M1 Garand & M14 stock finishing questions

[KYAggie]

After spending hours looking at M14 forum and the CMP forum on stock cleaning a finishing, I’ve come to the conclusion that’s there’s about as many different ideas as to how to do it correctly as there are on what exactly belongs in Texas chili ingredient wise. I have two M1 Garands I got from the CMP over 10 years ago that I’ve done nothing with. It’s time to change that. I just want to clean up the stocks the hit them with BLO or Tung, not strip them. Seems people use mineral spirits, naphtha, or a 50/50 mix of BLO or Tung and turpentine or mineral spirits for that.

Looking at the pictures below, what do you all suggest? I’m leaning towards first wiping them down with naphtha then trying the 50/50 mix of BLO/turpentine.

The stripped M14 stock will need some stain. I have the two Transtint dyes I might mix with denatured alcohol and try in the barrel channel first. Seems about 90 drops of dye with a 1/4 cup of solvent for the mix. I’ll probably go with BLO or Tung after that. Tru-Oil, while more waterproof and durable, leaves too much gloss for me, even after steel wooling it.

I would appreciate any thoughts, ideas, pictures, etc, especially if my proposed methods are flawed.

Thanks!

 

[Average guy]

@Bigfatcock or @pmclaine are resident wood finishing guys. They can lead you on the right path

 

[KYAggie]

Yes, Bigfatcock helped me with a Boyd’s Rossi 92 stock last year and it turned out quite nice. Looking forward to getting these up and running this year. I’m currently putting together a low serial number JRA Rock-Ola M14 receiver I got in 2013 with a TRW parts kit; I can’t believe it’s been sitting in a box for 10 years…….life‘s a bitch. It’s a barreled receiver with a 18.5” Chrome lined Criterion barrel. I’m putting a m14.ca scout rail on it. I have this wood stock and what was probably the very last sold AG Composites CBR M14 stock for it. Should be interesting.

 

[MarinePMI]

After spending hours looking at M14 forum and the CMP forum on stock cleaning a finishing, I’ve come to the conclusion that’s there’s about as many different ideas as to how to do it correctly as there are on what exactly belongs in Texas chili ingredient wise. I have two M1 Garands I got from the CMP over 10 years ago that I’ve done nothing with. It’s time to change that. I just want to clean up the stocks the hit them with BLO or Tung, not strip them. Seems people use mineral spirits, naphtha, or a 50/50 mix of BLO or Tung and turpentine or mineral spirits for that.

Looking at the pictures below, what do you all suggest? I’m leaning towards first wiping them down with naphtha then trying the 50/50 mix of BLO/turpentine.

The stripped M14 stock will need some stain. I have the two Transtint dyes I might mix with denatured alcohol and try in the barrel channel first. Seems about 90 drops of dye with a 1/4 cup of solvent for the mix. I’ll probably go with BLO or Tung after that. Tru-Oil, while more waterproof and durable, leaves too much gloss for me, even after steel wooling it.

I would appreciate any thoughts, ideas, pictures, etc, especially if my proposed methods are flawed.

Thanks!


View attachment 8079693View attachment 8079694View attachment 8079696View attachment 8079695

You'll probably get more attention in the Vintage arms subforum. We have a lot of guys here that dabble in this sort of thing. I can move this thread, or you can start a separate thread there. Let me know.

@168BTHPM @sirhrmechanic

 

[sirhrmechanic]

You'll probably get more attention in the Vintage arms subforum. We have a lot of guys here that dabble in this sort of thing. I can move this thread, or you can start a separate thread there. Let me know.

@168BTHPM @sirhrmechanic

Dabble? Dabble?

There are guys there who are world class experts.

Dabble. Sheesh...

Sirhr

 

[168BTHPM]

After spending hours looking at M14 forum and the CMP forum on stock cleaning a finishing, I’ve come to the conclusion that’s there’s about as many different ideas as to how to do it correctly as there are on what exactly belongs in Texas chili ingredient wise. I have two M1 Garands I got from the CMP over 10 years ago that I’ve done nothing with. It’s time to change that. I just want to clean up the stocks the hit them with BLO or Tung, not strip them. Seems people use mineral spirits, naphtha, or a 50/50 mix of BLO or Tung and turpentine or mineral spirits for that.

Looking at the pictures below, what do you all suggest? I’m leaning towards first wiping them down with naphtha then trying the 50/50 mix of BLO/turpentine.

The stripped M14 stock will need some stain. I have the two Transtint dyes I might mix with denatured alcohol and try in the barrel channel first. Seems about 90 drops of dye with a 1/4 cup of solvent for the mix. I’ll probably go with BLO or Tung after that. Tru-Oil, while more waterproof and durable, leaves too much gloss for me, even after steel wooling it.

I would appreciate any thoughts, ideas, pictures, etc, especially if my proposed methods are flawed.

Thanks!


View attachment 8079693View attachment 8079694View attachment 8079696View attachment 8079695

The way I refinish military oil finished stocks is fairly simple and works well. It will make your wife happy because you will get to wash the bathtub afterwards and you might as well clean the rest of the bathroom while you are at it.

