Calcium carbonate, ground up sea shells. Works pretty good actually.

I bought 2 Polish m44's from Empirearms.com and decided to restore the ugliest stock to its former glory. I washed it with Kutzit and this worked very well, the old oils and grease and sweat ran off as I scrubbed it with a kitchen scrub pad (you guys have to try these they work as if designed for this purpose).

Well after sitting in the sun for a couple of days areas of the stock still oozed oil. So I get some whiting and make a gloppy paste with acetone and paint it on. Like a charm there it was sucking out the oil. I "recharged" what I had on the stock by very carefully dribbling additional acetone on it to rewet. Once dry I brushed off. Almost all of it. Now I have a partially white stock. I will wash with acetone and a scrub today and see if it all comes off. I surely hope so 'cause this Polish wood is a unique orangish color I find weirdly attractive. If can get the seepage stopped I want to carefully apply Tung Oil and do a good job at it to see just how well this will look. I think it will be very pretty. I have no intentions of coloring the wood with a stain; just the natural color of the Tung.

Any ideas/hints/tips appreciated.

No I will not sand unless absolutely necessary as I want to keep the serial numbers and armory cartouches in place.

Thanks.

When I restore an old oil soaked english gun stock I sometimes make a pasty cake of whiting around the complete stock about and inch thick and let it set for several days...

I like chlorinated solvents better than acetone. Brownell's has one I'm especially fond of called TCE. Not nearly as flamable as acetone, but stinks just as bad. IMHO, it works better than acetone.

Ray, at least I know someone with experience is using this...I don't feel so bad now

Pa.Frank, I would have loved to use methylene chloride, the BEST vapor degreasing solvent I have ever seen, smells good too. The local hardware store used to carry 1,1,1-trichloroethane but I guess this is politically incorrect now.

Update, I washed off the whiting carefully suing the acetone and scrubs. It looks real good now. I had to light sand (just once stem to stern, lightly) with 320, 400 and 600 grit paper. The stock doesn't seem to have been touched by the paper, it is smooth like it was when I got it except it isn't due to the wood pores being filled with commie cosmo.