I have a 50+ year old FN stock that I'm refinishing. The checkering has so much oil and grim in the groves that it is black in some places. So I'm using the recut to clean out the crud. What I'm finding is the wood is also a little soft and I'm having some issue with geting a sharp point in some areas.

So how can I clean out the crap but still get a sharp point. I'm afraid that if I put finsh or super glue on it I'll lock in the grime.

Help!

Dear Paul:

Since you are refinishing the whole stock, why don't you try some Zip Strip. I usually liberally load it up, let it sit for 10-15 minutes, and then rub it up with a tooth brush to clean out gunked up checkering.

It usually takes about 4-5 applications to get it all out.

After that is completed, I then heat up an iron to the hot linen setting, and using a double thickness of wet paper towel over the checking, cook the wood with iron for 5-10 seconds. This takes a couple of times, and you'll be amazed at how much crud is sucked out of the wood pores with the steam and heat from the iron. Keep replacing the double thickness of paper towel each time.

The steam will also remove the Zip Strip.

Let the stock sit over night, and you have it ready for finish.

I still use a boiled linseed oil finish. So after I have finished the rest of the stock, I will throw a couple of coats into the checkering, and let them dry thoroughly, then re-cut them.

If the wood is still too soft for your liking, then hold it over an over burner flame, which will give the wood a hard finish. Of course keep the stock moving, so you don't burn it. If you have any linseed oil in the checkering, it will migrate out, and you can soak it up with toweling.

The flame does much the same thing as the iron with the steam, it will harden up those points.

I'm doing this as we speak on a couple of 1950's A5 Browning stocks.

If you have further questions, please PM me.

Sincerely,

Chris Bemis

Paul

Chic Worthing had a really great tip for checkering soft or uneven wood.

He would rub plain old super-glue into the wood, then let it harden and checker. You can reply as you cut back into the bare wood.

quote:

He would rub plain old super-glue into the wood, then let it harden and checker. You can reply as you cut back into the bare wood

Jason I had talked to Chic a year or so ago about the superglue trick. Currently if I used it the grime would be glued in the groves. So I need to remove it first.

I guess I am confused.

I thought that you would have the groves clean down to the bare wood before you began cutting the points.

Looking at my first reply it is clear that I did not read your original post all the way through.

quote:

I thought that you would have the groves clean down to the bare wood before you began cutting the points.

Jason, Heck I might be creating my own problem by trying to use my Dembart No1 cutter to both clean out the grooves as well as point the diamonds. I had tried a stripper (not zip strip) and it left most of the crap in the grooves. I didn't try steaming.

Good advice here Paul, get that checkering as clean as possible before you re-checker. You'd be surprised what's in that crud including sand etc. which can be very hard on tools. I've never tried the super glue trick yet but have given soft checkering a good soaking with true oil, let it dry well and the re-checker. --- John 303.

Get an extra hard toothbrush and rub it vigorously after soaking the area in Alchohol. Small areas at a time. The Alch. evaporates quickly but you can remove most of the crud. I agree with Jason, I thought you would clean before trying to re-cut.
Frank

Minwax makes a wood hardener that I've had good results with. If you use it sparingly on the area that is fuzzing up on you it's not to rough on your cutters.

I have used acetone for grime removal/finish stripping. For a real oily military stock I got a couple gallons of the stuff and dumped it into a disposable aluminum roasting pan and immersed the stock, weighing it down with a brick to keep it submerged. Covered with aluminum foil, I let it set for a few days, topping off the solvent as it evaporated. Did it outside, naturally. It leached the oil and grime right out, leaving me with a nice clean (but still scratched/gouged/dented) stock. This was done on a British Enfield buttstock. If one wished to do a full length stock one might have to jerry-rig a container. After drying out a couple of days, restoration went nicely.

Thanks for all the input. I did a terrible job of asking my question. Here is what I had done prior to yesterday.

Used 3m Safe Strip semi paste on the stock 3 times.

Took a rough cloth and MEK to the entire stock several times. Then a STIFF tooth brush and MEK to the checkering.

Followed up with Lacquer thinner in the checkering with the tooth brush.

Then Renewz-it cleaner ( I use it on antiques I refinish) in the checkering.

Denatured alcohol to the whole stock with a tooth brush in the checkering.

Then sanded the stock. It is now a light walnut compared to the chocolate brown that it started out.

What I had was more of a dark STAIN still in the grooves of the checkering. My plan had been to simply recut the checkering with the wood bare removing the stain making sharp diamonds and then put a finish on it. Worked on it this morning just cutting deep enough to remove the stain not trying to finish the diamonds. Going to go ahead and finish clean up. Then work some thinned finish in to the checkering and finish the stock. Coming back later to try and sharpen the points.

Thanks for all the suggestions. As I reread my first post it looked like what I was saying is that I was simply trying to cut the years of crap out of the grooves without any prior cleaning and prep.

Might I suggest just one more step? Use a weak solution of oxalic acid to clean and prepare the wood for staining/finishing

"Raise" the grain with this solution..then proceed as if you know what you're doing ...has worked for me for over 30 years!

quote:

Might I suggest just one more step? Use a weak solution of oxalic acid to clean and prepare the wood for staining/finishing

Thanks Duane I'll give it a try.

quote:

Originally posted by Duane Wiebe:
proceed as if you know what you're doing ...has worked for me for over 30 years!

Judging by your results, I would say that you are doing a good job of "faking it."

I'm a short-timer compared to most of you fellows here but I have had good luck using 1 part clear Minwax mixed with 3 parts mineral spirits and a soft brass suede leather brush to clean old checkering and stiffen up soft wood.