An old friend of mine Rich Beyer gave me a recipe for a cleaner/Re-finisher that he called Moose milk. He is unfortunately gone and I have lost the formula. I am hoping someone on here can help me. Thank you in advance.\, Bill doner.bill@gmail.com
While I have no knowledge of "moose milk," I do have considerable experience with woodworking and restoration of old wood furniture. Many antique dealers and restorers use Watco oil with some 0000 steel wool to clean and refinish old furniture. It's a widely available product found in home centers and hardware stores, and is available in "natural" as well as a variety of colors. It creates or restores an oil finish that to my eye appears identical to the original oil finish on many old firearms, and is very easy to use and to touch-up later, if need be. If you're more comfortable using a product made for guns, Birchwood-Casey's Tru-Oil works about the same. Rub-scrub in direction of grain, then wipe off all you can with an old towel or other lint free rag. Let dry for a while and do it again, until desired coverage is achieved. Not completely water-proof, like lacquer or polyurethane, but water resistant and very easily repaired.
Hi Dave, Thank you for your response. I am quite familiar with Watco oil and Howards Restor-a-finish. I have just had great luck with the product that Rich gave me. He was a collector of LC Smith .410s and his guns always looked great. I will keep looking. Thanks again, Bill