Removing inletting ink from channel side flats

[HighUintas]

I'm nearing the final round of wood removal in my barrel channel in letting and I have a bad buildup of inletting blue on the side flats of the channel. I never put any color on the side flat of the barrel, but it has been getting rubbed off of the corners of the barrel onto the side flats as I put in and take out the barrel.

I have been using dykem hi spot blue, which seems to absorb into the wood as it builds up. I can't scrape the  sideflats, because then I would end up with large gaps that would need to be filled.

I have cleaned a little bit of it off with acetone on a q-tip, but it doesn't completely remove the color.

Is there any method you all would recommend for cleaning the blue color out of the wood? I would assume that using bleach would weaken the wood fibers there too much, although I have considered trying it on a small area to see if it would bleach the color out. I decided I didn't want to use any betting compound in the barrel channel, because I wanted to be able to see my nicely done inlet when removing the barrel, but a bunch of blue stained wood would diminish those warm fuzzies.

[Stoner creek]

Are you going to see the inlet blue on the outside surface of the stock? If not don’t worry about it.

[45-110]

Prussian blue is usually used on metal, and stains wood. Try Jerrods inletting black instead, and use sparingly.

[Craig Wilcox]

I've experienced staining with Dykem, but not with Prussian Blue.  Perhaps because I use it very lightly.

Do NOT scrape the vertical sides - they have stain because of the metal entering and leaving the wood, and if you widen it out, you will have a large gap on each side of the inlet.

Try using (sparingly) some lacquer thinner on a thick paper towel.

[HighUintas]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I'll try some lacquer thinner. I already have some very small gaps that aren't horribly noticeable that I am going to try to tighten up by wetting the stock and compressing it with the barrel in it after I get the four stock thinned out, but I absolutely don't want to do any scraping to make it worse.

I have heard people have experienced staining with both Prussian Blue and Jarrows black when you used to heavily, but other people that have used them without problems say they use them sparingly. I have been doing just that with mine, but the continual buildup is causing staining. It's good to hear somebody else that has used dykem sparingly also have that issue and it's not just me.

I will have to find another method of color transfer after the barrel.

[Dwshotwell]

After struggling with inletting black, I was recently converted to using soot either from an alcohol burner or a candle. I find it much more manageable, although your mileage may vary.

[borderdogs]

I still use Jarrows but I have been having good success with black magic mark and pencil lead. When I use inlet black I blush the part rather than painting the part it still works but not as messy. I watched Mike Millers Danial Boone rifle video and he uses pencil lead from a carpenters pencil so I tried it and it works well. Its not as obvious as inlet black but you get use to it with good light.
Rob

[BozoMiller]

I have saw guys using lipstick, they swear by it.

[HighUintas]

Some other methods I've seen mentioned are:

powdered charcoal in olive oil

Powder burnt umber pigment in something... Could have been kerosene or mineral spirits... Can't remember

Lamp black collected in a saucer from a candle or lamp and mixed with olive oil

What I haven't seen much of is inquiries on how to remove color soaked into the wood without wood removal. I'm not sure why people don't seem to ask because there are plenty of pictures I see where it looks like the person used half a bottle of black on their barrel 

[elkhorne]

Try a oil lamp from Wally World and their brand of lamp oil. When you need inletting black, you just light the lamp with the chimney removed. The “spot” works good and when you have to part smoked up, you turn the lamp off. The soot produced by the oil lamp is not as “dirty” as a candle flame soot. This method works very good but if you use the oil lamp in your home shop, garage shop or out building, you need to have a fire extinguisher close by just for safety sake. By the way if you want to use lipstick, do it only on a ladies rifle! Good luck.
elkhorne

[Dwshotwell]

What I haven't seen much of is inquiries on how to remove color soaked into the wood without wood removal. I'm not sure why people don't seem to ask because there are plenty of pictures I see where it looks like the person used half a bottle of black on their barrel 

I’m sorry. I think the reason you’re not seeing much on the topic is that most of these other methods, while they make a mess if you use to much, stay on the wood’s surface mostly while it sounds like you’ve got color soaked into the wood fibers. I’ve used inletting black but was able to get rid of the excess with a light sanding that didn’t really remove any, or at least not much, wood. I only used lipstick once and it could have been the lipstick I was given but it seemed clumpy and too greasy. I find I don’t make nearly as much of a mess with the lamp soot and that’s why I mentioned it - not as much clean up in the first place.

[Ron Scott]

I had a student experience a similar situation with Prussian blue. Be careful how much solvent you use. It can absorb into the wood making a deep stain. Im my students case the color was  never completely removable. He had to stain the stock very dark to obscure the blue. My advise in to use a color that is neutral in color.

[Jim Kibler]

I have used lots of things as transfer color, but the last several years I've used prussian blue, but it's in a heavy grease.  This seems to work well and not absorb into the wood. 

One of the keys with any transfer color is to use VERY little.  Too often I see stocks that are covered in transfer color.  With this the case, the transfer color really isn't telling you anything and the work looks terrible.

Remember, transfer color is just for final fitting.  Perhaps the last 5 percent.


Jim

[HighUintas]

Thanks for all the advice! I may give the kerosene lamp method a go.

Luckily, I only have a little on the wood outside of the barrel channel and all of that wood will be removed. So the only place it may be visible in the end will be when I remove my barrel. The strange thing is that I have used this dykem brand blue on a walnut stock barrel inlet and had no issue at all, and the dykem blue seems to be a heavy grease that never dries out, so I wouldn't think that it would soak into the wood but it does.

I think Jim probably hit on something really important for using a color transfer that has a tendency to soak into the wood. I had started using it way too early in the process and have put in and taken out my barrel many many times.

[Not English]

I'm a little late to the discussion. I have used non drying prussian blue for almost 40 years. A light coat is good. I use an acid brush that has had the bristles trimmed back a bit to apply the blue. I don't use it straight out of the tube. I squirt a dab on a piece of scrap wood so I can smear it out with the brush to avoid gobbing it on. I think it leaves a thinner coat. Lacquer thinner is my cleaning agent of choice. I have never had a problem whether it's maple,walnut, or cherry.

[Tim Ault]

If you don’t already have a lamp and oil to make good soot. And easy way is to just twist up a few strips of plain masking tape and lite it . Makes a good amount of soot and is next to free! What I used to use in my competition days for blacking out the sights

[HighUintas]

That's a nice tip. I may try burning some masking tape tonight. Any idea if painters blue tape will soot it up also?

[Daryl]

I have saw guys using lipstick, they swear by it.

Some need to put lipstick on the gun after it's finished.
That's what I would need to do.

[Daryl]

That's a nice tip. I may try burning some masking tape tonight. Any idea if painters blue tape will soot it up also?

Try it and see for yourself.

[HighUintas]

Well I tried some lacquer thinner. It works a little to clean off the heavy build up, but it also tends to generally spread the color through the wood a bit because it seems to absorb so easily into the wood.  I'm not going to be able to get the color out, so I guess it's there to stay.

One thing to note is that lacquer thinner is now basically just acetone with a very small amount of other solvents due to VOC restrictions. That's why it didn't work any better than the acetone I tried!

I also tried hoppes 9. It seems to clean some out without spreading over/into the wood as much.

For marking color, I didn't get around to trying masking tape yet, but I did try some cheap lipstick. Yes, the lipstick works extremely well and I think I prefer it to Prussian blue.