifles that have no finish at all past fingerprint oils and dirt only darken temporarily when treated with lemon oils. Don't be afraid to use lemon oil for cleaning , or if you want to make a finish take on a shine for pics, but it isn't necessary, and is doing nothing but giving the stock a very temporary visual boost. Linseed oil on the other hand very definitely penetrates the stock, and remains there making a permanent change to the stocks appearance. This is the intended purpose of linseed oils, it is a wood finishing product, while furniture polish is simply a cleaner. The manufacturers of polish know it's effects are only temporary because they want you to buy more polish and keep them in business. More than 25 years I have used lemon oils, never once have they done any more that what is described above, and they are much gentler on the very dirty/ greasy stocks than other cleaning products like murphy's oil soap. Only Kotton Klenser is a better cleaner, but KK will not shine anything, quite the opposite.

[Bugelson]

I used the pine tar mixture from thomas@thegunstockdoctor.com

To restore my M27 from a poly finish (no pun intended) using my M28 as a guide on what it should have looked like when it left Finland.

The Finn's are still using it to treat their Birch wood skies, and I thought everybody used composite material skies...

It has a funny kind of smell like a barbecue pit aroma to it, I guess it's the pine tar.

M/28 had originally lacquer finish and so did some early m/27s. But in generally m/27s had linseed oil based oil finish. The wax will not create an "authentic like" finish.

Skis were treated with pure tar itself. Very very few people use wooden trekking skis anymore today. None are factorymade anymore.

[jones0430]

Well, if the stock is really dirty, you could always strap it across your back and ford a river up to your chin.

Then dry it down good.

I normally only protect wood that has recent wounds that might be detrimental to handling.

After getting the opinions here, I don't apply anything to the Mosin stocks.

[neal45]

My standard stock cleaning/refinishing kit is a rubdown with a clean cotton sock. You won't hurt it and you just can't be sure using anything else.

[Vendetta]

My standard stock cleaning/refinishing kit is a rubdown with a clean cotton sock. You won't hurt it and you just can't be sure using anything else.

But what about the oils and chemicals in your laundry detergent!?!

Seriously... if they held up to the harshest elements the world can offer, they will hold up to a little lemon oil. Anyone who is that crazy about putting NOTHING on a stock under any circumstances probably is terrified to shoot their "collectibles". Thats not my kind of collector.

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