Restoring a sporterized P13... My turn to play

[RossMkIIEnjoyer]

Very impressive work.

[tatou]

Thank you

2 coats of Fiebings Dark Brown dye on.
Looks promising.

[browningautorifle]

Yep, looking pretty good.

[Promo]

The dark stain makes the cut almost invisible in the overall picture. Very nice!

[tatou]

The dark stain makes the cut almost invisible in the overall picture. Very nice!

Thank you
A repair would have been better at the middle band junction but the original had been cut too short for that.
At least this way something of the original will survive.

[tatou]

Initial staining done.
I was able to squeeze 6 coats of dye out of one bottle, for both the P13 and the RIC.
Not bad.
I now have a pretty much solid dark color to start of. (yeah i know, it looks awful atm )
Now I'll let the dye dry thoroughly.
Next step, lindseed oil.
The oiling and steel wool/shading will bring back some of that light color to the top.

[Promo]

It does need some gloss now, so curious to see how it will become after oiling and steel wool.

[tatou]

It does need some gloss now, so curious to see how it will become after oiling and steel wool.

I'm curious too but i also know it will turn out ok.
These 3 where done using the same technique.
At the top, LEC MK I*
Middle one is a NZ
Both where done by me.
Bottom one is a RIC but was done by the late englishman_ca, that i purchased from him... of course his looks much better than mine, he had mastered his technique.
The handguard was all mine though, i was able to match it almost perfectly to the rest of the carbine.
If you look closely enough you can see all fore ends were spliced chopped up sporters.
When i did the two top ones i wanted to experiment with other shades and color tones.
All 3 where done with dark brown shows the versatility of the Fiebings dye, when worked differently.
Of course, no wood will come out like the next. Wood is a living thing and as such they are all different, no matter what stain or dye you use.

[tatou]

In these pics, 5 coats of oil are now applied.
At this stage the dye is sealed in and any excess doesn't bleed out anymore.
It's starting to have a light shine so taking pictures with a flash isn't easy.

[tatou]

Well i finally mustered enough will to trow together the P13.
The wood color is not exactly what i was going for but it is what it is and for now at least i can call it done.
I was hoping for a lighter color but due to some events i had stopped all work on it.
It's been hanging in the basement for almost 6 months, now i can at least show a complete rifle.
I might revisit it at a later time but for now here it is.
(sorry for the so so pictures, i have a hard time with lighting in the basement.)

And a couple of before and after shots.