Cleaning a CMP M1 Garand

[masochusetts]

I took delivery of my first CMP M1 a couple of weeks ago, and I'm hoping to finally get the spare time to start restoring it this weekend. (It's a service grade, HRA Greek for those of you keeping track of what the CMP is stocking nowadays.)

I've been reading up on the many (and often contradictary) methods for cleaning these pieces. I've pretty much decided to use mineral spirits on the barrel and receiver, and try the "Easy Off" route on the stock.

Has anybody here actually gone through the process of getting cosmoline off one of these CMP pieces?

 

[SiameseRat]

I'd appreciate hearing if you have luck with that method. I've got a rifle that's been sitting in the closet for a few years! Haven't had to strip cosmoline before so if you let me know how it goes or any suggestions for what you would have done differently, lemme know!

 

[Admin]

I'm not sure what the best method is, but wearing latex gloves is a start.

That crap sucks.

 

[cdkayak]

I'd be careful using the easy-off method. I know some people swear by it but it makes me very nervous. One of the primary ingredients of EasyOff is Sodium Hydroxide (Lye), very hazardous to you and can be damaging to the wood.

I just pulled this off a general discription and usage page for Lye.

The paper industry uses the caustic effects of sodium hydroxide on organic materials. Sodium hydroxide breaks down the lignin in wood. Lignin is a binder that holds cellulose fibers together in wood. When the lignin is removed, the freed cellulose fibers can be formed into paper. The digestive effects of sodium hydroxide on organic materials is the principle behind such drain cleaners as Liquid Plumr, which is a concentrated aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide.

When I stripped the stock on my '03 I used mild furniture stripper, Formby's or something like that. Just took my time and eventually got all the cosmo off.

The metal parts I used gun scrubber etc.

Whatever you use, GLOVES & GLASSES(especially if you go the easyoff route) Lye dissolves tissue.

CD

 

[TonyD]

Most people I know leave the stock alone, or you can purchase better grades of authentic M1 replacement wood.

Mineral spirits and a lot of elbow grease would probably be fine. Just make sure that you follow it up with liberal amounts of Hoppe's and lube to remove the spirits.

 

[Wildweasel]

Boiling ass hot water for cosmo. If it has gotten hard then solvents are needed.
use the oderless easy off followed by hot water on the stock. I have done nasty stcks and they come out fine,
if the stock isn't too dirty/cosmo then use hot water and a strong soap.
done this for lots of surp stuff over the years.

 

[cdkayak]

After I was done removing the cosmo & old finish I refinished it with tung oil. I was able to preserve the original color by not using any harsh strippers or chemicals. I've got a beeswax mixture I rub into the wood to help with preservation.

CD

 

[masochusetts]

Awesome feedback. Thanks for all the comments. Will post my results (assuming the Easy Off doesn't make my fingers drop off). 8)

 

[masochusetts]

In case anybody's interested, here are "before" photos of my new baby:

http://home.comcast.net/~emcgovern1/left_full.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~emcgovern1/right_full.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~emcgovern1/bottom_rcvr.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~emcgovern1/bottom_stock.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~emcgovern1/right_barrel.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~emcgovern1/right_rcvr.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~emcgovern1/top_rcvr.jpg

The flash makes the stock look better than it actually is. The condition of the wood is good, but it's fairly well cosmoline-infested.

 

[Paulm]

I don't know personally how it works but I have heard that the new steam cleaners that are on the market work wonders with the cosmo

Bugie

 

[MikeD]

To really get the cosmoline out of the wood, let it sit outside in the hot sun
and keep wiping it off with paper towels, the sun does a great job of melting all that old crap. Once its thoroughly cleaned use Tung oil to get that Military finish back.

 

[cdkayak]

Here's a link that covers a whole variety of methods.

http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting/cosmoline/index.asp

 

[JonJ]

Go to http://p077.ezboard.com/bparallaxscurioandrelicfirearmsforums
and then to the C&R Stock Cleaning forum. Rome Polaski the mod goes by "Cabinetman" and is an expert on cleaning, preservation, and refinishing. I would never use water (steam except for small ding repair) or Easy Off.
I got 2 Garands (1 SA & 1 H&R both USGI) from the CMP last winter and just wiped the stocks down with mineral spirits and 0000 steel wool. Took all the gunk off and they look great. Please read all that's there and ask lots of questions before you do anything with the wood.
For the cosmo on the metal, Acetone worked great.
BTW, sweet rifle, congrats.

