well you just answered your question, strip the stock and hand guard and do both together .
If you try just the guard ,, you are not going to get them to match, unless you are real good.

 

Thanks. You may be right. The stock itself is in pretty good shape so the marginal improvement there would be slight, at least to my eyes. But my experience is with only one stock, so there’s that. Still concerned about the grease. May try Purplr Power, read about it here but never used it on walnut.

Dave

 

Mark Novak from anvil gunsmithing on YouTube uses a product called whiting I believe it's called to draw oil soaked into wood

 

I would just hit the handguard with some BLO, let it dry for a couple of weeks and hit it with some 0000 steel wool and go from there.

 

If it's Cosmoline, you could try mixing a batch of Ed's Red without the lanolin in it. Then after the bulk is removed, use a hair dryer to weep up the deeper bits and wipe it off or the old put it in a black bag on your dash in the sun trick. I used the Ed's Red on a Nagant that was in Cosmoline and it did a great job. Took a bit to really get the deep stuff and I check on it from time to time to see if more weeps out. For the most part, it's done. If regular grease/oil, you could stick that section in some cat litter (clay type) to see if it will pull it out. Then just BLO on it and Bob's your uncle.

 

If it's Cosmoline……

I think you are correct. It was applied to the riveted metal band under the handguard, but apparently leached into the wood after all these years. Hit it twice with my wife’s hair dryer to get what I could out. Next will try something like purple power, then acetone or lacquer thinner, as I still have darkening where the cosmoline leached.

Dave

 

After stripping ...........when trying to match a handguard to a stock ( Carbine, Garand, Enfield, FAL, etc. ) I have had good luck using Fiebings Leather Dye ( Dark Brown ) diluted with isopropyl alcohol. It get slightly darker with each coat and you can keep adding coats until it matches color of stock. I then seal with BLO.

 

Matching wood is pretty, but arsenal mismatched would have been common.

 

I would start by washing the hand guard with a terrycloth towel generously soaked in acetone. Do this several times, then dry it off with a clean soft towel, then allow it to air dry for a couple of hours. If acetone doesn't get out the stain, it's probably not coming out. Wear Gloves!