# Tips on removing stain from stock



## rocinante

I have a stock I believe to be european beech I am trying to strip. I used remover on it and that got the varnish and a good bit of the stain out but especially where it soaked the cross grain it is dark. 

Any tricks or tips for getting it back to its light bland state?


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## rocinante

some research says you can use bleach or hydrogen peroxide. Time for some mad scientist household chemistry experiments me thinks.


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## CAL

I have bleached several gun stocks with clorox.It does a good job too.Just put it on the stock right out of the bottle.When finished and have the stock to the color liked,wash stock good and apply some vinegar to the wood to stop the bleach action.Wash stock again and let dry.Good luck with it.


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## rocinante

Cal I will give that a shot next. Right now per my gun buddy's advise I am using an duo of advanced finish removers found only at your finer grocery stores called  easy-off oven cleaner and dove washing liquid.  I SHALL get all that old finish off even if I am left with a tooth pick of a stock.  Actually the wood isn't very pretty so I might go with a heavy hiding stain like merlot. 

As my mentor Bugs Bunny always says, I guess you know this means war.  My range toy will not be ugly.


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## Cknerr

*another way*

is using oxy-clean. I use it to clean stain off of my hands and fingers. Hate using latex gloves, so it gets everywhere. The stuff has to be used as soon as it gets wet. When it stops bubbling (reacting), it stops working. There are also several 2 part bleaching systems that come in handy kits. The type of bleaching agent needed depends on what kind of stain was used. It can take anything from bleach to muriatic acid to lye to work on stains. 

If you are interested in staining it and the moderators don't get too upset with me mentioning a commercial business- I often have an "Open Shop" weekend where amateur gunsmiths and woodworkers are free to use me, my shop's equipment, etc. It is open to the public and free. (okay, sometimes I do ask if someone will throw me a bagel now and again) Trying to get more people interested in using their hands and exchanging information. The only thing I ask is that you have no intention of selling what you work on. 

My business is restoring antique firearms for museums and private collectors. I also hand build custom rifles - my niche is the hand carved gun stocks that go with the custom rifles and shotguns. So, I might be able to help with tweaking the beech or birch wood and you would then know how to do it yourself. 

A good job requires more then one color and it sho' ain't MinWax!

BTW, this offers is open to anyone here.

Email me and I will pass on my contact info for the next open shop. 

Best of luck,
Chris


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## rocinante

I did use the easy off oven cleaner and it ate the old stain off along with turning the wood to powder. That is lye, right? Lots of sanding to get to the wood again. I used a cabot pre conditioner and have put four coats of cabot colonial maple penetrating oil on it. Not coming out too badly but I am having a hard time getting it to stain evenly enough to suit me.  It really soaks into the cross grain areas and there are some light patches that refuse to darken. A couple more coats will be all my patience allows since it says wait 24 hours between coats. After that multiple coats of formby's tung oil and I will call it a day.  Bottom line it will look a gazillion times better than what I started with even if to a purist it is not a fine wood or a particularly professional refinishing effort.

I recently redid a walnut mauser stock that came out pretty nice. Sanded it down to remove most the dings, filled some with filler, stained it with a water based european cherry about three times, about five coats of formby's tung oil. I am pretty pleased with it.

Chris I pm'ed you and would love to attend one of your open shops. The only gun right now I want to gussy up a little is a mosin nagant and those po po lowly russian rifles don't rate too much fix up love.


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## Cknerr

*uhoh*

Lye is really difficult to work with! ....not that you need to hear it now? 

Easy-off has changed their chemistry. Back in the days when it would water your eyes and peel paint off the walls when you where cleaning the oven -that was real lye. On the other hand, it is also the basis of many bars of hand soap. That being said, I wonder what they use now. The stuff doesn't seem to have the same effect on the environment as the old days - or I'm getting numb in my old age? 

Lye or whatever they use does eat away at organics. It works great at getting old deposits off of saw blades etc. Hate to think of what it does with wood. Hope it will stop eventually. 

The penetrating oil and the left over Easy-off are likely at odds causing some of the light patches problem. Stopping the Easy-off is going to be problematic. Muriatic acid, white vinegar etc. might help if the wood is soaked for awhile in it. But it seems that it is too late since you mentioned penetrating oil finish. 

Spot treating those areas might help to get some finish in before Easy-off gets to it again. Have to sand down to wood again.....so if it is worth the effort? Another way to prevent speckling and end grain problems is a thinned out wash of shellac with a small amount of stain similar to what you are using over the rest of the wood. It just has to be close, exact is not necessary since the wood already will appear different the rest of the stock.

