Removing oil from an antique walnut stock

[hawknknife]

Gentlemen: What would be a way to remove deeply soaked oil from a 150 year old musket stock?
    I'm sure you have seen the ones so oil penetrated through the years that appear about black
   Any suggestions...Thanks..Carl

[Clark Badgett]

If you do, you will ruin most of it's value. At the most I would rap it in rags and leave it outside a few hours on a nice hot sunny day, but no more.

[GrampaJack]

Carl, I'm wondering why you need to remove the oil.  Clark is right, a 150 year old musket is supposed to be dark.  If you are looking to make a repair there are ways to clean just small areas so that epoxy will stick. If you are talking about the whole stock that is black I would start with just a good gentle mild soap and water cleaning. You might be surprised how much of the "black" is really just good old dirt.  I picked up an 1898 Krag a few years ago that almost looked like it had been painted black but after a few cleanings it actually looks great.  You want to avoid chemicals and abrasives in an effort to preserve what finish may be hiding under there.  Best regards, Jack

[Dphariss]

Carl, I'm wondering why you need to remove the oil.  Clark is right, a 150 year old musket is supposed to be dark.  If you are looking to make a repair there are ways to clean just small areas so that epoxy will stick. If you are talking about the whole stock that is black I would start with just a good gentle mild soap and water cleaning. You might be surprised how much of the "black" is really just good old dirt.  I picked up an 1898 Krag a few years ago that almost looked like it had been painted black but after a few cleanings it actually looks great.  You want to avoid chemicals and abrasives in an effort to preserve what finish may be hiding under there.  Best regards, Jack

If it is petroleum oil it will cause a form of rot or breakdown of the wood. If its Linseed Oil it will not harm the wood.
Cover it with diotomaceous earth, find in aquarium store, and warm it. Any oil that comes out of the stock will be trapped in the absorbent material.
On short stocks I have put them in the oven at 120-150 degrees to warm for an hour..
 
Dan

[John C IND]

I had an oil-soaked Fox Sterlingworth shotgun with a walnut stock that kept splitting.
I put the pieces in a black plastic contractor's trash bag full of cornstarch on the dashboard of a closed pickup truck in the summertime here in Indiana.  Vehicles in the sun can easily have interior temperatures above 130 F.
Every other day or so I used a dry toothbrush to scrub the coffee colored cornstarch of the surfaces of the wood.
I then repacked it in the remaining cornstarch and put it back in the truck.
After a month or so, the wood ceased to stain the cornstarch, and I felt it was ready for gluing.
Twenty years later, the gun is holding up fine, still being shot, and no more fresh splits.
The wood is still fairly dark, but not nearly as dark as it was when I started the project.