 

[Lynne]

I have used Murphy's Oil Soap on some really nasty wood - after cleaning it with something else first to get the major gunk off - I've also used it on an old Mauser that I picked up - worked like the nuts on it. FWIW.

 

[masochusetts]

Thanks, again, for all the additional comments and pointers. The ezboard and surplusrifle sites have been especially helpful. I was planning to start this project last weekend, but LGITW (life got in the way).

Will try again this weekend.

Although the comments here have reflected the conflicting approaches I had found on my own on the web, I think I have finally been convinced not to try the EZ Off oven cleaner trick on the stock. Will try mineral spirits and hot sun, at least to start.

 

[Admin]

Good luck

 

[masochusetts]

Update: I finally got started on this project this weekend. Field stripped the M1, then detail stripped just enough to free up the buttstock, front handguard, and rear handguard so I could work on the wood. (I didn't have a tool that would free the rear handguard clip/band easily, so I just left it on. Hope I don't regret that later.)

The admonitions against using oven cleaner spooked me enough that I decided to start off with kerosene. Did just the handguards as a test, figuring I wouldn't attack the buttstock until I got some practice.

Soaked the handguards; scrubbed with a green Scotch scour pad. Soaked. Scrubbed. Repeated. Repeated.

Didn't seem to be working very well.

Note: I am not a patient, detail-oriented person, and this is not a Collector or Correct Grade CMP M1.

After a couple of hours of work on the handguards with kerosene, I started to get impatient.

Screw this. I decided to go for the oven cleaner.

I figured that my fallback position if I royally screwed up would be to do what I probably should have done in the first place: follow TonyD's suggestion above to replace the stock altogether.

So I sprayed the wood with oven cleaner and waited 15 minutes. Wiped off with paper towels and rinsed with Simple Green spray cleaner. The cosmoline and the old finish came off as a very satisfying thick goo. I applied a second coat and got off the remaining crud. Note that I used the "no odor" E Z Off that contains no lye. This is different than is suggested on the Fulton Armory site, which recommends using the heavy duty version. This '"no odor" stuff seems a little tamer. Still, it raised the grain more than I would have liked, and the wood comes out looking gray and bleached. I would not suggest using this stuff on a collector-grade stock.

But for what I'm doing, it's okay.

Next: leave the stock in a steaming hot car for a day or two to leach out any remaining cosmoline. Then 00 steel wool, followed by Minwax natural stain, followed by 00 steel wool, followed by tung oil finish.

 

[TonyD]

Gald you got some results and didn't mess anything up.

 

[JonJ]

Glad it all worked out for you. You did good by not taking the front handguard clip off. More trouble than it's worth and if you don't have the right tool, the handguard will more than likely crack. What's nice is, the handguard just slips right off the barrel and you're good to go.
Try denatured alcohol with the 0000 steel wool next time. No raised grain or bleaching.
Jon

 

[masochusetts]

Glad it all worked out for you.

Still plenty of opportunity to screw up before this project is finished!

You did good by not taking the front handguard clip off.

Thanks. Positive reinforcement. That's good. 8)

I'll post some photos of the stripped stock in a few days, followed by whatever I end up with for a finished product. Seems like many of the folks here have plenty of experience doing this stuff, but maybe another first-timer can benefit from my experience.

I've just been bowled over by the different approaches and different suggested products you can find all over the web. (Not to mention the "Gawd! Don't do that!" warnings about conflicting techniques.)

 

[JonJ]

I've just been bowled over by the different approaches and different suggested products you can find all over the web. (Not to mention the "Gawd! Don't do that!" warnings about conflicting techniques.)

Yup, there is a ton of stuff out there. That's why I suggested "CabinetMan" over on ParallaxBill's C&R board. The man knows his wood.
So when are you going to buy another Garand [twisted] ? Can't just have one, can ya?

 

[masochusetts]

So when are you going to buy another Garand? Can't just have one, can ya?

