Mishap recovery assistance needed!

[jm190]

Hi All,
   Due to "lack of situational awareness" (yes, I've completed several military accident reports) I managed to knock over a cup of freshly mixed 50/50 linseed oil-turpentine and it splashed onto a freshly whiskered and ready to stain stock. I wiped the drops off immediately but it got into the wood. The initial nickel sized stains have spread to the size of a quarter. 

   The stains are glossy enough that I'm thinking my ferric nitrate solution won't penetrate in these areas. I'm looking for suggestions that might allow to remove enough of the oil stain for me to continue. I have acetone, xylene, denatured alcohol, naphtha and mineral spirits for solvents and multiple grades of sandpaper if they might be of any use. Or am I SOL and need to find an alternative method of coloring the stock.

As always, thanks for any help provided.
John

[Mike Brooks]

UH-OH......

[rich pierce]

Splash the whole stock to match and go from there.

[smart dog]

Hi JM,
Get a can of "Klean Wood" from the hardware store. Wear gloves and make sure your shop area is ventilated, then soak the stains with it.  That may help.  Then go forward with your whiskering and staining and see what happens.  I've had experience touching up stocks after stain and finish, and you may be surprised how the stain can still penetrate.  Linseed is not very water proof so give it a go.  Also, you can dilute ferric nitrate with alcohol, which may penetrate better. 

dave

[redheart]

I've had pretty good results with lacquer thinner and a tooth brush. Paint stripper between lacquer thinner baths if it's particularly stubborn. Like Rich says coating the whole stock with the linseed oil and then stripping it may even out the spottiness.

[Long John]

John,

The solution to your problem is easy.  Get a stripping agent like Zip-Strip or other brand from you local hardware store and strip the stock according to the directions on the product you use.  It is not uncommon for gunmakers to strip stocks and refinish.  The linseed oil has polymerized in the wood and a stripping agent is what you are going to need to get that out.  Stripping agents depolymerize the finish, solvents don't.  I have used strippers on linseed finishes, Chambers oil, Permalyn and paint.  Follow the directions.  When done, whisker the stock and dewisker it just as you would do normally. When you apply your water-based acid/iron stain you will have no evidence of your mishap.

Best Regards,

JMC
John Cholin

[David Price]

I agree with Long John,  100 %

David Price

[Daryl]

Ditto - rubber or plastic gloves!!!!!!!!!

[Bigmon]

If the stripper don't do it, coat the entire stock with what ya splashed on it, and the try something to stain it with??

[jm190]

Hi All,
   First, thanks for all the suggestions.

   I had already started the recovery when Long John, David Price and Daryl made their suggestions of using a stripper. I couldn't find any Klean-Wood as suggested by smart dog so I went with a combined suggestion of red heart, rich pierce and my wife. She's a furniture grade woodworker. I wiped the whole stock down with lacquer thinner and brushed the spots with a tooth brush. The gloss disappeared but I could still see a color difference so I wiped the whole stock down with turpentine since the stock was splashed with a 50/50 mix of linseed oil and turpentine. That seemed to pretty much make the stock the same color all over. I let it dry over night and proceeded with the ferric nitrate stain. I think the recovery was a success for the most part as I might have lost a little figure. Here's pictures...both these areas had a couple of quarter sized stains. This is with one application of 50/50 linseed oil-turpentine followed by an application of 75/25 linseed oil-turpentine-japan drier rubbed in furiously. The upper forearm is actually the same color as the lower forearm; it just came out lighter in the image.






Once again, thanks for the help!
John