Thread: Stock "bleeding" oil

I have a nice old sako I purchased a 3-4 months ago. The first trip to the range, prior to lock-down, was a hot sunny day. On the bench the stock was getting warm in the sun, and lots of oil formed on the surface of the wood around the wrist area. I wiped it down and it no issues when I got home.

Thinking on this, the last couple of days I've had it in front of the fire or sitting on the window sill in the sun (its getting warm but not hot). As it warms up it bleeds oil in the same area. Smells like boiled linseed to me. I'm simply wiping away the oil with an old towel.

I assume this is from someone over oiling the stock. Am i doing the right thing here? How do I get it to seal?

Keep wiping, if you seal it with varnish it will either push the varnish off or turn it into sticky goo.
To speed up drawing the surplus oil out go outside and wipe the stock over with a rag soaked in petrol or lacquer thinners. Repeat this every few days.
In my opinion linseed oil is a crap finish for a stock, it never really dries isn't waterproof, and waterspots readily, boiled oil is better just enough to coat the timber but not leave a gloss. True oil etc are boiled tung oil varnishes similar to old style marine varnish and pretty good. However it's no good putting thus over linseed oil it will just push it off.

I think that you are correct with with the thougts on linseed

i had a rifle that had been finished with linseed and suffered the same condition, on a warm day it got tacky and leached everywhere.
the end result was to keep heating it up then wiping down with acetone and a rag. this was done many times.
i finished it off with tru-oil then a beeswax finish.

Someone has definitely been rubbing lots BLO into this stock. Only coming out of the action wrist area. I think I'll play the long game and keep warming and removing.

Linseed oil goes hard by oxidising. Overdoing the oiling means that the oil deep in the stock doesn't get any oxygen, and stays liquid. It seems when. It gets warm because it expands.

Just keep wiping it. As stated above, wipe it off but use acetone rather than petrol. It will cease weeping eventually, unless it is a Catholic relic miracle stock, in which case, I'm out of ideas!

Thanks Bol Tackshin, yes I'll stick to leaving it on the widow sill rather than a heat gun. I'll put a little acetone on the rag.

unfortunately you can not buy perclone (dry cleaning fluid) at the chemist anymore, its an excellent degreaser. i just tried to buy 50ml of it and its banned from the public sale. i use it on turntable/ tapedeck belts/rollers as it removes oxidised and shiny rubber leaving a nice grippy finish. I cant find anything else that works as well .
I was talking to a mate with a degree in chemistry and he says its not used in the production of anything illegal as far as he knows .

Chlorinated hydrocarbon directly linked to bone marrow cancer that's why it's gone. Used to be used a a fire extinguisher especially for electrical onesystem.

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

Chlorinated hydrocarbon directly linked to bone marrow cancer that's why it's gone. Used to be used a a fire extinguisher especially for electrical onesystem.

yep, BCF. bloody magic fire extinguishers though.
dunno what i'm going to use to clean belts and rollers now though

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

Chlorinated hydrocarbon directly linked to bone marrow cancer that's why it's gone. Used to be used a a fire extinguisher especially for electrical onesystem.

Remember as a kid the old Pyrene fire extinguishers in vehicles and various other places. You occasionally see the hand pump one (less contents) in antique shops. Nice polished brass cylinders.
Carbon tetrachloride (CTC) was greatly used in the dry cleaning industry. Gave off the most evil toxins when used on fires.

Big issue with BCF (Halon etc) was/is it's effect on the ozone layer. Still one of the most effective extinguisher compounds around.
The company I worked for and Air NZ had dispensation to continue using Halon after it was banned in NZ although that I imagine has long since lapsed now.

I wonder if there is a centre hole bored in the stock and some hero has poured oil in there as well and left it standing barrel down, worth checking under the butt plate.

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

I wonder if there is a centre hole bored in the stock and some hero has poured oil in there as well and left it standing barrel down, worth checking under the butt plate.

easy enough to check, I'll have a look.

Chlorinated solvents are denser than water and sink to the lowest point they can reach in groundwater where they sit for a long time, taking decades to break down. They slowly give off toxic fumes that can penetrate buildings (basements and sub levels especially) and build up to hazardous levels. Carbon tetrachloride breaks down to trichloroethane, then dichlor, then vinyl chloride which causes some rather serious illnesses. It costs a fortune to remediate sites where it has been spilled, like mechanical and engineers workshops and of course dry cleaner sites where this was used.

Depending on how far you want to to remove the oil, the following is a method we were taught when restoring some old military timbers at a collectors meeting, using Krudd-Off (alkaline based liquid cleaner) and steam.

This will remove almost all oil from the timber, taking it back to bare unfinished timber. It also steams out many small creases and surface scratches.

Strip all metal and plastic hardware and fittings from the stock.

Wearing kitchen type gloves, place a heavy coat of Krudd-Off all over the timber, then continue rubbing in with a cloth. Keep it wet, and don't let the Krudd-Off dry on the timber.

Two options for the final step...

The next step is a little tricker if you don't have access to a hot water trough ( like a bluing tank). If you do have such a tank, ensure the water is boiling so steam is generated. Simply suspend the timber in the steam, turning occasionally, and wiping with a water saturated cloth. The oil will just stream from the stock. You may need to repeat this a couple of times if sections of the timber have gone black due to excess oil.

As most people won't have access to a trough, a cheap steam wand with cloth pads will suffice. It's a bit more time consuming, as you have to try to wet swab and steam pretty much simultaneously, but works almost as good. You just need to be careful round the checkering not to over-steam.

If it's a really old Sako, the timber may take on a very pale appearance. It's nothing to worry about, as many older Sakos had birch timber, not walnut.

Basically you're left with a oil-less timber stock that should dry for 48 to 72 hours, then lightly sand, or steel wool, or buff polish the bare timber (depending on the level of sheen you require) before re-oiling, lacquering, or however you intend to refinish the stock.