Ishapore SMLE MKIII* - What's the Prognosis?

[CINDERS]

I'd get onto the split at the back of the forewood that would be a starting point seeing as its an RFI you could look at using a No.4 tie plate as I have seen MKIII's sporting the said plate others may chime about doing that along with repairing the split, also another hairline split going up the forestock near the trigger guard collar front may be nothing but always worth investigating.
PL has stated when making things right ensure you use aircraft grade epoxy when working with the woods.

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[deadwood83]

That has to be one of the nicest Indian MKIII's I've seen. Not sure what all the fuss is about. Wipe it down, oil it and enjoy it. It isn't a new rifle and never will be one again.

Thank you. I find it quite pretty myself. I don't wish to make it new so much as make sure there's not any active decay. Not going to refinish it, just want to convert the currently active rust to passivated magnetite. I was kind of surprised to find it blued instead of painted; and not redone with RFI marks instead of GRI post-independence. Makes the rust conversion a lot easier at least!

I'd get onto the split at the back of the forewood that would be a starting point seeing as its an RFI you could look at using a No.4 tie plate as I have seen MKIII's sporting the said plate others may chime about doing that along with repairing the split, also another hairline split going up the forestock near the trigger guard collar front may be nothing but always worth investigating.
PL has stated when making things right ensure you use aircraft grade epoxy when working with the woods.

The front crack goes about 60% of the way from the bottomwood surface to the front TG collar height. When you pout a straightedge along the crack and follow it back, it points right at the split in back. I'm guessing the poorly fitted (disintegrated) draws are causing the bearing surfaces to be too centralized and are acting as a wedge together during recoil, contributing to the split. I would like to repair it invisibly, so perhaps if I made a 'cave' under the wood surface hollowed out along the outer contours and packed that with epoxy and some sort of stiff filler (carbon strands/tubes?) it would work well. I already have some long carbide burrs from porting motorcycle heads.

As for the rear, I do not want to put a No4 crosspiece since the rifle says 40 and 41 on it. If it said 42 or 43 then I would be all for it, but seeing that next to the dates would bug me. I might be able to de-oil that wood for epoxying and then tie it together with an epoxy coated brass threaded rod of slightly larger diameter. The old wood will be a long way off though, because I got a prestigious stock to use/shoot while i mull over the old wood.

I think it's rather pretty, but I am rather certain the forend will require a veeeeery slight stain to match the rest. Attachment 117125

I haven't built my steam chamber for rust conversion yet. I need to stop being lazy and just do it. All the parts are here. I even have more rusty things to convert (parts from recent K11 acquisition).

I really appreciate the feedback. As I make (slow) progress I'll post results here.