Hmm, that's a tough question. Multiples are a luxury until I get one of everything else I "need":

S&W 686
1903
decent shotgun (my old single shot 20 gauge won't make it for trap)
AR-15

 

[Wildweasel]

Once you get a few coats of the nat stain on it the grey will go away. I have tried both of the easy-off methods, and the oder free is best in my experiance. (thats why I suggested it. )

It all comes down to how Bad the wood is with old finish and cosmo. the other methods work allright for some but I have had good luck with EO. (and when I have had to make repairs (splits etc) the EO cleans it enough so the acraglass sticks and no problem with the epoxy not soaking in like if there is cosmo still in the wood.

 

[masochusetts]

I'm pleased with the odor-free EZ Off, and I found I wasn't in as much of a panic to get it off in a hurry as I might have been with the heavy duty stuff. Thanks for suggesting it.

...when I have had to make repairs (splits etc)...

Glad you mentioned this. Once I got the crud off, I discovered I have a couple of hairline cracks
in the stock, on either side of the trigger group.

I was thinking about using thin CA ("super glue"), applying it from the inside. I've used CA a lot on RC model airplanes, so feel pretty comfortable working with the stuff. Any opinions on using it on stock splits?

 

[masochusetts]

What better way to spend July 4th than to finish restoring an M1?

After the initial EZ Off treatment last month, I was planning to make use of the hot sun to complete the cosmo & old finish removal, but we went into that long period of cool wet weather, so this whole project got put on the shelf.

When the hot weather returned, I let the stock sit out in the sun several times, and I was amazed at how much cosmoline continued to ooze out of the wood. I gave it another EZ Off treatment, and eventually got the wood where I wanted it:

Tried fixing the cracks with thin CA. Seems to have worked mechanically, but I wouldn't do this with a collectible stock. I also tried ironing out the dings, but it didn't seem to work well and it left the wood looking uneven where the steam had hit it. I also ran the risk of marital discord using the iron for this purpose, so I decided that dings give the stock "character" and moved on.

Then: 0000 steel wool; Minwax natural stain; 0000 steel wool; and finished up with Formby's Tung Oil Finish. I know the Formby's isn't real tung oil, and again, I wouldn't have done this with a collectible, but I couldn't find any real tung oil and I was anxious to get this project finished. I also didn't bother to try to match the handguards with the buttstock. I just wanted them to look decent. So here's the end result:

A couple of other notes: I tried boiling water to remove cosmo from the metal parts, but I don't think I'd try that again. Although it's effective, you've got to dry absolutely everything, absolutely completely, and absolutely immediately, and then lube, or else rust appears incredibly fast. Think I'll stick with kerosene or brake cleaner in the future.

The reassembly was a bigger pain than I expected. The things that I expected to take a long time went quickly, but things that I budgeted 5 minutes for ended up taking hours. For example, most of the re-assembly of detail-stripped components (like the rear sight) went smoothly, but the field-strip reassembly of the trigger group exposed a major problem: the stock appears to have swelled so that the trigger guard just would not close and latch in on the receiver. I finally decided to scrape off a bit of wood where the receiver goes into the stock to allow the receiver and trigger group to mate a hair closer. This worked, but once again, I would never have attempted this on a collectible stock (and I did it in this case only after researching the issue and being 100% sure of the problem).

Oh. Also experienced my first case of "M1 thumb.' Now I know what everybody's been talking about. OWWWWWW!

Thanks to all for the many suggestions and pointers in this thread.

 

[Wildweasel]

Looks good. I have a nice dark forward handguard minus the metal if you want. the upper Spare I have is birch so it will be light like the one you have.
It is in the raw, but an original one. not a repro. Cost of mailing it to you if you want it. as far as cracks go I have had great luck with brownells acraglass. but since you used the ca I think you are stuck.

 

[Admin]

Damn! Looks real good! Nice work.

 

[Lynne]

Very nice job....I'm drooling again. <sigh>

 

[JonJ]

Great job and don't ya just love the smell of the refinished wood?
Here's my USGI 1944 SA Service Grade CMP after cleaning with mineral spirits/0000 steel wool and many coats of Behr's 600 finish.

 

[C-pher]

Both of those are really nice.

And how cool that you did that yourself. I've been thinking about it...but I don't have the room do that much stuff. But that's the draw back of not having a basement.