So I recently purchased a Yugo M48, and after cleaning the cosmoline off it all, I decided I'd strip and refinish the stock. This is where the problem starts,the first day I covered it in two coats off Citristrip, to no success. After reading a bit online, I figured there was still some cosmoline in the stock. So i put a coat of laqure thinner on it, to dry it out (another forum recommended this over mineral spirits). Then after about a day or two, I put some more citristrip on it. And again, I had no success. none of the finish has come off, and I don't know what else to do, or what the problem could be. Any advice or help would be appreciated.
Yugo M48 Stock refinishing help
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Leave the original military stock as it is. They don't make these rifles anymore. Modifying it in any way will kill any future collector value. Remove the action from the stock, set original stock and all related parts aside. Buy an aftermarket stock for that action, your choice of wood or plastic, and enjoy.
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56,955 Posts
Its cosmoline. Relatively low (under 120 degrees), slow heat is the only way to remove it all. The 'Cosmoline Cooker", mentioned above, works well but its rather involved if you're only doing one weapon.
A simpler method, since its getting warmer outside, is to put the stock (only) in a black plastic garbage bag and then put the bagged stock into another black plastic garbage bag. Set the whole thing outside in the sun. Walk away. Within 24 hrs, take the stock out of the bag and wipe all cosmoline off the stock, discard the inner bag, put the stock in the outer bag and put that bag in another black plastic garbage bag. Place in the sun. Repeat until no cosmoline bleeds from the stock.
A simpler method, since its getting warmer outside, is to put the stock (only) in a black plastic garbage bag and then put the bagged stock into another black plastic garbage bag. Set the whole thing outside in the sun. Walk away. Within 24 hrs, take the stock out of the bag and wipe all cosmoline off the stock, discard the inner bag, put the stock in the outer bag and put that bag in another black plastic garbage bag. Place in the sun. Repeat until no cosmoline bleeds from the stock.
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7,709 Posts
It would be good to see a pic of the current state of the stock.
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You can use a hair dryer or heat gun to heat up the cosmoline and continually wipe it off as it comes out of the grain of the wood. Takes maybe 30 minutes or so. Careful not to keep the heat in one place too long as you can actually darken/slightly burn the wood if you get it to hot, more so with a heat gun. You'll be surprised how much of that crap comes out.
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