Stock maintenance

TheSmorgMan

TheSmorgMan

Well-known member
3 things first:
1. I’m happy doing nothing, I don’t want to invent problems to “fix” and end up ruining something.
2. I don’t want to be the next franchise of “Bubba Gumps rifle alterations factory”
3. Don’t want to start a forum war.

Currently oiling the US guns and it got me thinking, “what to do for the K98.” Been digging through old threads on this forum and there’s a lot of differing thoughts on what to do/use.

The laminate stock isn’t dry. It wasn’t cosmoline, but the insides and metal were coated with what seemed to be some sort of axle grease or some thick motor oil. (Same with the bayonet) it was dirtier than a condemned crack house.

For now, nothing is needed, but In the future, if it dries out, what do I use? I’ve seen ballistol come up frequently. It’s a late 1944 laminate stock.
 
Per Otto's point, being 1944 your stock is a laminate. At that point you have to be mindful of what might affect the glue holding it together, unlike a solid wood stock which it may be suitable for.

Here is the Ballistol SDS sheets which indicate that it does contain petroleum. https://ballistol.com/media/downloads/

If you get some on the wood while cleaning your stock it shouldn't hurt, but you might not want to treat it with Ballistol.

Schaftol appears to be BLO at its core, with some additives. https://www.rimfirecentral.com/threads/scherells-schaftol.589209/
 
Less is more when it comes to this kind of thing.

That said, Howards Feed-N-Wax is another one that you see recommended. Search the forums for "Howards" and you'll find threads on it, it gets a bit of controversy but my take is that if you actually use it as directed (so light application, not slopping it on) it's fine and mostly just removes dirt.
 
Cyrano4747 said:
Less is more when it comes to this kind of thing.

That said, Howards Feed-N-Wax is another one that you see recommended. Search the forums for "Howards" and you'll find threads on it, it gets a bit of controversy but my take is that if you actually use it as directed (so light application, not slopping it on) it's fine and mostly just removes dirt.
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I'm a Howard's believer when I feel like it's called for. As mentioned less is more here. I've mostly used it by rubbing a small amount in my hands and then rubbing it on the furniture finishing off with a clean dry cloth. If the channels are raw unfinished I'm careful to not touch those areas at all.
 
Jstealbird said:
So is Ballistol good to go then? I always give my stock a quick wipe over with it when i'm oiling any metal.
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It's mostly mineral oil. From the MSDS:

Ballistol MSDS sheet said:
Ballistol contains medicinal grade mineral oil, alkaline salts of oleic acid, several alcohols, Benzyl Acetate and an oil from vegetal seeds. The mineral oil is unchlorinated and conforms to the specifications of US Pharmacopeia XX.
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It's not a petroleum product, so at the very least you don't need to worry about laminate stocks. That said, mineral oil is still oil. Heck, food-grade mineral oil is what I slop on my kitchen cutting board every few months. I don't know that I'd use it on wood. It absolutely changes the color of my cutting boards.

Here is the full MSDS if anyone else is curious: https://www.ballistol.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/MSDS_TECH_BIO.pdf

As an aside, those are great for looking at, well, everything, but in the context of this forum specifically they're amazing for looking at your various gun cleaners and lubes. Both from the standpoint of caring for your firearms and protecting them from damage, and also from the standpoint of evaluating for yourself what you're comfortable breathing in and handling with naked skin.

It's probably not the worst thing in the world, but it's also not something I'd personally wipe a stock down with intentionally.

Part of the issue here is also the distinction between truly collectable firearms - the kind you probably shouldn't even be shooting - and the ones that need to be kept in a more immediately usable condition. I've got an RC K98k that gets a lot of range time that I'll oil the stock with BLO on occasion because screw it, the Russians hosed that stock up way before I ever got to it and once in a while it does in fact get shot in the rain. But the nicer stuff? Howards only, if anything. And then you've got the truly rarified air of stuff like a swjXE K98k with an untouched late war stock where you shouldn't do anything to it, period.
 
