I've been reading up on many different ways to remove cosmoline and refinishing a mosin stock and though that I'd ask here for some opinions / suggestions.

Q helped me take off 80-90% of the caked up cosmoline so the Mosin is usable. I want to clean it up further so that I can remove the oily smell and touch and wanted to ask some advice before I proceeded further.

I looked up the how-tos on YouTube and came across iraqveteran8888's refinishing videos.

Following the video, I used hot water, Krud Kutter and a brush to remove the cosmoline off the metal and wood stock. So far so good.

- With boiling water, Cosmoline came off the metal parts easily and oiling the metal parts made it look good.

- Hot water and Krud Kutter took off most of the visible cosmoline off the wood stock and now the stock is bare and clean on the outside.

My question:  what do I do about the cosmoline seeped into the wood stock?  I read that unless the cosmoline inside the wood is dealt with, it could seep out of the stock when the rifle gets hot.

Some options I've read so far:

1. Use shellac as the first layer to seal in the cosmoline. 

2. Wrap the wood stock in paper towel and put inside a paper bag. Leave the bag under the sun to heat it up and let the sun bake the cosmoline out.

3. Use a heat gun to heat up the stock and make the cosmoline come out.

4. Proceed with the next steps of iraqveteran8888's refinishing steps which is to sand the stock, apply minwax pre-stain conditioner, then apply layers of stain and finally TruOil.

I dont really want to make the rifle into the next bubba special so I'm kinda hesitant to proceed with iraqveteran8888's tutorial without further review.

At the moment, I am leaning towards #2) wrapping it in paper towel and bag then letting the sun heat sweat the cosmoline out.

For the finish, I want to restore it back as close to a mosin finish but don't really care for the dark red color of a mosin.

Should I use #1) shellac to seal in the cosmoline then 2) linseed oil for the finish?  Or is the iraqveteran8888 MinWax route good for long term protection of the rifle?

Thanks for your suggestions.

I recently picked up a Mosin too.

My cosmoline cleaning adventure was pretty uneventful.

I just used some kerosene, brake cleaner for tough stuff and assorted brushes and picks on the metal, paying attention to clean the chamber and bore really well ,and wiped the stock down with kerosene, and followed up with lemon oil.

Being a 74 year old rifle, I am okay with it smelling like the armpit of an old armory and not planning on any refinishing.

Try check with someone that works at a car dealership.  Most new cars come from Japan with cosmoline sprayed in certain areas. When I worked at a dealership (long time ago) we had something called DECOS (de-cosmoline) that we sprayed on the cosmoline areas and wiped off.  I don't remember it smelling bad and I know it did not hurt the paint either.  Stab in the dark but I remember it was pretty easy and not smelly.

Try check with someone that works at a car dealership.  Most new cars come from Japan with cosmoline sprayed in certain areas. When I worked at a dealership (long time ago) we had something called DECOS (de-cosmoline) that we sprayed on the cosmoline areas and wiped off.  I don't remember it smelling bad and I know it did not hurt the paint either.  Stab in the dark but I remember it was pretty easy and not smelly.

Zmoyl makes a cleaner called Strik that takes BMWs cosmoline off... I think it's pine oil based by its smell

Leavng the stock in a black trashbag on the dash of your car makes the cosmo ooze out. Just wipe down every 30 to hour.  When you actually fire it, some cosmo will come out too.

Leavng the stock in a black trashbag on the dash of your car makes the cosmo ooze out. Just wipe down every 30 to hour.  When you actually fire it, some cosmo will come out too.

Heat is the main tool for cleaning the stock.  Use the sun (like OldFaithful said), either in a car window, in the yard, on the roof ,,, our sun gets really warm this close to the equator.

You can use a mid- to high-end hair dryer, or a heat gun from the hardware store made for peeling wallpaper and other uses.  Don't cook it.  Just wrap it in newspaper to absorb the cosmoline.  It  the paper ignites, dial back a little on the temperature!!

For the finished surfaces, I found Pledge furniture polish is not just for dusting.  It also cleans leather and any finished wood quite well.  Go over the stock several times with Pledge and a clean cotton cloth several times, and see how much stuff you can take off just with that.

And, above all, HAVE FUN!   

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I did #2. 
Make sure u get all the cosmo from the corners of the camber closest to where the bolt face meets the ramp..  I had to use a 16 gauge bore brush attached to my cordless drill to make it spotless

It feels oily? Are you sure that's not the finish I put on it?

Hi Q -- I'm just bored and being meticulous. 

The main parts are pretty clean but I took the Mosin apart and cleaned out the nooks and crannies.

I will wrap this thing in paper towel and a garbage bag and leave the wood stock in my car over the weekend.  Hopefully, it would be sunny enough this weekend and sweat out all the cosmoline.

Any suggestions on protecting the wood stock after the cosmoline has been removed?  At the moment, the options I am considering are:

1. Iraqveteran8888 suggestion of sanding, applying MinWax pre-stain conditioner, applying multiple layers of MinWax stain, and finally coat with Truoil?

2. Apply a coat of shellac to seal in the cosmoline, sand lightly, and seal with tung oil finish?

What did you guys do with yours to finish or seal the wood stock?

