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Whipped out the mineral spirits and started cleaning a very dark IHC stock. Seemed like it was going to be more work than I was motivated for so, I broke out the other solvents.
The first one I tried worked wonders. CRC Brakleen in a red can for California (they make a bunch of products BTW). Tried it first on a small spot on the buttstock foregrip area and it removed a lot of gunk.
Sprayed on the rag, each wipe removes a great deal of dirt, grease/cosmoline. You're done a couple/few wipes after when the Brakleen wets out the wood grain. Using Costco white rags also lets you see the material coming off and provides another key to when you're done. The big upshot to Brakleen is the high volatility. It flashes off at very low temperature and limits how much acetone to wood contact one can have. There is a possibility that cellulose fibers can be attacked by acetone, which is present in Brakleen, so I limited the actual exposure. The risk of wood damage is very low.
To make a long story short:
1 hour to remove all of the stock parts (never having done this before) and clean all three parts to a nice black walnut. The end result is a slightly lighter wood than my M1A before finishing. The right side near the mag well looks to have some permanent darkening on a small area.
No grey or odd looking sections indicating wood damage.
Absolutely, positively no abrasives!
The first one I tried worked wonders. CRC Brakleen in a red can for California (they make a bunch of products BTW). Tried it first on a small spot on the buttstock foregrip area and it removed a lot of gunk.
Sprayed on the rag, each wipe removes a great deal of dirt, grease/cosmoline. You're done a couple/few wipes after when the Brakleen wets out the wood grain. Using Costco white rags also lets you see the material coming off and provides another key to when you're done. The big upshot to Brakleen is the high volatility. It flashes off at very low temperature and limits how much acetone to wood contact one can have. There is a possibility that cellulose fibers can be attacked by acetone, which is present in Brakleen, so I limited the actual exposure. The risk of wood damage is very low.
To make a long story short:
1 hour to remove all of the stock parts (never having done this before) and clean all three parts to a nice black walnut. The end result is a slightly lighter wood than my M1A before finishing. The right side near the mag well looks to have some permanent darkening on a small area.
No grey or odd looking sections indicating wood damage.
Absolutely, positively no abrasives!
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