Cyrano4747 said:
Part of the issue here is also the distinction between truly collectable firearms - the kind you probably shouldn't even be shooting - and the ones that need to be kept in a more immediately usable condition. I've got an RC K98k that gets a lot of range time that I'll oil the stock with BLO on occasion because screw it, the Russians hosed that stock up way before I ever got to it and once in a while it does in fact get shot in the rain. But the nicer stuff? Howards only, if anything. And then you've got the truly rarified air of stuff like a swjXE K98k with an untouched late war stock where you shouldn't do anything to it, period.
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Just to expand on this a little bit because it's one of my pet peeves with collectors in general, not just gun guys:

Conservation isn't a strict set of rules that you either follow or you don't. It's a practice that involves a lot of judgement calls and part of that is a realistic determination of what you have in front of you, its rarity, its value, and what your use case is (display vs. archival storage vs. actual use etc). A lot of collectors having these conversations online will go straight to stuff like NARA or National Park Service guidelines. Which is understandable, those are experts who are tasked with preserving truly irreplicable treasures. But a lot of that isn't appropriate for the average collector who actually touches his stuff once in a while, much less using it, or requires a skill set that most of us don't have. I used to see a lot of people talking about Renaissance Wax, for example in various other online gun communities. That's fine if you have a 300 year old musket that you want to stick in a glass case in a museum for the next 50 years without worrying about deterioration, but that isn't most of us.

The flip side is also true. A lot of damage has been done to otherwise original and good condition firearms by people who thought they were "preserving" them. If you use the wrong materials or the wrong techniques you can do a lot of lasting harm. But even then "lasting harm" is context dependent. It's a real shame when it's an all matching, high condition firearm. Less of a big deal when it's an RC, and at the end of the day if you're going to be rolling around in the mud with your RC as a reenactor hitting the stock with some heavier duty oils to keep it from getting water damaged is probably not a terrible idea.

For what it's worth, this is also why I avoid paper and leather collectables. They're just too much of a headache to responsibly care for, at lest for me. Wood and metal are a lot more forgiving.
 
Leather is tough. Working with old saddles or gear…. It’s basically trying to delay the inevitable. The rifle I have is shot on occasion. I just got a repro sling and called it good.
 
I have so far been able to get the original formula Ballistol from Germany. Apparently the US formula now contains petroleum. It took me awhile to find it at a reasonable price and I don't remember now just where that was.
 
swjXE said:
I have so far been able to get the original formula Ballistol from Germany. Apparently the US formula now contains petroleum. It took me awhile to find it at a reasonable price and I don't remember now just where that was.
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I'm pretty sure just the aerosol version has petroleum, the non-aerosol version appears to be the original formulation
 
From my grandfather, who worked all his life in Zbrojovka Brno, Czechoslovakia, during the war it was Waffenwerke Brunn, pressed linseed oil, which is 100% natural, was used to treat wooden military stocks. I don't know if it was untreated or boiled. The overcooked one is called fermage. Unfortunately, Grandpa passed away a long time ago, so I won't find out. High-quality shellac polish was usually applied to the stocks of hunting stocks. The surface of the metal was treated with a very high-quality warm coat. Except for shotgun barrels. They were armored cold, due to the soldered connection between the barrels.

Even the linseed oil is sufficient to use in small quantities. What is easily absorbed into the wood and wipe off the excess with a rag. When it dries, polish it with a piece of cloth. For laminated stocks, it is decent if they are very dry, but only from the outside. If they are untouched in their original white condition, I wouldn't put anything on them. Even as the oil dries and mineralizes, it changes the color of the wood.
 
I think it best to show us pics of the starting point. Show the channel and wood's exterior. The Germans did (sometimes) seal the action to the wood => sealing??
 
So-
FOR THOSE WHO DON’T KNOW THIS: (I’d rather risk repeating this than read about another fire)

PLAIN linseed oil rags will self-combust if left in a pile, even a small pile. As the oil dries, there’s an exothermic chemical reaction and it can easily start a small fire!

BOILED linseed oil contains a small amount of lead, which prevents boiling over when boiling AND the rags used will NOT spontaneously combust.

DON’T used boiled linseed on your cutting boards & wooden cooking utensils!

I’ve known about linseed oil rags since I was a kid, but my wife didn’t……….but luckily, no big damage. Either soak the oily rags in water, or spread them out (outdoors) to dry, allowing lots of air circulation.
 
I’ve used Howard’s feed and wax for years. Works great, just a little on your hand to coat, then wipe off.
 

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I started a storm a few months back (I think on gunboards?) for asking people whether or not they remove their drywall and oil the boards of their house on a regular basis. Somehow, the dried wood inside your walls can survive a few hundred years with basically no maintenance, but the collecting community has decided that the stocks on their Mausers and Mosins will crumble if they don’t get slathered in Howard’s every couple of years.

People kept saying over and over “that’s different,” or “but but pressure treated wood,” (which is a red-herring), but no one could explain the difference. Apparently it’s just…. different….?


Studs are better than stocks
 
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