1943 GRI Enfield No.1 MKIII* furniture

[kellaro]

I recently picked up my first SMLE a few weeks back - A 1943 GRI MKIII*. I believe it to be in good shape, bright bore, re-barrelled in '53, most of its original metal finish (where not painted olive green) wood in decent shape, with the exception of having a high 'gloss' finish. I bought it for a decent price with the expectation of re-finishing the wood. I stripped the lacquer finish off and am now looking for advice on how to restore it to what it would have looked like in '43. I'm not sure what type of wood it is or whether it was chemically bleached -- from what I've read this isn't uncommon for Ishapores. I'm going to keep the olive green protective paint intact -- as I feel it is part of the rifles history-- but felt the furniture lacked conviction. Suggestions?

Thanks in advance,

Rich

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[Steve H. in N.Y.]

I think I'd use a walnut stain to even out the color then finish with linseed oil.

[browningautorifle]

It's hard to say exactly what it is from your pics. There were so many different types of wood used. I doubt it was bleached though, more like it's a light wood to begin with. I know if you sand birch or beech down to fine, you're going to have a hard time making it take stain. You may have to use a die on this first to darken it and then oil as suggested.

[Thunderbox]

Nearly all the later Ishapores are stocked in a wood that is actually nearly white in its raw state. They seemed to have stained them with a deep red pigment that unfortunately washes out quite easily - hence the bleached looking wood that occurs when owners use solvents.

[browningautorifle]

That's always been a mystery to me, how to stain or dye the wood dark again...any ideas on that one?

[Brian Dick]

Google Chestnut Ridge military stock stain and order a bottle of it. It's alcohol based so wear gloves when you use it. It'll put the original looking reddish color back on the wood perfectly.

[Peter Laidler]

We had a xxxxxxg great tank of stain stuff that you just dropped everything into. It consisted of a large proportion of linseed too. It was very warm to the touch and you left everything in there for an hour or so while it seemed to bubble away merrily - or overnight if you forgot about it - and it hung to dry for another few hours. It never really dried as such. But it all came out the same colour, within the bounds of the possible and nature and out it went. Even the monsoons wouldn't shift it. Once the woodwork had been through our big workshops it lasted forever!

Anyone wants to know the mixture, I'll have to look it up! My No5's done in it and that was last overhauled in 5/69

[kellaro]

Some great tips here. I'm leaning towards a dye. I'll post a pic in a few weeks with an 'after' pic. Thanks again for your input.

Rich

[browningautorifle]

Anyone wants to know the mixture, I'll have to look it up!

Actually Peter, I think that's exactly what we need. I had the only No 5 butt in size "L" I ever saw and tried to match it to an older No 5 without luck. I had a light butt and dark wood...always looked strange.