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I recently picked up a very nice all original numbers matching lightly used Nagoya Series 7. It has the finish worn down to bare wood on one side of the stock, grip area and the rear of the lower hand guard. What is the best way to preserve the finish as is? Wood finish wax, gun stock wax, linseed oil or what?
How about posting some pictures of the problem areas to give members a better understanding of the issues which you have with your stock?
Keep it dry and you won't have any issues with it. If you want to alter the appearance, you'll have to put some sort of coating on it but unless it looks really bad, I'd probably leave it alone.
Series 7's are a weird series to collect as there are just so many differences between individual rifles as far as finish and diversity of parts found on them is concerned. I've been a big fan of linseed oil to protect and preserve finishes on my rifles but as Aragorn suggested keeping them in a dry environment helps as well. From what I've looked up series 7's are somewhat famous for their dark red finish that most seem to have retained over the years. Here's mine by comparison. It's my favorite Japanese rifle to shoot and it was my very first arisaka that I ever bought ( it came from the GI who ground off the mum personally as was his job).
Thanks for the replies, sorry I didn't see them sooner. It has a very light finish, I've seen others from the same series that looked the same - no signs of refinishing at all. I am in Arizona, so it is always in a dry environment.
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That has all the looks of being sanded. If that is the case, I'd make an attempt to restore it to as close to what it should look like as possible. You might need to experiment with a few things to get the color right. You can get a nice shine with repeated BLO coatings but it takes forever and may not get the color right.
I can't tell if that stock had ever been sanded but looking at the edges of the stock can sometimes tell this. As for finish loss if not sanded my best guess is that if it has been in a dry environment for 70+ years the original finish simply wore away over time. I have two older type 38s that exhibit the same thing (never sanded but worn away finish). This could be the reason for why your stock is real light. Yours isn't too far away from mine either serial number wise (mine is 22592).
The stock has clearly been sanded .
Az_Jc, I like the linseed oil as others have stated. Also if you wanted to try experimenting on some wood scraps with some minwax red mahogany stain or Varathane cordova stain you might be able to get the color you want. Get some good pictures of some series 7 stocks off google for color comparison. Salt Flat
Looks like just good honest wear, I just wipe mine down with Snake Oil
I have had good results using Antique Maple and Yellow Lux from Brownell and a dab of brown varnish. I pour enough of the yellow lux in a small cut to coat the whole stock. I then add a bit of maple till get the color I want. The add to that bit by bit of brown stain till I get what I want. Try it on some other piece of wood till satisfied. I have managed to finish some stock and you can't tell it from original