Refinishing a Mauser Stock

Corey · October 16, 2000, 11:26 AM

I have a Mauser M38 (cut down M96) that my father gave to me. It was a tack driver the last time I shot her, but it has seen some hard years since the last time I shot her. The stock is not dinged up, but is quite dirty and could use a refinish. Can this oil finished stock, I think the Mausers were oli finished, be stripped and redone. If so, how is the best way to strip it and how should I refinish it. I would like to know what to use to do it also. Thanks for any help in advance.

stuckatwork · October 16, 2000, 02:55 PM

There are several approaches that you can take. One way is to strip the metal off the stock, then spray the wood down with some oven cleaner (the non-smelly type). Let it hang for a couple of hours, then give it a good scrubbing with some warm water and a laundry soap. Tide works great. Hang to dry. This could take as long as a week depending on where you live. You can repeat this as often as needed. Just remember that when you wet wood, it raises grain. These little whiskers will need to taken off with either 00000 steel wool or 600 grain sand paper.

You could just wipe the stock down with paint stripper, alcohol or paint thinner until the oils are removed. You still get the whiskers.

One old boy I know drops the stocks in a tank of acetone and leaves it there for a day or two. Then he washes them off as described above.

It really isn't that hard if you take your time and be careful.

------------------
You can find the price of freedom, buried in the ground.

Herodotus · October 18, 2000, 08:18 PM

Yes, you can strip off the old oil with oven cleaner as stuckatwork says. I do it 3 times and just hose it off and dry with an old cloth between applications. This gets most of it.
To get off the last bit of residue on a stock that has had lots of cosmoline or oil on it, I coat it with whiting (from Brownels) and acetone three times, but you probably do not need to do this on this stock that just has old finish on it.
Dewisker it like stuckatwork says too.
Then give it several coats of tung oil or boiled linseed oil. Linspeed from Brownels is a very fast drying and very pure form of linseed oil, the best actually, but more expensive. Each coat will need several days to dry, preferably a week, so this is a long process.
The main thing to remember and the chief mistake to avoid is removing any wood from the stock. Most finished rifles have very little wood to loose, and one often sees stocks that have been sanded down past the metal, formerly sharp corners rounded, cartouches softened or gone entirely.
Never the less, after applying several coats of your new oil, you may easily find that the surface is lumpy from wiskers you did not get or the remains of the old finish. In that case, you will have to delicately wet sand it with the very finest 400 or 600 grit sand paper and oil with some kind of hard rubber backer to smooth it out. If you do this, sand so delicately that you only remove the hardened surface finish and almost no wood at all. You could also try steel or synthetic steel wool for this.
Then hand rub a few more coats of your oil on the stock.
If there are dents and scratches in which the wood fibers are mostly not broken on this stock, you can remove most of them very well indeed by steaming them out with an old iron and a wet cloth. Don't use a good iron for this, for residues of the old oil get baked on the iron. But if there are real gouges, they will not come out. These must be filled, a difficult job to do expertly, because it takes experience to match the fill to the wood and this can be learned only after much trial and error. Its usually better just to leave any of these alone. The rifle will look great even if it has a few deeper dents here and there in the stock.
I beleive that most M38's have redish/brown stained beech stocks. When you strip off the old finish, you will probably also strip off the old stain as well. If you do not restain the stock, you may well end up with a "blond" stock that some people like, but is not the original Swedish military look. I am not sure what stain the Swedes used. Some stains go on the wood itself, while others are in the oil that makes up the finish. The ones that have the stain in the oil wind up having a prettier, translucent "glow" in the finished product, and alkenet (sp? and available from Brownels) root in the oil is one old way to do this. But as noted, I am not sure what it was that the old Swedes actually did.
You say that the stock is dirty and not really dinged up. In this case it might be advisable to simply try wiping down the whole stock a few times with a 50/50 mixture of turpintine and either boiled linseed oil or tung oil. This will loosen and clean off any dirt that is imbedded in the finish surface and put a little more fresh oil on the stock. This is certainly a more simple and perhaps more fool proof thing to try than refinishing the whole stock. I would try this first and see if it works to your satisfaction. You can always try a more radical treatment later if you are not happy with it.

[This message has been edited by Herodotus (edited October 18, 2000).]

