Please be nice, my first restore. The donor rifle was picked up at a garage sale for $50 back 30-40 years ago. I did all the research I could, to make sure I wasn't about to destroy a unicorn. Plan ole lee-enfield No4 Mk1 with mixed Mk2 parts. Non-matching numbers. So I was okay moving forward.
I broke down the rifle, took pictures and an inventory along the way. Soaked the stocks in acetone for a little while then wiped off most the residue. Then I made a mix of calcium carbonate (pure chalk) and acetone and coated the stocks. Using a heat gun I gently warmed the oils embedded in the wood to rise and stick to the chalk mix. Repeated the process 3 or 4 times until I couldn't draw anymore oil out.
I used scouring pads and fine steel wool to remove as little material as possible from the stocks. My goal was to preserve all the dings and trench art on the mutt rifle.
Took me weeks of working by hand to be happy with the stocks. Applied raw linseed oil on the stocks in very light coats. Hard to see in the pictures but the wood grain looks like sparkly honey when held to the light. Really really proud of the wood work.
Now onto my disappointment. I researched and found that most LE's were quickly dipped in bluing bath and then parkerized. So I decided to follow this process the best I could, in my garage with limited resources. Wasn't going to spend hundreds of dollars on a $50 rifle.
Cleaned and prepped all the metal parts with scouring pads, steel wool, and not a single machine tool. Then I blued used coldblu until the parts were dark, almost black. I ordered brownells alumahyde to redo the "parkerizing". I'm not a fan at all. First and last time I'll use that product. Looking back I should've left everything blued and reassembled. The durability of the alumahyde is just not good. It chips easily, though I was happy with the looks.
Anyway, reassembled the rifle and gave it back to my friend. He tried to give me money but I wouldn't accept it. I learned alot and for me that was more than enough.
I'm proud, no regrets, hopefully it last a long time.
I broke down the rifle, took pictures and an inventory along the way. Soaked the stocks in acetone for a little while then wiped off most the residue. Then I made a mix of calcium carbonate (pure chalk) and acetone and coated the stocks. Using a heat gun I gently warmed the oils embedded in the wood to rise and stick to the chalk mix. Repeated the process 3 or 4 times until I couldn't draw anymore oil out.
I used scouring pads and fine steel wool to remove as little material as possible from the stocks. My goal was to preserve all the dings and trench art on the mutt rifle.
Took me weeks of working by hand to be happy with the stocks. Applied raw linseed oil on the stocks in very light coats. Hard to see in the pictures but the wood grain looks like sparkly honey when held to the light. Really really proud of the wood work.
Now onto my disappointment. I researched and found that most LE's were quickly dipped in bluing bath and then parkerized. So I decided to follow this process the best I could, in my garage with limited resources. Wasn't going to spend hundreds of dollars on a $50 rifle.
Cleaned and prepped all the metal parts with scouring pads, steel wool, and not a single machine tool. Then I blued used coldblu until the parts were dark, almost black. I ordered brownells alumahyde to redo the "parkerizing". I'm not a fan at all. First and last time I'll use that product. Looking back I should've left everything blued and reassembled. The durability of the alumahyde is just not good. It chips easily, though I was happy with the looks.
Anyway, reassembled the rifle and gave it back to my friend. He tried to give me money but I wouldn't accept it. I learned alot and for me that was more than enough.
I'm proud, no regrets, hopefully it last a long time.