You will need to take all of the metal off of the stock.

Do not sand the wood at all.

Run a tub of water as hot as you can stand to put your hands in. Soak the stock, then scrub it with a blue kitchen sponge and liquid dish soap, over and over. The amount of time it takes to do this depends on how much oil is in the wood. Sometimes it's really quick, sometimes not.

Once you have all of the oil out of the wood, use a heat gun to steam the areas where dents or dings are to raise them. Let the stock air dry. Once the stock is dry use FFF steel wool to whisker it.

The finish you put on depends on whether you want an original look and something glossy. If you want an original finish use BLO cut 50/50 with odorless mineral spirits. If you use straight BLO it will not soak into the wood very well and it takes forever to dry. You may have to apply 3 or 4 coats over a couple pf days. If you want to darken the wood add a very small amount of walnut colored penetrating stain to the BLO.

 

[Bigfatcock]

90 drops of dye in 2 oz (1/4 cup) will be incredibly strong.

I don’t know what you mean by you don’t want to strip it? I’m assuming you just want to wipe all the years of gunk off?

What does the stripped stock look like when wet?

I think @pmclaine prefers desert sand Krylon for his walnut stocks.

 

[KYAggie]

90 drops of dye in 2 oz (1/4 cup) will be incredibly strong.

I have no personal experience with this ratio, I got this ratio off the CMP forum from a post about 15 years ago. Thats why I posted this thread. What would you recommend?

I don’t know what you mean by you don’t want to strip it? I’m assuming you just want to wipe all the years of gunk off?

Yes, I just want to clean the Garand stocks up, I do not want to mess up the stain.

What does the stripped stock look like when wet?

Lol, I knew you were going to ask this. I don’t know, I’ll have to test it. I won’t be home until late Thursday night, so I’ll have to do it this weekend.

I think @pmclaine prefers desert sand Krylon for his walnut stocks.

. Thanks for the laugh!

 

[Bigfatcock]

I have no personal experience with this ratio, I got this ratio off the CMP forum from a post about 15 years ago. Thats why I posted this thread. What would you recommend?



Yes, I just want to clean the Garand stocks up, I do not want to mess up the stain.




Lol, I knew you were going to ask this. I don’t know, I’ll have to test it. I won’t be home until late Thursday night, so I’ll have to do it this weekend.



. Thanks for the laugh!

The dye is strong. In 2 oz of solvent you’d be best to start with 5 drops and work up. Test often. I don’t even know if there are 90 drops in a bottle of dye, lol.

I’d also use distilled water as the carrier. It will raise grain, but a 3m pad will cut it back without impacting the dye or dimensions. Write down your ratios as you go so you can scale up once you find the color you like.

Also depends on what coloration you’re looking for. The world is your oyster with dyes. You can make it blue if you want, lol.

 

[KYAggie]

I’d also use distilled water as the carrier.

I’ve heard of using everything from distilled water to Everclear as a carrier.

 

[Bigfatcock]

Everclear and denatured alcohol are ok, and won’t raise grain, but flash off really fast. I prefer water. You can adjust color better/easier because it will actually sit on it for longer.

Experiment and see which you prefer.

A base coat I use for walnut is dye made from Osage Orange. It’s a really good tertiary yellow-orange, and not overpowering to either color. When using kiln dried walnut I’ll put a wash coat of that down and let it sit a minute before wiping. Then a wash coat of dark brown to near black to accentuate the more porous grain, but wipe it off pretty quick to prevent a full grain reversal. Then you can hit it with a brown glaze. I find the water/alcohol soluble dyes compatible with top coats of oil based stains and finishes as long as you let them fully dry.

Doesn’t work in reverse though, lol.

If you’re looking for that 80 year old crusty milsurp look then you just have to BLO it a lot and burnish it with burlap between coats once it hits the gummy stage of drying. Get a lot of burlap.

 

[RTH1800]

Calling @buffalowinter …

 

[MK20]

What do you want out of it?

A really nice military looking finish, or the absolutely accurate and proper military finish?

If it is the former, I have a solution for you.

 

[KYAggie]

A really nice military looking finish, or the absolutely accurate and proper military finish?

On the Garands, I definitely want the latter and I don’t mind the dents and scuffs; they are stories of days past. That’s why I just want to clean off the gunk and finish with diluted BLO.

On the M14, I want it to look like a military finish, but I’m more flexible with the process and not really tied to whatever was actually used, so I’m interested in your method especially if you have some pictures of your results.

Thanks.

 

[MK20]

Make yourself some Dan's mix

For the M14, get some maple colored Moser's aniline dye from Amazon. Go to your local farm store and get Bickmore's pine tar. It will be in the horse medicine section. Get some linseed oil. Mix a cup of linseed oil with a few tablespoons of pine tar in a glass jar in a double boiler on the stove. Add 1/2 teaspoon or so of aniline dye. Heat and stir until the tar dissolves. Check color on inside of stock and add more or less dye to achieve desired color.

This produces a BEAUTIFUL finish and will make any grain in the wood pop without looking like it has been varnished.

The tar also makes it VERY weatherproof.

Apply the mix to the stock when the stain is hot and have the stock warm if possible.