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October 16, 2000, 11:26 AM	#1
Corey Member Join Date: February 14, 1999 Posts: 58	I have a Mauser M38 (cut down M96) that my father gave to me. It was a tack driver the last time I shot her, but it has seen some hard years since the last time I shot her. The stock is not dinged up, but is quite dirty and could use a refinish. Can this oil finished stock, I think the Mausers were oli finished, be stripped and redone. If so, how is the best way to strip it and how should I refinish it. I would like to know what to use to do it also. Thanks for any help in advance.

October 16, 2000, 02:55 PM	#2
stuckatwork Senior Member Join Date: March 3, 2000 Posts: 217	There are several approaches that you can take. One way is to strip the metal off the stock, then spray the wood down with some oven cleaner (the non-smelly type). Let it hang for a couple of hours, then give it a good scrubbing with some warm water and a laundry soap. Tide works great. Hang to dry. This could take as long as a week depending on where you live. You can repeat this as often as needed. Just remember that when you wet wood, it raises grain. These little whiskers will need to taken off with either 00000 steel wool or 600 grain sand paper. You could just wipe the stock down with paint stripper, alcohol or paint thinner until the oils are removed. You still get the whiskers. One old boy I know drops the stocks in a tank of acetone and leaves it there for a day or two. Then he washes them off as described above. It really isn't that hard if you take your time and be careful. ------------------ You can find the price of freedom, buried in the ground.

October 18, 2000, 08:18 PM	#3
Herodotus Senior Member Join Date: January 19, 2000 Posts: 743	Yes, you can strip off the old oil with oven cleaner as stuckatwork says. I do it 3 times and just hose it off and dry with an old cloth between applications. This gets most of it. To get off the last bit of residue on a stock that has had lots of cosmoline or oil on it, I coat it with whiting (from Brownels) and acetone three times, but you probably do not need to do this on this stock that just has old finish on it. Dewisker it like stuckatwork says too. Then give it several coats of tung oil or boiled linseed oil. Linspeed from Brownels is a very fast drying and very pure form of linseed oil, the best actually, but more expensive. Each coat will need several days to dry, preferably a week, so this is a long process. The main thing to remember and the chief mistake to avoid is removing any wood from the stock. Most finished rifles have very little wood to loose, and one often sees stocks that have been sanded down past the metal, formerly sharp corners rounded, cartouches softened or gone entirely. Never the less, after applying several coats of your new oil, you may easily find that the surface is lumpy from wiskers you did not get or the remains of the old finish. In that case, you will have to delicately wet sand it with the very finest 400 or 600 grit sand paper and oil with some kind of hard rubber backer to smooth it out. If you do this, sand so delicately that you only remove the hardened surface finish and almost no wood at all. You could also try steel or synthetic steel wool for this. Then hand rub a few more coats of your oil on the stock. If there are dents and scratches in which the wood fibers are mostly not broken on this stock, you can remove most of them very well indeed by steaming them out with an old iron and a wet cloth. Don't use a good iron for this, for residues of the old oil get baked on the iron. But if there are real gouges, they will not come out. These must be filled, a difficult job to do expertly, because it takes experience to match the fill to the wood and this can be learned only after much trial and error. Its usually better just to leave any of these alone. The rifle will look great even if it has a few deeper dents here and there in the stock. I beleive that most M38's have redish/brown stained beech stocks. When you strip off the old finish, you will probably also strip off the old stain as well. If you do not restain the stock, you may well end up with a "blond" stock that some people like, but is not the original Swedish military look. I am not sure what stain the Swedes used. Some stains go on the wood itself, while others are in the oil that makes up the finish. The ones that have the stain in the oil wind up having a prettier, translucent "glow" in the finished product, and alkenet (sp? and available from Brownels) root in the oil is one old way to do this. But as noted, I am not sure what it was that the old Swedes actually did. You say that the stock is dirty and not really dinged up. In this case it might be advisable to simply try wiping down the whole stock a few times with a 50/50 mixture of turpintine and either boiled linseed oil or tung oil. This will loosen and clean off any dirt that is imbedded in the finish surface and put a little more fresh oil on the stock. This is certainly a more simple and perhaps more fool proof thing to try than refinishing the whole stock. I would try this first and see if it works to your satisfaction. You can always try a more radical treatment later if you are not happy with it. [This message has been edited by Herodotus (edited October 18, 2000).]