Long Branch C/|\ marked "blonde" Maple wood furniture

[Lance]

I can honestly state I have no clue on wood types, What should I look for?

[shoe303]

Thanks guys for posting the pictures. Nice rifles.

Lance, that is a very unusual 1941 Long Branch. Is it marked as a 1 or 1*? Was the clearance cut for the bolt head also made under the charger bridge? I would suspect yes otherwise how would you remove the bolt when using the forward raceway cutout to remove the bolt.

Regarding the wood, identification is sometimes tough. I have been told at various times that Long Branch used birch, walnut, maple and beech timber for stocking No. 4s. Usually I can id the birch and walnut pretty easily. I have seen the lighter colored wood on occasion that could be maple or maybe beech. It is usually a smoother finish than the normal birch. Birch always seems to have a more dull, rough look about it than for example walnut. Looking a the pictures of your rifle, it is hard to tell. The full length picture shows the fore end as being more shiny and smooth with some horizontal screaks between the lower and upper bands. That looks a lot like the maple stock on a Swede 96 I own. Yet the close ups do look more like birch. That is a tough one.

[Lance]

The rifle is marked as a Mk I and it has both Mk I and I* bolt head release systems, plus with the 6L s/n makes me think that it was either a bottom of the barrel receiver, it had a problem and was worked into the system later in production or was used as a trials/pattern receiver for the Mk I* conversion and then put into the system in early '42. If it only could talk.

Thanks for the wood update, one day I will bring it to a wood expert and get their opinion.

[browningautorifle]

it has both Mk I and I* bolt head release systems

I didn't notice that at first, very interesting. I'd have thought they'd have nullified the early release system before releasing it.

[Brian Dick]

Another very interesting LB rifle. No.4Mk.1/1*. Find that in the list of changes! As far as identifying wood types, The very few maple pieces I've seen were very blond colored. I would have mistaken them for 1950's British beech at first glance. The surface is very hard and near impenetrable for stain and oil. It's also noticeably heavier. Birch and beech are just not as dense and the surface of the wood not near as hard if that makes sense. They usually have a distinctive reddish tint to them after years of treatment with raw linseed oil.

[browningautorifle]

The surface is very hard and near impenetrable for stain and oil.

Some of these after sanding come up about like glass but you can't get stain to penetrate...just runs off.

[Richard Hare]

Very interesting rifle and thread!
I too thought maple by the horizontal streaking between the upper and lower bands. Looks very typical maple there, but not sure either on the close-ups, as I see nothing to point to maple over birch. Not beech but it was used as noted, and Does go a lovely reddish coulour with age and oil.

If anyone Does want to stain a maple stock for any reason, Feibing's leather dye does a fantastic job! Dark brown comes out a lovely reddish colour. Normal stock stains come out looking like pond water.

[browningautorifle]

Feibing's leather dye does a fantastic job!

Good information...

[Richard Hare]

Jim,
Just let it sit and get dry before you oil the wood. a couple of days is best. Very easy to do though.

[André]

While my 1943 L-E N°4 Mk* I stock does look like plain grain walnut, I believe it's beech instead(darkened by linseed oil), as suggested by the typical "scales" seen on the stock's belly (BTW, note the skilfully done center bed insert (free floating barrel) in the new stock (+ barrel) replaced during a FTR (F 53).