Garand Refinish. Help me decide...

[Shadowrider]

Here is the 1st coat of oil. It's still wet. Cool hand I took your advise and had to play some more and got some Fiebing's leather dye to even the color out between all the pieces. That stuff is awesome! Just wipe lightly on with a paper towel to tone up what you want. If I ever do another birch stock that will be the method from the get go. Camera's jacking with the true color again.

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True color is just about half way between these two shots. Should deepen and darken just a bit as the oil dries.

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[coolhandluke]

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Very nice.

The finish in this photo looks almost identical to original GI and post-war replacement birch stocks. Great job.

 

[cktad]

Chestnut Ridge stain is highly favored among the Garand collectors http://www.chestnutridge.com/images/inv/MAWAL1.asp.

 

[Shadowrider]

Looking at light in the end of the tunnel now.

I have 4 coats of pure tung oil on it. And about 6 or 8 coats of BLO on it. Just put a coat of Toms 1/3 wax on it, and it's looking pretty good. I'll probably have it back together by the end of the week. Pics to follow...

 

[HMFIC]

Can't wait to see it. I've been lurking the thread for tips... I have a Garand project I'm working on too.

 

[Shadowrider]

Can't wait to see it. I've been lurking the thread for tips... I have a Garand project I'm working on too.

I can't either! The bad thing about true oil finishes is they are slowwwwwwwwwwwwww drying. And all this humidity sure hasn't helped the effort, I wanna get it back together badly.

Are you redoing the stock?

 

[Blinocac200sx]

Just my two cents, but I think a cherry or maple finish would look good.

 

[Perplexed]

Here's an example of a birch-stocked M1, rebuilt and restocked at the Letterkenny Arsenal circa 1960-1962. I believe this rifle has retained its rebuild configuration, so it may provide a handy reference for you.

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[Shadowrider]

Well as promised here it is. I really wish I knew what was going on with the coloring. A combination of me not having the right camera settings and working under those "daylight" fluorescent shop lights at night when I was staining it resulted in a little more orange than I was wanting being left. Still pretty happy with it. It's certainly better than what I had. In person there is a bit more brown and less orange than these pics show. This is Watco Danish Oil in dark walnut and tung oil mixed, followed by Fiebings alcohol based dark brown leather dye, followed by 4 coats of pure uncut tung oil, followed by 7 or 8 coats of boiled linseed oil. Followed by two nice heavy coats of Tom's 1/3 wax rubbed in well.

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[cmhbob]

Beautiful! Very nice work!