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My T99 has very light colored wood opposed to the red colored stocks i have seen, I know this is due to finish. But I see no evidence of Bubba ever touching this rifle besides a repaired duffel cut. Did they make very light colored stocks at Tokyo Kogyo? It is all matching too, all the way down to the firing pin. Still has the dust cover as well, I suspect it is at least mid-war with the deletion of the AA sights, front sight ears, monopod, and knurled safety knob.
- Rifle s/n:
33 series 71335
TK made the darkest red stock of all the makers .
Photos would be helpful
Hey guys, I have the photos here. The bolt is all matching as I said earlier along with safety and firing pin. I just don't want to have to break her down again. The duffel cut's only give away is that tiny screw in the barrel band in a very unnoticeable spot and some point somebody did drill into the hand guard of the rifle right in the middle of the barrel band then they just stopped, I thought it was supposed to be like that for a very long time until I took out of the stork and saw that there was a tiny bit of barrel marred right in that spot. There is only one large spot of damage or something, I have no clue what it was from but it doesn't hurt the rifle any. The only mismatched thing about it is the bayonet. But I don't know where it came from, It came with the rifle when I bought it along with the sheath and frog. Picked her up for $300 bucks all together. Let me know what you think or any info on her thanks!Attachment 82746Attachment 82745Attachment 82744Attachment 82743Attachment 82742Attachment 82741Attachment 82740Attachment 82739Attachment 82747Attachment 82748Attachment 82749Quote:
Originally Posted by Aragorn243
Looks pretty good. First one I can recall where the grain of the two piece stock goes different directions, I haven't seen hundreds of them though. Maybe that's how some went...
Looks like the original finish was removed and something else was applied explaining the light color of the stock.
Did they only come with the red finish?Quote:
Originally Posted by Aragorn243
They finished them with a formula called urushi which is made from a plant related to the sumac family. It is a skin irritant to anyone allergic to sumac, poison oak, or poison ivy if it gets into dust form on your skin. It was applied by hand and is pretty thick. Your rifle looks very smooth which implies the original finish was removed and the stock sanded. Now I can't be positive of that looking at photos but it is what it looks like to me. I have seen late war rifles that may not have had the urushi applied. These are generally light colored and very dry looking. Yours looks oiled which just could mean a past owner oiled it and did nothing to the original finish.
I read earlier that the 33 series was a transitional series I assume mid-war when the war started slipping for the Japanese. So it could be possible? I can't remember if the barrel channel has any finish in it or not. I'd have to pop it open and look when I get back from school. Would they have finished the barrel channel or not?
I seem to recall the barrel channels being the same color as the exterior. Been a bit since I took one apart.
The stock is clearly been sanded . But since that is not what you want to hear , yes it is a special one of a kind .
They are, mine was indeed sanded. Here are the picsQuote:
Originally Posted by Aragorn243
Wow, that is a dramatic color shift. I didn't realize most if not all the red color was in the finish. Good to know. Now you are in for a real adventure if you hope to restore the correct color. I've heard they do make the stuff and if you search for it here you may find out how. Some guys have created an alternative finish they like. Or you can just leave it alone. It doesn't affect the shooting.
I don't know about restoring it at the moment. It's apart of the rifle's history, I might change my mind a few years down the road who knows!
---------- Post added at 04:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:46 PM ----------
Okay? A little quick to jump to conclusions there. But I'm new here, so I'm not quite a regular yet. I was just interested in reading any information that I might not have known.Quote:
Originally Posted by bob q
The Japanese wood was very light in color . They wanted their stocks to look like European stocks , so they put on a dark stain , then sealed them with a clear [ urushi ] . If you sand off the clear and some of the stain the stock will get lighter , right down to almost white if you sand it all off . Later war stocks were still done the same way , they just did not wait for the stain to soak in and dry . They sealed it while it was still wet .