Posted by SGT on June 19, 2008, 3:42 pm, in reply to "refinishing"
I've never heard of an easy method to remove oil that has deeply penetrated the wood; but given the fact that you've already stripped all finishes so that is no longer a consideration, you might try boiling the stock. Boiling does no harm to wood, and in fact has been used to speed wood curing by speeding the removal of nature sap/resins in "green" wood. Just find a pan large enough to hold the stock, fill it up with water; and let her cook. The heat will slowly pull the oil from the wood and that oil will float on the surface of the water. Periodically touch a paper towel to the floating oil/grease residue and remove same to keep the water as clean as possible. When the stock is totally clean and dry, the stock will appear bleached; but color will immediately return with the application of a finish. Boiling has the added advantage of raising crushed grain where wood has been bruised. I tried this method once with an old military mauser stock (no stock ever held more grease than that thing!); it was the only method I tried that worked, and is much cheaper and less dangerous than using acetone. Good luck