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I've now seen two eBay sellers, one in the UK and one in the USA selling teak SMLE forends with quite convincing looking RSAF(E), Broad Arrow and inspection stamps.
Does anyone know the source of these?
AFAIK Enfield never made any No1 furniture in teak. I am assuming they are reproductions?
I recall there was a full set back a year or two ago. Could these be 'seconds' from that production I wonder?
Note the bodge in the magazine well.
AIA in Australia got quite a few sets of teak No1Mk111* wood made in Vietnam a few years ago.
Those sets came with all metal fittings, including brass buttplates. They were hand finished, and all the final inletting was done by hand. I recall that they even included the threaded brass wire where appropriate and were treated with Tru-oil and an Australian finishing wax. Teak is heavy, but a whole lot tougher than coachwood.
The AIA sets also had NO markings or any attempt to imply any "authentic" origins, other than they had been made from original drawings.
Hi
I would like to buy one complete teak wood set for my SMLE.
If sombody could point me in the right direction or has a set to sell,let me know
superbee303@yahoo.ca
cheers
Eric
Surpmil,
Forgive me but I've not seen the ads. Is the wood actually stated to be teak? There was some late SMLE walnut knocking about in the UK a few years ago. There were no butts & rather less handguards than there were forends. I've not heard of UK made teak though....
ATB
Roger, neither had I heard of teak, which I'm 90% sure this is, as I've seen quite a bit of hardwoods over the years as my GF used to 'collect' the stuff!
I'm sure quite a few stamps have made their way out of RSAF's over the years, especially when Enfield folded up, so I'm not entirely convinced by those.
The finish is too rough in some places, but perhaps these are semi-finished seconds of whatever origin(?)
As far as I know teak SMLE MkIII* woodwork is still made in Vietnam. It is on sale in Australia by several dealers. It is good quality but no kosher.
The only new Enfield woodwork made correctly in long grain American walnut is by EFD in the UK. They make No1 MkI, MkIII & MKV, also some other woodwork in beech for L42, No8, & No4 cheek pieces.
Hi Surpmill,
I think you're right, this does look like teak, and nice grain too, Indonesian wood I think, ie fast growing open grained, does it smell of teak? The damm thing is cracked through its rear end, from new, thats a shame.
I just thought I'd add that about 8 years ago I was getting really nice no1mk3 woodsets from Numrich, for a pittance too, that looked remarkably like your photos. They were mostly well routed, well sanded and smoothed, and nicely grained. They were so nice it made restoring a ratty smle a bit of a pigs ear in a silk purse, just to spin a phrase.
I think that turned out to be Indian mahogany though. But, in terms of value for money it couldn't be beat.
I haven't bought these for a long time, I haven't tried, they could even still be available I just don't know. They kept sending me no4 fore ends in with all no1mk3 wood sets instead of the no1mk3 fore end, a problem from where it was being made. Numrich refused to open the box before mailing it, blighters, so I stopped buying.
Anyone bought a no1mk3 wood set from Numrich lately?
supermill
first post on this forum.Here goes it.I agree with roger payne.There is still a quantity of original forends in the UK.I have bought a few of them to restock a batch of No3s that had been sporterized in africa.All ours are marked with E in a D mark like yours and either or a broad arrow or 10%batch inspection mark.Does yours have any single letters stamped in the barrel channel one above the barrel band and one below it? no top wood available this is manufactured in the east.
I acquired several sets of the "new" SMLE wood out of U.K. It was all walnut and unstained. It was very light in color like the pictures above. A little staining and they perfectly matched the older SMLE stocks. I also acquired a teak stock set from Australia. It is a little different than the above, and there are no markings on it at all. The teak is also harder that the walnut.
Would the stocks from the UK be part of the Edna Parker "motherload"?;)Quote:
Originally Posted by jona
It's not that I don't like teak - it's probably a better wood for gunstocks all round. I suspect walnut was only used for traditions sake and the less visible grain which would offend military eyes less than teak, although old growth teak seems darker and less visibly grained usually.
Surpmil,
Did manage to get about 20 forends out of Edna's (as well as a quantity of spares & some 4T transit chests), but only a couple were new. Many were beech WW2 era & most of the ones that were WW1 were damaged (lumps broken off the back ends in various places).
I think the new stuff mainly came from Charnwood Ordnance. When Charnwood sold up Terry Abrams bought up most of the bits, including the woodwork. I think he probably still has some. He certainly has new SMLE barrels, although they are all of late South African mfr. I just recently rebarrelled a nice 1918 SMLE that had been 410'd using one. The rejuvenated rifle will be on my stall at the next motorbike museum jumble sale.
Off to show my in-laws the Western Front in a few hours so off to bed now.
ATB:cheers:
I concur with Roger and was at Terry's place last Summer. I try to keep a few of the late Enfield walnut and BSA beech forends in stock. I'm hoping Terry will be over next month to work the SAR East show with me in York, PA. I saw him in Baltimore last month. He's very busy too so we haven't got a definite plan. I'll be there either way.