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No matter what you do there will always be some left over. It's more along the lines of what you can tolerate. If you have already used chemicals you could use regular dish washing liquid. Some people would disagree as it tends to dry out the wood but so does all the chemicals. They use dish washing liquid to clean oil spills. Cosmoline is a petroleum product. If you have done all of the above then the only thing that is left is heat by whichever way is most convienient for you. Just keep in mind that its a $100 rifle (well should be $100). If your okay with spending the time and effort go for it. Main thing the chamber, bore and bolt is cleaned well the performance would be the same. Again it's what you are okay with

Or you could just buy the archangel stock and call it a day

Thanks for the advice... I wanted to remove the cosmoline for experience and also as something of a rite of passage.

Even though it's only an inexpensive rifle, I want to make sure I do it right.

Q, I like the idea of the MinWax clear. The stock looked good even without any additional stain.

However, the stock looks barebone (light color) wood now since I used hot water and Krud Kutter to remove the cosmoline from the nooks and all areas of the stock.

The purist in me wants to restore it back to original color (I like that color), but hopefully nicer and without all the crud.



At this point, I think I should practice refinishing on a piece of spare hardwood first before working on the mosin stock.

I recently did a crappy video on a whim after  after researching the internet and reading and watching all of the different ways people have removed cosmoline from their stock and doing a couple of my own. Some techniques require a great deal of effort and set up while others require less. They all remove cosmoline to some extent, some techniques more effective than others. I finally resorted to using a very simple technique that worked for me. It didn't require messy solvents, boiling water, baking soda, an oven or a container large enough to dip the stock. It only required tap water, non-bleach Tilex, a stiff bristled brush and a hairdryer.. The steps are relatively simple:

1. Break down the rifle and remove all accessories/attachments until you have just the stock;
2. Use a disposable rag or towel to remove all excess cosmoline;
3. spray the stock with Tilex (non-bleach in the green bottle) and let soak for 1 min.;
4. thoroughly scrub the stock with a stiff bristled brush
5. rinse stock with tap water;
6. repeat  steps 3 - 5 three to four times;
7. allow stock to dry for a couple of hours. This will allow you to see the problem areas;
8. repeat steps 3 and 5 to clean problem areas;
9.  Run a hair dryer over the stock very slowly to test/remove cosmoline remaining in the stock or in the nooks and crannies. Alternatively, leave the stock in the sun for a day to sweat out the cosmoline. Cosmoline that leaches out of the wood should be wiped off and steps 3 - 5 should be repeated;
10. Allow stock to thoroughly dry; and
11. Apply your finish of choice.



Good luck

Thanks for the video link Mr Farnknocker.  That pretty much convinces me that what you did is what I need to do to remove the cosmoline. Now if the rain would just stop for a bit....

Just some follow up questions:

1. What did you do to refinish your M1s?
Sanding?
Stain?
Seal?

2. Did you do anything to seal in the remaining cosmoline? If so, at what point of the refinishing process and what did you use?

Thanks for the video link Mr Farnknocker.  That pretty much convinces me that what you did is what I need to do to remove the cosmoline. Now if the rain would just stop for a bit....

Just some follow up questions:

1. What did you do to refinish your M1s?
Sanding?
Stain?
Seal?

2. Did you do anything to seal in the remaining cosmoline? If so, at what point of the refinishing process and what did you use?

There are two primary drying oils used to treat M1 stocks (as well many other Walnut stocks): Boiled Linseed Oil (BLO) and Tung Oil (TO). I used BLO on the stocks in the video. I would have used TO but couldn't find any. I used the finest steel wool available (0000?), dipped it in a bowl of BLO and rubbed it into the stock. I then let it sit for 20 minutes and then wiped it off and let it dry for a day. I did it 3 more times and then let the stock dry for a 2 days before reassembling the rifle. Sanding in between coats is optional. Its not really necessary to sand unless you want a super smooth baby-butt finish. Just make sure you don't sand the cartouches away if you do.  I didn't do any sanding and wouldn't hesitate on skipping the sanding again on any future stock that I may end up cleaning.

I did not apply anything to "seal" in the remaining cosmoline. I'm not even sure there are any products that do that. If you cleaned and sweated out the stock sufficiently, you probably won't have any problems with cosmoline leaching out of the wood in the future. Cosmoline inbedded in the wood tends to sweat out of it only under high temperatures. If some cosmoline does leach out, just take a dry rag/paper towel and wipe it off and you're good to go.

3. Use a heat gun to heat up the stock and make the cosmoline come out.

This was the method I used.  Still it was time consuming however be careful as the stock can shrink (as it did in my case) and may crack during reassembly (again as it did in my case)  .  Be careful more so on the thinner areas of the stock as mine warped inwards by the rear tang area  . Because of this I wound up sanding areas of the stock just to be able to reassemble the darn thing.  To further add I wound up doing a hell of a glass bedding job (pain in the ass is what I meant) while I was at it. 

For refinishing I used the good ole Rit dye (mixture of Wine (Red), Sunshine Orange and Dark Brown) along with 3 coats of Tung Oil.  The stock finish did not come out as planned (this is what I get for testing on different types of wood thinking it will come out the same).  Hope this helps .

Delete *double post*

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