The first step was to strip away the 65+ years of dirt, grime, and linseed oil that was boiled into the stock when it was first produced during WWII. To do this, I used oven cleaner, believe it or not. We've found that it works extremely well in drawing out the oil in order to fully clean the wood.
It took several applications, as the stock also had some paint on the buttstock from where the Korean's had arsenal marked it (this particular stock was lent to the South Koreans for their defense most likely during the Korean War in 1950-53). Once I got it all off, I washed it off with the hose.
The stock is black walnut, which was the only wood they used during WWII productions, thus the wood is still fairly dark even when it's been stripped and dried. After I'd let it cure for a while in our scorching Arizona sun, I had to work on steaming out the imperfections, the little nicks and dents in the wood. This will sometimes help to swell the wood and even out the finish. All you need is a rag, a little water, and an iron. You wet the rag, place it over the dented spot, and place the iron as precisely as you can into the dent, heating it up and hopefully swelling it.
I did the best I could, but this stock was pretty dinged up. Fortunately, I got it pretty cheap. Now that I was finished with the steaming, it was finally time to apply a new coat of linseed oil. It takes several coats, each time letting the coat before it soak in so that the wood will be preserved.
Once I'd applied enough coats to keep the wood moist with oil, and wiped the excess away, I was surprised how dark it turned out. This is darker than the other stocks my dad and I have done, but all in all it's still a nice dark brown. So there you have it! Not too involved, but quite time consuming. Woodworking is a rewarding line of work, and even more so when it's on historical firearms.
Wow, that's neat.
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