So, what grade of Sand Paper should I use to remove the patina on this old stock?

[Fred]

[Fred]

[Fred]

[Allen Humphrey]

Better start with a wire wheel first.

Wow that is a beauty

[Fred]

Yea, aint it though? Aside from possibly using a little oil and some #0000 Bronze Wool to lightly clean the bolt handle, I can't think of a thing to improve it.
Just in case some don't know what type of 03 this is, it's a 1920 National Match rifle. I'm told that there were 3,000 of them made.

[Kurt]

Fred, What you need is a belt sander with say...60 grit. Nail the thing to the floor and go after it.

Seriously though, I think you have two choices, neither includes sandpaper. One would be to use a stripper like Klean Strip which would remove all the finish and some of the stain. It's pretty simple, spay it on, let it sit and scrub it down with a nylon brush and hot water. Believe it or not, most of the color we all like comes from the BLO and how it reacts to the natural oils and the wood itself over time. Throw in the cosmoline, grease and anything else they got on them and it makes for some rode hard, put away wet look. I have done the strip down and went back with cold pressed linseed oil and the color came right back. Darkens over time, but not all that much. I did a lot of research on linseed oil and found that the artist community had some of the same issues we have....they wanted to avoid the yellowing.
There are many kinds and treatments they have done to linseed oil and out of them all, cold filtered meets our needs best. Somewhere along the line, they found out there is an enzyme action that plays out in all this and cold filtered is one of the few that doesn't destroy that. Boiling actually does to a big extent and although it still occurs, it takes a very, very long time...like 60 years? Hmmm, how old are these guns?

The other thing you can do is put some warm linseed oil on it and try to soften that glaze, sometimes it works, often times not. You'd want to scrub that with a stiff nylon brush if you attempt it.

Don't use sandpaper of any grit.....

Kurt

[Fred]

Thanks Kurt. However I was just Kidding about cleaning this rifle. It appears to be a virtual Virgin and has all original finish on both wood and metal. The wood still has its original textured grain. If I were to remove any of the original finish, Patina, etc. from this rifle, I'd burn in Hell. Needless to say I won't in all seriousness be destroying the value of this 1920 National Match rifle. LOL.

[Kurt]

Right answer Fred!

Kurt

[Jeff L]

Better use an angle grinder if you want to remove all of the patina, just to be certain.

Where did you find it? Please tell.

[John Beard]

I would suggest using $100 bills. By the time you got done, that's how much value you would have lost!

Just kidding!

J.B.

[Fred]

Better use an angle grinder if you want to remove all of the patina, just to be certain.

Where did you find it? Please tell.

Jeff, my wife bought it for me. Aint she somethin? They just aren't making gals or rifles like that anymore! I saw it on GunBroker and John Beard was kind enough to allow me first chance at it! What a gentleman, eh? Thanks John!

[Fred]

I'm not sure that I ought to even turn a single screw on it. Looking at the photo's (it hasn't arrived yet), except for possibly the stacking swivel screw, the screw heads and slots appear to have never been marred by a tool. I wonder if it's possible that the rifle was bought almost 94 years ago and was then just put away? I guess that's possible. Anyway, apparently no one has abused it over the past century. Maybe someone who never used it passed away and the rifle went to their child who didn't have an interest in firearms and the thing just continued to sit in a closet or gun cabinet, out of sight and out of mind until recently being discovered once more. Maybe one of the grand kids took it down to a gun shop and sold it. The gentleman who was selling it on Gun Broker didn't know that it was a National Match rifle, least of all a 1920 National Match rifle. I suppose that until John Beard publishes a book on 1903's, many of the 1903 enthusiasts will continue to allow such treasures to slip by unnoticed. John filled me in on what it was as well as a few other things about it. The man knows a thing or two about the subject.

[Fred]

I would suggest using $100 bills. By the time you got done, that's how much value you would have lost!

Just kidding!

J.B.

That's a pretty accurate assessment John. I'd rather chew my own right arm off than mar, molest or desecrate this rifle. As a matter of fact, I'd prefer not to ever take a steel screw driver blade to any of the screws. I'm sure that somewhere, someone must make a Bronze bladed, hollow ground screw driver blade that can also be easily contoured to the concave shape of the trigger guard screw slots etc. That is if there is ever a need to remove the barreled action from the stock. Like maybe if there was a flood and the rifle became soaked. Glad that we live up on top of a Very high hill above the river valley. I'm anxious to see what the bore looks like. When the rifle arrives, I'll take some pictures of it's full length profile and post them here if anyone would care to see them.

Fred

[pelago]

it probably has a mixture/combination of just about everything one could think of, a commercial paint remover and scrub brush would take a lot off, however!
I have had tremendous luck and been happy with a product used in the Marine Industry to remove stains from teak decks it is a powder dissolved in water and you scrub the wood
'OXY-DECK' It is a produce made by olympic it also gets into the dings and dents and removes all the crud from them also, i was amazed at the first one i worked on, it was a 1921 03 S stock i put two gallons of water in a bucket and followed instructions and the crud and crap just came off like nothing i ever saw before, the water turned crap brown and frothy brown and the wood was completely free of any finish/oil of any kind, let it dry slowly in my utility room and put it on the rifle and did a very very light coat of linseed oil and rubbed it in and it looks like it was just issued
great stuff

[Fred]

Hi Pelago! Say, I was just Joking about removing the original finish and patina from the stock on this rifle. There's nothing wrong with it now and the rifle is worth substantially more as a collectable with it than if it were to be removed. It's the original finish that was put on the stock and it's just darkened with age. This is highly desirable on all historical firearms. This finish on the wood indicates that the rifle has never been worked over and as you can see, all of the edges are extremely sharp and defined. Any cleaning of the rifle, except for gently wiping it down with a clean cloth, would compromise its value by stripping it of the original and well preserved surface, wearing down the wood grain and destroying the integrity of the rifle forever. Original finishes are too often removed by well intentioned but misinformed people who are trying to improve the looks of a firearm. You cannot fix something that isn't broken. Thanks for the good information on wood finishes though! LOL

Fred