Using KANO KROIL

Using KANO KROIL
KANO Kroil (Part Number 471-100-008) is an old industry standard. My personal use dates back
to the early 70s with old military firearms. Because of some strange things I’ve heard or read
about people using Kroil, here’s some helpful tips about using it properly
A classic Model 54 Winchester came in and part of the problem was that the original owner used
it as a scabbard gun and leaned it against a stall wall in horse urine. The current owner keeps it in
his safe with a de-humidifier, but he doesn’t understand that allowing dust and dirt to accumulate
on metal surfaces without proper maintenance. If dust and dirt are allowed to accumulate on the
metal, it will wick humidity out of the air better than a dehumidifier and rust. Since it was time to
take it apart and check it, here’s an easy way to deal with it if the rust hasn’t started to pit the
metal.
There was a moderate amount of rust externally, easily dealt with as noted below. There was
mild rust in the bore and I wet patched it with Kroil and then thoroughly cleaned the bore after
allowing it to soak. I finished the bore with a coat of 10/4 oil and made sure the owner knows to
dry patch it before shooting it.
After disassembling the rifle, I found a lot of rust on the inside and instead to showing all the
parts rusted, I’ll use some simple examples. The receiver and barrel screws were moderately
rusted in the threads and after easing Kroil into the threads with a pipette (Part Number 745-200012), I removed the screws and let them soak in Kroil for about 8 hours. A mild scrubbing with a
military tooth brush or very gently with a brass bore brush on the screws and in the holes and we
have the following:
Off came the butt plate, which was rusted on both sides. Discoloration in the picture is rust.
If you have the patience, take a Q-tip soaked with Kroil and put a moderate coat Kroil on the
metal, covering the rust. Apply as needed to keep it moist and let it soak for a minimum of 2 to 4
hours. Make sure to re-apply as needed keeping the area moist. You take either a Popsicle stick,
a coffee stir stick (typically birch wood) and gently but firmly rub the rust. If the Kroil oil
doesn’t clean it off right away, is absorbed into the wood and/or dries out, take your Q-tip and
apply it again as needed. For large areas, simply rub the rust against a section of pine which is
relatively soft and works well.
Inside of the butt plate restored without screwing up the finish, but the other side is worse. It’s
hard to see all of the rust on the expose. There’s a lot of rust and discoloration on the butt plate
some of which looks like discoloration.
First take a Q-tip and apply a healthy layer of Kroil Oil, let it soak in. Once the Kroil has
properly penetrated the rust, you still want to keep it moist. Cut a stir stick to use in the groves.
Use the shaped stick to rub out the rust in the groves. It the stick doesn’t work right, fashion
another until you have one that works. There is rust on the flat areas which was easy to deal with
by swapping to the other ends of the stick. The portion of the butt plate where the finish is gone
is a classic example of putting a rifle down where you shouldn’t. Horse urine is acidic which will
directly affect the metal finish.
The butt plate cleaned, oiled and treated with Break Free Collectors kit (Part Number 100-003225). There is some discoloration which happens when rust is allowed to stay on the metal for
any length of time. Some types of rust forms a patina (coloring), since rust was a form of bluing.
The last example I’ll use with this rifle, we have the insert that goes in the stock under the trigger
guard. I can’t point out all the rust, but this will give you an idea of just how bad it was.
Repeat the steps as mentioned and we get:
Don’t let discoloration fool you, the rust is gone. Metal takes on a patina once rust has been
allowed to sit for any serious amount of time.
Aside from the butt plate, the rifle is now in very good shape. It’s oiled, and coated with Break
Free Collector’s, owner is really happy with it. One note on this, always dry patch a rifle before
shooting if you have put any form of lube or protection in the bore. Never allow any Teflon
based product near the breech, chamber or bore.
About a year and a half ago, someone brought in a early Colt Woodsman and a 60’s era Colt
National Match 1911A1 that had been fired roughly a couple hundred rounds and put away for
years without being cleaned. The Woodsman was disassembled and went into Ed’s Red (Part
Number 083-150-001) to soak.
The slide on the 1911A1 couldn’t be budged and there was no magazine in it. , so I put it in the
vise muzzle down and using a pipette. I carefully eased Kroil into the slide rails from the back of
the slide, and the slots on each side of the main spring housing. I repeated this process about
once every hour or two as needed. You need to be careful with this one, because you don’t want
Kroil to soak into the wooden grips. I eased it into the main spring house, to remove the main
spring housing and prevent an accidental discharge if there was a round in the chamber. Housing
was removed, along with the sear spring. After an extended period, the Kroil started seeping out
the front of the rails and I then carefully checked the chamber and removed the slide.
This pistol wad the left grip screws and bushings were rusted into the frame which wouldn’t
budge even after heating the frame. From the right side (with everything removed), once again I
used a pipette and started carefully easing it into the threads of the screw and bushing. Again I
was careful to prevent the Kroil from seeping into the wood. Once I eased the left side screws
and bushing, they went into Kroil to soak which helped when I brushed off the rust. All of the
parts went into Ed’s Red to soak, pistol is now clean and functional again.
With the 1911A1 came two badly rusted Colt 1911 magazines. Here’s the worst of the two with
the good news being that most of the rust was external.
The parts minus the spring were allowed to soak for 4-5 hours in Kroil. In the areas with limited
access, I used Brownells professional Q-tips (Part Number 100-004-005) to apply Kroil and broke
the Q-tip to use the wooden sharp ends or just used a shaped stir stick to rub off the rust
internally. A scrap piece of Pine was used to rub the exposed surfaces (keeping the rust moist
with Kroil). I went back to shaped stir sticks for the recessed areas on the inside where needed.
In the areas where the finish was gone or in one spot that was pitted fine, steel wool had to be
used.
Instead of bothering to blue it again, I used Aluminum Black (Part Number 167-004-170). With a
finish like this, it’s a quick and easy fix, if you take the time to learn to do it right. Only down
side is that’s it’s basically like a flat black. Takes a little practice but the procedure is:
1) Clean all exposed metal surfaces with denatured Alcohol. Do not allow skin near the
cleaned areas, to prevent any oil from your skin from contaminating the cleaned area.
2) Warm up the metal till it’s warm, apply aluminum black as needed to get the color you
want.
3) When finished and the aluminum black is dry, take some Kroil and clean it thoroughly.
When done, warm the metal up again and put a coat of lubricating oil on the surface.
4) Wipe off the area off when it cools.
Some bluing products do not work well for this kind of bluing, magazines are not expensive and
bluing takes time. Doesn’t match the classic Colt deep Blue of the era, but for a working
magazine, it works.
After: