Armory Sponsor
Posted: 1/31/2009 11:46:50 AM EDT
| Just how long does it take on average to sweat the cosmoline out of a stock? I've read the tagged threads here, read articles from other sites, discovered many different ways to do it (except the way I'm doing it). It's cold here in Illinois and to supplement the cost of my heating bill we've been running a kerosene heater in the evenings. So it was a no brainer to me that I can sit and watch TV at night AND sweat this stock using the heat generated by the kerosene heater. This way I'm in control of how much heat is applied to the stock. Well, I've been at it on and off for two evenings. I started at the bore end of the stock and have worked back to the barrel end slot for the sling. I do a little on one side until it bubbles out then I wipe it off (wiping toward the butt end as not to smear it where I've already been), then I flip it over to the other side and do the same. This stuff just keeps coming out! At this rate I'm thinking I'll be done with the stock by the time my 3 year old graduates college! Am I on the right track? Is this a normal pace for sweating or am I missing a C&R secret? On the plus side, I have taken the magazine and bolt down and cleaned it with boiling hot soapy water. I then ran over it all with some Hoppe's nitro solvent, then coated it all with some Break Free CLP. That part is going along quite well. I'm even considering hitting the bolt ass'y with my dremel and some Flitz polishing compound just to make things pretty. The barrel I will have to wait to do until I get a chance to put it through the sonic cleaner at work. Then a good view of the inside of the barrel with our high speed bore scope. I don't anticipate being able to shoot either of these 91/30's until spring or early summer. By then I should have a stockpile of ammo for plinking. |
| You need to go to a hardware store or Harbor Freight Tools and buy a cheap heat gun. You can finish getting all the cosmo out of the stock in an hour or two. It takes time, you don't want to rush it but the way your doing it now is not going to get it all out. Spend the money on a heat gun and get it over with, if you buy anymore C&R rifles it will come in handy and pay for itself. I bought a decent heat gun for $10 and it has lasted on melting cosmo out of at least 15 C&R rifles, works like a champ. |
|
You'll most likely never get it all out...it's been there for decades...it won't all come out in hours or even days.
After heat is applied to get the majority out, a shellac coat can be applied to seal the remainder of the cosmo in. On weapons with an oil finish where the shellac won't do...it will just need wiped/cleaned off every so often. If I can find it, I'll post a piece where vigorous chemical techniques were used, as well as heat, on a scrap stock to test effectiveness...heat did best, but it only got 1/4" of wood cleaned out. Oh...here it is; MilSurpHunt has the right idea for completely getting all the cosmo out of the stock. Had a beater stock that was given to me at the CPA shoot that I cut down (could not be saved in any other way). For an experiment, I took the front lower section that was to be thrown away and cut it in half. The one half I did a straight chemical cleaning - Acetone, Simple Green, and amonia. The other half I did my traditional 1000 degree heat gun cleaning - heat followed by Simple Green to remove the cosmo that surfaces...repeat. After both looked to be clean - chemical cleaning rags were coming off clean, heat gun stopped drawing cosmo - I cut each section in half to see how far the cleaning had removed the cosmo. The chemical cleaning sections had cosmo soaked wood centers with about 1/32" of clean wood on the outside. The heat gun cleaned sections had almost 1/4" of clean wood before hitting cosmo soaked wood. In retrospect, the heat gun method also took 3 times as long to complete. This stock was probably a worst case scenario as the cosmo was soaked completely through the front section of stock. Just my observations...
|
| When I speak of getting all the cosmo out it means pulling as much out until it stops sweating. At some point it will stop sweating cosmo at the surface, you might get a few bubbles to pop up here and there with the heat gun towards the end but they get sucked right back into the wood as soon as you pull the heat gun away. This is how I know when to stop, if you can clean 1/4" down then your cleaning deep enough so that if you put a finish on it then it won't feel waxy to the touch because you have not sealed surface cosmo in. |
.
|
Well...I am going to keep plugging along for now as I have seen some progress with the method that I am using. However, in the back of my mind I think this 91/30 stock could be easily replicated with some modern tooling techniques. I'm not a carpenter or wood worker "per se" by trade but I am handy with the tools of the trade. And I have a butt load of Walnut, Oak, and Osage Orange trees growing around me. I have made traditional bows out of the Osage Orange (Crab Apple Tree), and have many wood "blanks" that are destined for bow building , but if I get discouraged with this heat removal thing......I'll just build me a new and shiney one even if it's just to kill time. Alot of the original finish has came off down to he bare wood, but the cosmo just keeps seeping out and out!
Who wants a custom made stock?! |
|
with that little cooker i made it took about 2 to sometimes 3 times of cooking depending on how much cosmo was in it to begin with, but the rifles that i cooked are now cosomo free.
it just takes time but you can get most if not all of it out, might take a while but you'll get it hang in there |
|
Quoted:
how about buying some of those cheap aluminum baking pans at the supermarket and warming it in the oven... stick half in and half out I use this method, but make my own tray out of aluminum foil. OP: I have to agree with the earlier posters, I don't think your heater is going to do the trick. Oven works for us sigle guys, the lamp/trashcan heater is good for you married folk. Good luck and post pictures when finished! Oh.. and Lemon oil really does help dissolve cosmo. |
|
I did my 91/30 in the oven. It took about 4 hours at 125 deg before it stopped sweating cosmo like crazy. When I could keep it in for 15 minutes with nothing coming out, I stopped. I then stripped and oiled it.
When I do some quick shooting or put about 50-75 rounds through a tiny amount of cosmo comes out from the heat of the barrel. |
Armory Sponsor