Refinishing an old Remington 870 Gun Stock, Can't get rid of black spots!

[David LaMattina]

Hello all, I am working on refinishing an old Remington 870 gun stock. It is a vintage police department take off set and is solid walnut.

I will be finishing with Sam Maloof poly oil for a satin finish. I have already started on the stock itself and it looks great!

I stripped down the forend and cannot seem to get rid of these "black spots" - not even sure what it is! Old stain? Residue from the gun being fired?

I tried sanding over it, but doesn't even seem take anything off. Any ideas?

Here's what the stock set looked like when I got it. What an awful finish!
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Here are the black areas I am speaking of:
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[Mike Monroe]

Could try some bleach on the black spots. Use a Q-tip and see if it removes the stains in one of the hidden areas first.

[Steve Schoene]

Oxalic acid would be my bet to remove the stain. It's sometimes marketed as wood bleach (single part, not two part)

[David LaMattina]

Thank you kindly! - Will regular bleach work? Or does it have to be wood bleach? Just curious.

[Art Mann]

I would take it very slow on the bleach to make sure you don't do unexpected damage.

[John TenEyck]

That might be gun powder or lube residue. Try wiping or even soaking it with Naptha (or gun barrel cleaner?)

John

[Art Mann]

I was just thinking that the stains might be a mixture of gun oil and combustion residue.

[Steve Schoene]

There are two kinds of products labeled wood bleach. Oxalic acid is sometimes just sold as oxalic acid, and some times as wood bleach. In either case it's a crystalline powder. Its forte is iron stains, which is typically what black stains from water spots look like. It may slightly lighten the color of the surrounding wood so sometimes the whole surface may need treating to get even color. It won't make a dramatic color change in the basic wood unless applied way to strong and kept wet for far too long. Alway do a test before working on the actual project.

The other wood bleach comes as two solutions A and B. When applied in sequence on the wood it can completely remove the natural color of the wood. The full treatment can make the walnut white (or slightly grey), with lots of practice and test patches it would be possible to make a partial lightening of the wood color. Even the best pro refinisher I have known wouldn't attempt that.