Lithgow refinish?

[Brian Dick]

linseed oil is the original finish.

[Gav]

Looks like a nice orginal finish to me, I'd leave it alone. As stated earlier, any attempt to 'improve' it is just undoing 70 years of honest patina leaving it as just another rifle that has been fiddled with.

[Donzi]

Looks like a nice orginal finish to me, I'd leave it alone. As stated earlier, any attempt to 'improve' it is just undoing 70 years of honest patina leaving it as just another rifle that has been fiddled with.

If I'm selling it, it's "patina". If I'm buying it, it's corrosion & decay. JMHO, of course.

[boltaction]

I've recently purchased a matching WWII date Lithgow in lovely shape, but someone enthusiastically applied a coat of shiny varnish to the whole damn thing. I'll post some pics later. I've been debating what to do with it. I don't like shiny guns, but I'm really afraid of what a varnish stripping would do to the finish underneath. The rifle in the original post on this thread had only traces of varnish on it, but mine is like a damned armour coat. Thoughts? Best to just leave it alone for fear of making worse? Man, I hate FinishBubba.......HacksawBubba is very dangerous as he cuts things down but FinishBubba leaves things the original length and shines them up with varnish or Tru-Oil, and maybe some cold blueing in areas where there's some wear. Not sure who's worse. Probably HacksawBubba.

Ed

[Peter Laidler]

Get to grips with it with paint stripper then wash it off, dry out and clean chemically then rinse down again, dry off and dunk it in warm linseed overnight. If you intend to rub it down further, make sure that you use a block and DO NOT run into the band recesses and keep all the edges square. 'Bone'; the linseed in, again taking care not to round any edge or corners.

[Brian Dick]

I'm with Peter. Read my post again too and look at the result on the old LSA MLE Mk.1 prize rifle. It was polyurethaned to death which is twice as hard to remove as varnish. I never touched it with sandpaper either.

[Gav]

I've recently purchased a matching WWII date Lithgow in lovely shape, but someone enthusiastically applied a coat of shiny varnish

Just a note that for some reason, in Australian service the RAAF did apply a clear varnish as a finish in the 50's- early 60's.

[muffett.2008]

That's typical of the RAAF, all show and no go.

[Homer]

I have heard that from some fairly seasoned collectors in Oz. Do you know of any reference to confirm this Gav.

[Gav]

I've never seen it in writing, just my observation of airforce marked rifles and talking with some of those seasoned collectors.

And yes, typical RAAf'ies, go Army.