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The first link shows just a few minutes of the film including how the linseed oil was applied. The second link shows the complete film. I have had a DVD version of this film for several years but it has recently been posted on the internet for all to see - enjoy!
Scotland on Screen - Wood Goes to War (clip)
Scottish Screen Archive - Full record for 'WOOD GOES TO WAR'
That was so interesting. Thanks for posting.
Remarkable - thank you for sharing with us !
MOST interesting. Again, thanks for making it available to us. That's just how we applied the linseed at the main workshops too. Straight into a big finger hot vat of the stuff. Leave to drain and cool overnight and it'd last forever
Absolutely fascinating! Thank you so very much for posting that link.
Much of what we see here is No.4 woodwork - only the old boy with the hat is handling P-14 furniture.
Linseed is not in fact a particularly good preservative of wood (and the apparent absence of pressure impregnating makes it even less likely to be efficacious). It's valued more for the pleasing, easily repaired finish it gives. The many Morris butts I've got here don't look like they were oiled at all, and needed several coats to bring out the grain.
It's odd that you say that Mk7 because in the tropics, the No4's and 5's, Brens and L1's we saw and dealt with were the subject to the most attrocious conditions that you could ever throw at weapons - and I mean rain and coastal salt water that would start to corrode things before your very eyes. It was dire............ But however the steelwork fared and rusted, the woodwork just took it all in its stride. As I said, once stripped (and stripped of the metalwork), into the linseed hot-tank it went and came out looking good, just asking for more. The same went for L1A1 handguards. You could see the bubbles 'boiling' out of the wood for an hour or so so presumably the air was replaced with the life saving linseed that went in deep. I know it's probably not Morrisons woodwork but I have to say that after that, linseed always held a special place
Absolutely fascinating. If only we could find a film showing the machining of the barrels and receivers, too....
I take it that they filled up the tub with wooden parts, then let the linseed oil drain out. I wonder if this may have led to differences in penetration of linseed oil as the ones on the bottom would have been immersed for longer than the ones at the top. Ok, this is just me waffling...
So...what is the Morris inspector's mark the one worker stamped on the underside of the fore-end?
Interesting in the variation of wood colours and types - everything from blonde beech to some quite dark walnut.
Not much health & safety legislation in those days: the women with their forearms immersed in linseed oil for much of the working day.
Looks like HMCo were making P14 woodwork as well - I wonder if they stamped their inspection mark on the forends?