Model 24/47

[Terry G]

I just received one from SOG and of course it's completely cosmolined up baynoet and scabbard too. I normally use Mineral spirits for removal but one gentleman advised acetone and a hair dryer using repeatedly to "leech" the cosmoline out of the wood. Any thoughts?.

[Suomenboyga]

I'm not sure, I've never had the pleasure of resucitating a weapon, but the acetone might very well be better at dissoving the cosmoline. I don't how much the hair dryer would help, it seems to me it would cause a lot more of the acetone to evaporate, and add a heat source to an imflammable/explosive atmosphere, turning your armory (basement, garage, living room or where ever) into a barbecue.
Whichever you use, do not forget to have good ventilation, and don't do it near any ignition points, such as furnace or water heater. And no smoking!

[Magnum88C]

I use mineral sprits or alcohol to remove the surface cosmo. The hair dryer is no doubt to make the wood "sweat" out the cosmoline. A lot of people will put the stock in the oven to do this, or in a black trash bag and leave it in the sun. Of course, you can take it to the range, and fire some rounds through it (after cleaning the cosmo off of the surface parts, and let the barrel heat sweat out the cosmo.
In any case, there's no chance of a fire using a hair dryer on cosmoline. You don't use the hair dryer and acetone at the same time. The acetone/mineral spirits/alcohol gets the big cleanup doen, the heat just gets what's remaining out of the wood.

[neolithic hunter]

terry i've seen several weapons that the owner have used the acitone and heat to leech a wood stock. they looked great when finished. use the acitone to cut the grease and the hair dryer to leech the cosmo from the stock. it takes a while but from the rifles i've seen that the owners have used that method it really works well. lol and ahve fun :cool:

[RIKA]

I used mineral spirits to remove most of the cosmo and then a heat gun to get the rest to ooze out. Worked well for me.

RIKA

[Magnum88C]

Why not just leave the cosmo soaked into the wood? That way you can huff that vintage milsurp essence every time you go shooting! :dgrin:
God, I love the smell of comsoline in the morning. . .it smells like. . .well, like I just bought a new old rifle!

[T. Daves]

Congradulations on the purchase. Acetone is very rough on your hands be sure to wear chemical proof gloves when using it.

[Terry G]

Thanks for all the input everyone. I nomaly use Mineral Spirits for clean up, but I thought I would give the acetone a try. This wood has a lot of cosmoline soaked in, much more than my Yugoslavian's did. A fun project anyway to ward off cabin fever. Here's before shot's. I'll post after's when I'm done.

[Suomenboyga]

I use mineral sprits or alcohol to remove the surface cosmo. The hair dryer is no doubt to make the wood "sweat" out the cosmoline. A lot of people will put the stock in the oven to do this, or in a black trash bag and leave it in the sun. Of course, you can take it to the range, and fire some rounds through it (after cleaning the cosmo off of the surface parts, and let the barrel heat sweat out the cosmo.
In any case, there's no chance of a fire using a hair dryer on cosmoline. You don't use the hair dryer and acetone at the same time. The acetone/mineral spirits/alcohol gets the big cleanup doen, the heat just gets what's remaining out of the wood.
:headbang: Gotcha. I got a mental image of using acetone and the hair dryer at the same time. I spent too many years doing fire restoration work to let that go by. I once worked on a house where the owner left car parts to soak in solvent, overnight, on a wood stove. :flamethr: