Is brake cleaner and some old rags the best way?

For metal use some mineral spirits at Lowes or Home Depot.

For stocks use easy off oven cleaner.

Max

Is there a paticular brand off mineral spirits? Do you just put it on and wipe off with clean rag?

Murphy's Oil soap and a clean rag

Old gunnys used to use gasoline.  Can't say I recommend that because of the flammability problems, but it will definately dissolve cosmoline.

Quoted: Is there a paticular brand off mineral spirits? Do you just put it on and wipe off with clean rag?

I prefer the low odor mineral spirits.  Scrub it with rags, toothbrushes, whatever you can find.

You can bake the wood at a low temp in your oven, or put the wood on the dash of your old GMC with some towels under it and the cosmoline will sweat out.

For some 74 mags I broke them down got a bucket of hot water with dawn soap and Cascade them droped all the polymer mags bodies in there. A day later they had a white film just  wiped it right off took about 10 minutes for 4 mag bodies and it left no cosmo on them
just something I found to work

Ok, here's what I did on the last two guns I "uncosmolined" (within the past week):

Tear it all apart... every piece you can.  Get a radiator heater, like, the electric one with no fan.  Put all the metal parts that are short enough to fit in your oven on a cookie sheet.  Turn the oven on to about 200*F... leave the stuff in there until it's really hot and the cosmoline melts off.

Then, wipe the stock and all wood with mineral spirits, or something like that... I've heard denatured alcohol works well too, but I already had odorless mineral spirits.  Keep wiping the stock with papertowels soaked in mineral spirits or whatever... until the paper towels stop coming off with cosmoline.

Put the stock, which is likely too long for your oven on the radiator heater (turned on high)... this will draw the cosmoline out to the surface of the wood.  Then, wipe the stock with more mineral spirits, rotating the stock on the heater, until no more cosmoline comes to the surface.

Eventually, get your metal parts out of the oven, wipe them down, or spray them with brake cleaner, either way they're cosmoline free.

Go put Tung oil (less glossy, for most military rifles) or Linseed oil (protects better, more gloss, stays somewhat tacky after applied) on your stock, after it's nice and dry.  I did my Garand and a Mosin Nagant this week.

Folks, this works great for stocks (not recommended for collectables):  Dishwasher Method.

I used it on my SKS; wipe off the excess and put it in the dishwasher on the pots and pans cycle.  Let it air dry after the final rinse cycle.  Then let it dry for a couple of days.  I did some light sanding then a few light coats of polyurethane (I used Tung oil on my M1 and M1903A3).

There is no mess left in the dishwasher - wife was happy.  End result:

diesel fuel?

Quoted: Folks, this works great for stocks (not recommended for collectables):  Dishwasher Method. I used it on my SKS; wipe off the excess and put it in the dishwasher on the pots and pans cycle.  Let it air dry after the final rinse cycle.  Then let it dry for a couple of days.  I did some light sanding then a few light coats of polyurethane (I used Tung oil on my M1 and M1903A3). There is no mess left in the dishwasher - wife was happy.

I never thought of this. Is there anything a dishwasher can't do?

Brake cleaner on the metal will melt cosmo right  off.  150* in the oven for the wood, and whipe every 15 min or so until it stops comming out.  

Boil all parts in water. It works very well. Run larger parts thru the dishwasher or take them to the carwash.

If you can fit it in the oven, turn it on low heat for 10 min and most of it will wipe right off. Make sure you setup a catch pan as it drips off. The wife or gf might not be too happy and your house will smell like cosmo every time you use the oven.  Brake cleaner will just about take any oil off. I use break cleaner for degreasing before paint/park. I use a combination of both.

Scunci Steamer. It doesn't work too well on the wood stocks, but blasts it out of the front sights, etc. etc.

I've been cooking my two foreend pieces in the toaster at just over 200* for the last hour or so.  I have been wiping it away every 10 minutes or so.  Can or should I stop before I get every last drop out?  Should I go ahead and continue until I get every last drop out?  

Quoted: images.amazon.com/images/P/B00024JYAG.16._AA260_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg Scunci Steamer. It doesn't work too well on the wood stocks, but blasts it out of the front sights, etc. etc.

Thats exactly what I use.................its the best!


funny: I thought I was the only one.

I realize that these are cheap stocks on used, inexpensive rifles.

But oven cleaner is probably the worst thing you can put on wood. It is designed to dissolve organic compounds. Wood is an organic compound.  Maybe it's worked for you. But there's a reason carpenters and cabinetmakers don't use this crap.

The second worst thing you can do to wood is subject it to high-temp high-pressure water, like in a dishwasher.  Again, it might have worked fine for you, but again, people who work with wood would never do this.  

Safe and correct ways to work with wood have been developed over hundreds of years. Why not trust them? The best way to get cosmoline out of wood is heat, mineral spirits, time, more heat, and more time.  

Chemical shortcuts are risky at best and disastrous at worst. Why bother? To save yourself an hour of work and end up with a riflestock that screams "I've been EZ-offed" from across the room?  

They're you're guns, do what you want with them. But I've seen a dishwasher split (the long way) a beautiful M1 stock and plenty of "greenish-gray" oven cleaner stocks.  