I may have some extra if you don't want to mix your own up.

 

[camocorvette]

I'm of a different belief. After watching Mark's video's that's how I've done all mine and I love it.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D7NLQEmwAvo4&ved=2ahUKEwih-p6aoqf9AhXljYkEHRj3BMQQwqsBegQIDhAE&usg=AOvVaw0Rc0LDbirRA9GytELrNkL3

 

[KYAggie]

I'm of a different belief. After watching Mark's video's that's how I've done all mine and I love it.

Interesting video. I used Danish oil on a shotgun stock about 40 years ago and turned out nice. I do not want to strip the Garand stocks, but I could consider it on the M14. For wax, I always use Renaissance Wax, it works great and is worth the cost.

Do you have any pictures of M1 or M14 stocks finished this way?

 

[B y r o n]

Information overload!

 

[pmclaine]

For the Garand I’d just hit it with clean cold pressed linseed oil.

Not BLO or anything with anything added to it.

The grime will come off on your hands. Just keep hitting it again and again with pure linseed oil.

If I wanted to go out of my way. Wrap it in towels and throw it on your dashboard on a sunny day and let any grease or cosmoline bleed into the towel than just hit it with cold pressed linseed oil.

You could use tung oil if you want a better finish but realize neither is a great weather finish but they are legit GI.

For the M1A stock it looks like you already stripped it some.

Springfield Armory would have put it in a bath of pure linseed oil and hung it up to dry . Than it would be expected that the GI rubbed it down with linseed oil every chance he (there was no gender question than) got.

GI stocks get the regulation stuff from me. I’d rather leave them with their history.

Even the non/GI stuff usually gets linseed oil or pure tung oil but I will sand them and polish a bit more. If I want to see the grain I use tung oil because linseed can turn very dark.

I’m kind of boring when it comes to this stuff, but that’s how I do it.

I once thought about doing something else but I didn’t.

Very light coats and the more you rub the better.

 

[KYAggie]

GI stocks get the regulation stuff from me. I’d rather leave them with their history.

Thanks for all the information! That’s definitely my goal with the M1’s. I’ve read about wrapping them in paper towels and leaving them in a hot car; I should try that, then apply the linseed oil. I should have done the same with the M14. I don’t think it has much grain to showcase, so I’m not too worried about how to make it pop. I don’t plan to be running around in the rain with any of these, but never know the way things are going these days! If I was worried about water, I would probably give them a good coat of Renaissance Wax and hope for the best.

 

[KYAggie]

Information overload!

Exactly! Just googling it will lead to paralysis by analysis. I’m getting it narrowed down though. I’m going to have to wait until summer for some of it, so I’ll likely be posting progress over the next several months so others can see how it worked out and perhaps be able to avoid all the reading I’ve done.

 

[pmclaine]

Thanks for all the information! That’s definitely my goal with the M1’s. I’ve read about wrapping them in paper towels and leaving them in a hot car; I should try that, then apply the linseed oil. I should have done the same with the M14. I don’t think it has much grain to showcase, so I’m not too worried about how to make it pop. I don’t plan to be running around in the rain with any of these, but never know the way things are going these days! If I was worried about water, I would probably give them a good coat of Renaissance Wax and hope for the best.

If you wax it you will have to strip it before adding more oil.

I don’t wax any of mine.

It’s a good day when you can take the rifle out get the lightest coat of oil on your hands and just buff the oil into the stock burnishing the wood.

This was a special it doesn’t count. I sanded the crap out of it down to jewelers rouge. It’s pure tung oil…

This was the first coat or so with 450 or so grit paper applying the oil….

My M70 tgat gets only linseed oil…

My M40 that I did with pure tung oil, is about 7-8 years old and has had a few coats of oil…

No pictures of my Garands, 03s or M1A in my phone, sorry.

 

[KYAggie]

If you wax it you will have to strip it before adding more oil.

Very true, here‘s a quote from the Renaissance Wax web page.

“Should surface repair or restoration be needed. Renaissance wax can be completely removed by rubbing with white spirit (a petroleum distillate). In professional fine-art conservation all treatments must be 'reversible' without damage to the original surface, to allow use of a better technique.”

https://www.archivalmethods.com/downloadfiles/Renaissance-Wax.pdf

Those stocks look great! How do you decide which to use between raw linseed oil and pure tung? Also, my understanding with both of those is that the risk of spontaneous combustion, while still present, is less because they do not contain any driers which create heat more rapidly in BLO and Tung mixes due to the shortened drying time. Raw linseed and pure tung take much longer to dry.

 

[pmclaine]

If you have a stock that is older like your Garand and you add linseed it will just feed the wood and the color should remain as is.

On stocks that were stripped and fresh....the linseed can look dark and will take time to mellow and turn red.

My .223 caliber M40 is cold pressed linseed and it started real dark, but is now turning redder and mellowing....there are pictures in the vintage section search ".223 M40".

Older rifles you can use the oils interchangeably. Tung oil is slightly more weather protectant.

For the last rifle I did it had a lot of grain so I used the Tung oil and wanted to see the grain. Tung oil wont go as dark at the start.