Next time think about staining the wood first before you add any finish. Adding color to a finish only clouds/obscures what is below. Also, if you have variations in thickness of the finish, you get small but obvious light/dark patches. Coloring the wood first then applying a clear finish will make the wood appear naturally that color and the finish can do it's job of showing off what you have. One trick is to always use clear, not satin or semi-gloss finishes. The satin or semi-glasses has particles that obscures. Why hide your work? Use the glossy stuff and compound it down to the satin or the semi-gloss you want.

hmmm, just read over what I wrote, doesn't help you much. As far along as you are, spot treating would be best. If you don't want to bother, a small amount of off the shelf stain in some of your finish in just the light patches might give it a darker color to help "catch up" with the rest of the stock. You can get the stain from Woodcrafter there in the Roswell/Alpharetta area.  Hard to figure out how much stain to add. Get ready for a little bit of trial and error. Sandpaper will "erase" the too dark areas of course. 

Hope this helps,
Chris


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## CAL

If you didn't do anything to stop the lye from working,you might have to start over with the whole process.Did this one time and the lye continued to work after the project was finished!I believe the correct term for this is "a mess".At least that is what I had anyway.It was a heart pine door!I fixed it though.....moved off and left it!


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## rocinante

I don't think I have a problem with the easy off. I washed it with dish washing soap, sanded until I got good hard clear wood. Really it is not staining that badly.  Granted it will not be mistaken for a museum piece when I am finished but I think it is turning out okay with a little more effort and TLC. If not I am sure I can strip this finish off and start over with much less effort 

Chris I am going to bring this sucker over and let you see how the amateur hour performs 

What kills me it seems to be impossible to get the cover pieces to stain the same as the stock.


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## packrat

*Aircraft Remover*

Aircraft Remover, can be found at most big box auto stores. Will burn the .... out of your hand or arm if it gets on you. Stripped many stocks with this stuff


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## fi8shmasty

Acetone or De natured alchohol


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## rocinante

here is how it ended up after stripping gel, stove cleaner, oxy clean, lots of sanding, two coats of oil colonial maple, and 5 coats of formby tung oil.


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## Cknerr

lol, that is certainly nothing like it looked when it left the factory! 

It is great to see people doing this kind of thing. The rewards are certainly worth it.

Staining the upper and lower to get the same shading can be tricky. Since they are likely from different trees, it can get a bit tricky. If you noticed in my avatar, those fore ends and butt stocks have the same problem. 2 pieces of wood from different trees on the same shotgun (those are from Weatherbys). The only way I have done it is with several using several colors so there is more similarity between the 2 pieces. One disadvantage to the plainer grain vs. fancy grain is the over all color is so uniform.  That is hardest to match! The fancy grain has so much going on, it is easier to deal with.

Next week I will try to get that article written about staining. It is uses the differant grain densities to hold differant colors. This way you get patterns rather then an over all even coloring. This technique could help match differant pieces of wood. A little late for your project, but next time?

Please do stop by the shop with you rifle. Like to see what you did. Might be some other folks here that would like to see too.

Take care,
Chris


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## boneboy96

If anyone here hasn't met Chris and been to his home shop before, I can attest that it is worth the day spent.    I've been on several occasions...Chris is a master at his craft!       Let me know when you're setting up another shop day Chris and I'll do my best to be freed up that day and come up and attend!   Say HI to the big white one!  That dog should classify as a mnii-horse!    Oh, and I bought a metal detector!


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## Cknerr

Thanks Man!
Sam is blowing his summer coat...so everything is white now. Can't believe just how much fur that moose has (or had).

Actually there is going to be an Open Shop this weekend. Wonder what it is going to be like - the new dust/chip collector system has a 3 phrase motor. I only have single phase  available of course. Need to get a 220VAC single phase one of these days to replace it before the shop gets buried in saw dust! Always more fun to make shavings then clean it up. 

Not sure how to go about announcing an Open Shop weekend. Could start a new thread I suppose since there is nothing commercial about it. Trying to not have overtones of a business  since that blow up last time. Suggestions would be appreciated. 

If anyone is interested, please call me and let me know what you want to work on. I can make sure things are ready for you. There really is no fee. Just trying to exchange information and show people working on guns and wood is not difficult.

678-770-4274 (Every Thursday I volunteer at the museum, so you might have to leave a message)

Good to hear from you again BoneBoy. Used any of that fancy wood?

Take care,
Chris


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