G'morning M1brad.

Water stains/damage are pretty incidious because they usually only affect the stock in the butt, like yours, leaving the rest of the stock just fine. Mitigating the two areas is more of art work than anything else. It can be attempted, however. The goal is to leave the stock alone except for the really light areas. That stock has an oiled finish. To preserve it, here's what I'd do.

1) First, give that stock a good cleaning. Grab some 0000 steel wool and use a solvent like lacquer thinner or acetone and rub out that stock to remove any accumulated surface grime. Understand that you won't be affecting anything else, just the stuck-on crud. Don't "scrub" hard, just hard enough to loosen years of accumulation. Then wipe it down with a rag and some solvent. The goal is to start with a clean surface leaving what finish is on there intact. The stock should now be a lot lighter in color after it's totally dry.

2) Now you have to decide if the water-damaged areas have swelled at all. From your photos, it would appear that you might have a very slightly raised grain there. Not much at all. However, what I'd do at this point is very gently sand those areas just to smooth them out. You don't want to really whack that area but only touch sand using some 220 to knock down anything that is standing proud of the adjacent surface. Actually, the 0000 wool might have done that for you. You'll have to decide.

3) Now, to make those light spots be less noticable, you'll want to be try applying a dye. In this case, you'll want to find a color that most closely matches the rest of your stock. Actually, I'd even suggest that you go just a bit darker. In any event, you'll be working with alcohol-based dyes. You can find an assortment with this brand:

http://www.cheyennesales.com/catalog/behcchart2.htm

I'm not insisting you use this one brand, either. However, I know these work. Just do a google search for Behlen solarlux and you'll find it. Stains will be much too dark and lay on the surface. Dyes will penetrate.

You might have to even mix two color. This is where the art work comes in. Understand that alcohol based dyes have NO FINISH in them. These are just color: dyes mixed into an alcohol based carrier. If you appy it and don't like it, you can use some denatured alcohol to remove most of it. You can also apply multiple applications to intensity the color.

Your application technique will be "blotting" it on, too. Using a tightly clumped rag, you'll dip into the dye and blot it onto the stock. It'll dry in about 4 minutes as the alcohol evaporates. Then you can apply another layer.....or.....rub it with a clean rag in alcohol to turn it back. Again, you can also layer colors, one on top of another.

Once you've got the color back in, however, you'll be able to seal it in and then finish up. There is still an oil finish cured just below the surface. It's going to hold out the dye somewhat and that's why you'll need multiple coats.

3) Ok, the color is back now and you have to seal it in. At this point, you'll want to shoot the butt stock area with some spray shellac. This will set the dye into the wood. If you tried to oil at this point, you'd end up "lifting" the dye into the oil. You've got to seal it in first. Shellac will do that job. Don't "mask off" any area. Rather, starting beyond the butt, spray right up past the repaired area and feather it into the good area. You are trying not to create a "cutoff" point for the spray. Apply one light coat, let it dry, then apply a second coat and let that dry.

4) Finally, to meld the repair into the stock, you'll want to reoil it as original. Grab some BLO, dip some 0000 steel wool into it, and then rub it into your stock. The 0000 wool wil smooth the areas you've sprayed by cutting the shellac smooth. Don't go hog wild here. That shellac finish is very thin and you could go through it. If you do, you'll expose the new dye and it'll lighten. So, just apply enough pressure with the oil-soaked steel wool and smooth the surface.

Once you've applied the first coat of oil, let it sit for about 15 minues and then wipe it off. Let the stock sit for overnight. The next day apply oil again with just a cloth. The goal is to lay it on so you end up with a uniform coat muzzle to butt.

I realize that this sounds very complicated. It's really not. However, it does take a lot of patience and just accumulating the materials can be a job. But, this will preserve the stock finish and help blend in the light areas to the rest of the stock.

Hope that helps!

Rome

In the 'old days', we'd open our wings (fenders) on our Brit cars and spray used motor oil in there as a rust preventative. It would seem that used motor oil has many uses!

Rome

Good catch, Nug! We posted at precisely the same time but it's 0810 here!

Rome