FWIW

Quoted: I've been cooking my two foreend pieces in the toaster at just over 200* for the last hour or so.  I have been wiping it away every 10 minutes or so.  Can or should I stop before I get every last drop out?  Should I go ahead and continue until I get every last drop out?

It depends on what finish you plan to apply to your handguards.  It may take 2 hours, maybe even longer to get heavy cosmo saturated stocks to stop oozing cosmo.  I personally just leave them in the oven on the lowest heat setting possible and wipe them down every so often, just as you have mentioned.  I stop the process when I notice it's taking quite a while to get any significant amount of cosmo worthy of being wiped off.

If you plan to use shellac as a finish it's not nearly as important to get as much cosmo out since the shellac will seal the outer layer of wood.  Just make sure you sweat out enough cosmo so the handguards feel dry to the touch before applying the shellac.

I you are using Tung oil it's pretty important to get out as much cosmo as possible so it'll be less likely to sweat while you are shooting.  You can further help prevent the cosmo from sweating out by applying a very light spit coat of shellac on the stock, then sand it lightly with 220 grit paper before applying the oil of your choice.

I stopped when the lower handguard was releasing about 40%-50% of what it was releasing at the beginning- wiping every 10 minutes or so.

I wasn't planning on adding anything to the Walnut.  I like the way it looks as it is.  

should I add something?  I like the more dull than shiny look.

Well, it's probably a toss up.  There's probably so much cosmo in your handguards to preserve them forever.  But the first time you shoot it it'll ooze cosmo all over the place from the barrel heating up, leaving it in the car on sunny days, etc.  If that's the route you go I personally would leave your handguards in the oven (on a bed of old newspaper of course) as long as possible to get as much cosmo as possible.

I hate shiny stocks too.  Formby's offers a low sheen tung oil that won't be quite as dull as bare wood but it's far from the gloss you see on stocks finished in BLO (boiled linseed oil).  It's more of a satin finish.  You can also apply a normal blend tung oil with some 0000 steel wool, wiping off the excess afterwards with a rag and you will achieve a low gloss finish as well.  I have used both methods and honestly can't say I prefer one over the other, though regular (the non-low gloss type) tung oils tend to be a higher quality oil.

so the tung oil will penetrate and seal the wood, keeping the cosmoline from seeping out but the tung oil itself will dry and not be yucky?  I can apply it using 0000 steel wool?  When I do this am I looking to rub it deep into the wood?

First realize that you'll never, ever get all of the cosmo out of that wood.

so the tung oil will penetrate and seal the wood, keeping the cosmoline from seeping out but the tung oil itself will dry and not be yucky? I can apply it using 0000 steel wool? When I do this am I looking to rub it deep into the wood?

It depends on what kind of tung oil you're using. Pure tung oil makes a lousy finish because it never really fully cures like boiled linseed oil (BLO) will. A pure tung oil or BLO finish will seal the wood, but not seal in cosmoline.  Cosmo will still bubble out when it gets hot but it won't damage your finish at all.  (By the way, it is very hard to get a high-gloss finish using BLO if you're using it correctly.)

If you're using a Tung Oil Finish like Minwax, ace, or Formsby's, what you really have is a wipe-on varnish. (The labeling is screwy.)  You'll get a hard, durable finish that is not a true oil finish.  That's why it has "high gloss" and "low gloss" varieties. To make it low gloss, they actually add some kind of medium that suspends in the finish and diffuses light to make it less shiny.

If you're using Behr's #600 Scandinavian Tung Oil Finish, you have the best of both worlds. It is a blend of BLO, true tung oil, and driers. It produces a true oil finish with a little of the "hardness" that we want for protection. Cosmo will still be able to boil out and won't destroy the finish.

Here is how to apply a BLO or Behr's tung oil finish: final-clean the wood with acetone or laquer thinner.  Rub in the first really wet coat of oil with 0000 steel wool.  Let it sit about 15-20 minutes, and then wipe it down with a rag to get the extra oil off. The let it sit overnight. The second coat is applied with a rag and wiped off in 15-20 minutes. Continue doing this until you get the look/level of protection you want.  If it's too glossy for your taste, use the steel wool again (always wet with the oil! never dry) and rub it out, then wipe off the oil right away.  This will give you very nice warm, burnished look.

Of course, the "correct" finish for our AKs is shellac. It can be clear, amber, or red.  Shellac will seal the wood better than an oil finish and is easy to apply and repair.  It will seal in cosmoline, but in extreme cases (like dumping a few mags in a row -- you get the idea) the cosmo can boil out through the shellac finish and actually damage it.

Shellac is easy to apply from a spray can (clear) or you can mix up your own to your favorite color and wipe it on or thin it with denatured alcohol and spray it with a sprayer unit from Lowe's or wherever.   If it's too shiny for you, burnish the shellac with the same oil and steel wool method described above.

Good luck!

Getting Off Cosmoline

Sorry man didn't read the thread, by the topic I thought you were talking about an addiction.
I don't think the high from crack (never tried it) would be as good as when I open a box from the brown truck and give it a whiff!  Come on, You all know what I'm talking about!

Actually, I started out using brake cleaner as a prep for painting metal parts and ended up doing the dishwasher thing.  It takes a lot of brake cleaner to clean a parts kit out of the box.  

For wood I heat it in an oven at very low and it just pours out.  If I'm refinishing, I run it through the dishwasher.

If it's a NIB, CLP is the way to go.