All:

Not a total newbie, but wanted to know what you guys like to use here.

Recently picked up a very nice condition mid 60s Marlin lever gun and want to clean, preserve and protect the wood.

The finish on these is fairly thin, meaning not very built up, and appears quite porous.

What products do you guys like to use for cleaning & protecting finishes like these?

Thanks!

Clean it of what? Is it grease, dirt, dust, or?
If stocks really need cleaning I use Xylene; that removes everything including the finish. Or TSP; trisodium phosphate; on military stocks; that sucks out all the grease, dirt, finish, stain, and everything.
Just depends on how clean you want it to be.
Light range dirt; 409.
For my rifles, I use only Johnson's paste wax.

Ok- fair point/question.

The wood is really not terribly dirty as the gun hasn’t been used that much. Just some light “grime” and oil/grease residues that I want to remove prior to waxing. Was planning to use Renaissance wax to finish it off after cleaning it up a bit.

Thanks for the input!

409

Ditto. After it is dry wax with Johnson's Paste Wax as DPCD said.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
409

For really bad stocks I boil them in water with a little A&H Washing Soda to get oils out of them.