Tulipwood stocked SMLE MkIs

[WillSarchet]

From the Annual Accounts for Small Arms Factories 1905-1906:
Attachment 121157

4,996 SMLE MkIs made at Enfield Lock were stocked in tulipwood. No spare furniture is marked as being made of the same; nor are any other arms noted as using American Whitewood. Has anyone seen one of these? I don't have the 1904-1905 or 1906-1907 records so I'm not sure if this was a one-time experiment or if it was a regular occurrence.

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[CINDERS]

Given the attrition rates 1914 - 1915 if they did do overseas service which is more than likely their survival would be rather sketchy such was the demand for the rifles that the mother country sent out the call to its dominions that had the MKIII's they send what could be spared back to her.
Lithgow had only been producing the rifles for barely 2 years (1912) but from what I have read here Australia did send back a good swag of what we had here.

[Mark Thorp]

No, never seen any in the US maybe try were for trials

[Patrick Chadwick]

I’m sure I’m not the only one who is not familiar with the appearance of tulipwood in its finished state. Pictures on the internet just seem to show raw material, not finished objects.

Has anyone got a good photo of a slice of polished/oiled tulipwood that they could post here?

And couldn‘t „whitewood“ mean several species. Why tulipwood in particular?

[WillSarchet]

Has anyone got a good photo of a slice of polished/oiled tulipwood that they could post here?

And couldn‘t „whitewood“ mean several species. Why tulipwood in particular?

I'm also unfamiliar with what RLO-finished whitewood/tulipwood looks like, I'm seeing if any of the woodworkers I know have a scrap I could have. Once I have that I'll post a comparison photo next to walnut.

Whitewood is a general term in some contexts, but American Whitewood from what I have found specifically refers to tulipwood or the tulip poplar tree. It also has better properties for a gunstock than "modern" whitewoods like pine or fir. Whitewood as a general term also appears to be a relatively recent application of the term, while period UK documents (for example the specifications for the Chest, Rifle, Short MLE MkI) seem to use deal as the general term for SPF type softwoods.

[ssgross]

And couldn‘t „whitewood

Isn't whitewood at the hardwood store raw pine? Usually the lower grade planks with knots in it

[browningautorifle]

raw pine

No one would use pine for gunstocks...

[ssgross]

No one would use pine for gunstocks...

I would hope not - point being, and I think we have consensus now, is that "whitewood" is a generic term not necessarily species specific. maybe it's meant to mean sapwood vs. heartwood?

[StratA]

I would hope not - point being, and I think we have consensus now, is that "whitewood" is a generic term not necessarily species specific. maybe it's meant to mean sapwood vs. heartwood?

In general it often refers to lumber from one of the tree species in the genus populus. The tulip tree is not of the same genus but the lumber from the tulip tree can closely resemble some of that from poplars. (Sorry, this touched my former profession!)
However, who knows. White wood is like common names for trees--the meaning can be very different state to state, province to province, region to region, etc.

[mattyboy82]

By 30 June 1914, Australia had 5741 Mk.1 SMLEs and all of 1904 year manufacture. I have never read anywhere that some were of tulipwood. I've certainly never seen any examples of them on Mk.1s myself. The majority of the Mk.1s were used in training the recruits of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) as rifles were in very short supply as the AIF took with them approx 90,000 - 95,000 Mk.IIIs from late 1914 until Oct 1915 when Britain took control of issuing rifles to the AIF. A lot of the Mk.1s were held onto as late as the 1930s where they were sold out of service and were once again called up in 1941 for use in the garrison posted troops/Volunteer Defence Corps for the defence of Australia.

A constant thing brought up is that Australia gave all its rifles (except for 10,000) to Britain. So how would Australia fight with rifles if it had given all its rifles up? The answer is Australia took its own rifles to the Middle East between late-1914 until Oct 1915 and Post-Gallipoli, those rifles were given to the Brits in Egypt and a small amount in France and were a one-for-one swap with rifles sighted for Mk.VII. Those former Aussie rifles were then handed out to those that needed them in France. That is why we see Lithgow made rifles with Brit, Canadian or South African markings on them.

At the end of hostilities, those rifles Australia had used in the trenches of France and the Middle East that were Mk.VII sighted, were once again were handed to the Brits who, under the imperial ordnance program, sent out 101,000 Mk.IIIs in 1919-1920 as replacements for the rifles the AIF had taken overseas initially and handed to the Brits. The extra rifles were part of a deal that saw Australia able to rearm five full divisions of dismounted infantry and five brigades of mounted infantry,

Anyway, I'm getting of topic here but just clarifying some info about the whole giving of rifles to Britain misunderstanding.