Gentlemen,
Took delivery of a $4K Anschutz Biathlon Custom Shop Sporter yesterday. They, he, removed the sling swivels and put a heavy coat of wax, I think bowling alley, on the wood. I went to wipe the rifle down with a clean soft white cloth with a bit of Clenzoil on it. Puddled and showed big patches of wax on the stock... Why anyone would knowingly put wax like that on an oil finished stock. It looks like hell... How do you remove this?

Regards, Matt.

Soap and water. (Remove barreled action.) A little wax is a good thing. Any decent carnauba paste wax will work fine. I use Johnson's floor wax because I have a can. A can will do about 2000 stocks. Put it on with your fingers, sparingly, buff with a soft cloth. Use a soft old toothbrush to remove excess from the checkering.

When the rifle is out of the stock is a good time to seal the inlet areas if it hasn't been done.

Wax or oil is actually a good thingy. Wax will help water bead off the wood. Some oil finishes, like those found on Sakos and Tikkas will actually soak up water like a sponge. A light waxing and buff also makes it shine a bit to impress the neighbors. I use a ton of 1850 as well. It cleans all the gunk out of the stock and helps keep the water out. As an experiment I took a couple off cuts from a new Weatherby Mark V barrel and a bead blasted, blued off cut from a Remington 700 barrel and left them in a jar filled with 1850 for a year or more. There was no change to the bluing.

You might be able to buff it level on a soft muslim wheel??

If it were mine, I would polish it off with a mix of Linseed thinned a bit and Rottenstone mix, and polish to a satin finish or dull finish, whatever, then wax it lightly with Carnuba or some of the waxes that Brownells sells for that purpose..In other words use the last stages of finishing a custom stock.

This is the gobbley goop that I use all the time. Don't know where I picked up this nasty oil and wax habit. Been using it as long as I can remember.


Gunsmith Rod Henrickson Stock Protect by Rod Henrickson, on Flickr

Wax is a long chained hydrocarbon best removed by a non-oily long chained hydrocarbon solvent aka: mineral spirits. Cheap and very effective. Lemon or citrus oils work well too. A couple of thin coats of Johnson's Paste wax could be re-applied.

Gentlemen,
I would like to thank everyone for their input, unfortunately, I made an ASSUMPTION about the problem with the stock and only a further 10 days or so with it has shown the heavy wax was not the problem. The pictures I am going to link do not really tell the tale as I am not gifted with photography.

I took delivery of one of the 18.5" heavy barreled Anschtz 1727 AVs in .22 LR setup for a suppressor, that was a "Custom Shop" Rifle about 10 days ago. All $4000 plus of it... That said I cannot help but say that I was horrendously disappointed in the wood finish on this stock when I had a chance to look it over closely. At a distance it looks GREAT, however, get up close and turn it in the light and it becomes very obvious that the stock was never finished properly in Germany and it was not picked up over here(?). I thought initially it was the wax that Steve put on at the Custom Shop, however, further inspection has proven that to be inaccurate. You will likely be unable to see it in the pictures, however, I can clearly see large swaths of sanding marks, open pores, and differential areas where the wood took more of the oil based finish exactly along the lines of the figure of the stock. More finish, or preparation, was never applied. Further on the other side there are VERY OBVIOUS areas that should have been corrected when the stock was in prep(if they do prep) and originally finished. It is bad enough that I am sorely tempted to send it back for a refund. Anschutz cannot afford to let this type of thing out of the door as a $4000 plus Custom Shop Rifle. Before you ask the only thing I wiped across it was old t shirts that I wash and bleach to "ultra white" with a little bit of Clenzoil on the fabric. It pooled in the oddest variation clearly where there was finish and where there was not... That is the reason I initially thought it was the wax Steve applies. Not the case.

The first few pictures show how easy it is to miss, even relatively up close, and a few photos at the bottom to give you and idea of how bad the finish is. You truly have to look at it up close to appreciate it... I apologize for my lack of camera skills. What I would give to have Dave Westbrook photograph this stock...

From the photos it sort of looks like the finish I have seen on Fortner sporters, Sakos, Tikkas Heyms and a lot of other European guns. There is no topcoat on the finish like the Americans use. The pores are filled (usually semi filled) and the finish is cut down to bare wood and a coat of linseed or other non-hardening oil is rubbed in. It shows glistening patches on the hard areas of the wood like that.

I'm not saying it's a good or bad finish. But it drives me nutz when I have to install recoil pads as the masking tape that I use to protect the stock during sanding sucks out all of that fish oil and even after rubbing in lemon oil, the imprint from the masking tape remains for two or three days.

ADD NOTE: I have seen guys put a topcoat over that finish to give it a more American look.

30-378,
Would you care to suggest how to fix this stock? It is beginning to look like it happened while it was in the shipping bag between ANA and my dealer. The inside of the bag WAS sticky... Could it simply be dry? I need to let them fix it whatever form it that "fix" takes, however, I like the rifle and want it back...

Regards, Matt.

I'll chime in, but I am not in the same league as Speechucker. So please take what I say with a "grain of salt".

I would try wetting the finish with mineral spirits and lightly rubbing with the grain with
0000 steel wool. Dry it off and rub in Tung oil thinned 30% with mineral spirits. don't leave excess on the surface.

If Speer Chucker suggests something else - do what he says!

Also, those are beautiful stocks.

Yeah just about any hardening oil like True Oil or Tung Oil rubbed in lightly with steel wool would probably even it out. You could pull out the original oil with a solvent like Brian suggested but I don't know that it's necessary. It's not that there is really anything wrong with the finish that's on it now, it's just different from what we are accustomed to seeing here in North America. There is also something said with keeping it all original too. Those Fortners are pretty expensive guns and if you modify it you will detract from the value of it.

I would leave it the way it is myself and just get used to it. But that's just me. As said it's just different. Not bad.

Gentlemen,
I GREATLY appreciate your input. I'm happy to say ANA is taking care of the problem. Thank you again...

Regards, Matt.