Savage LE No4 mk1 color...

quinnbrian

quinnbrian

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Hello all ,
Just received the nos wood for my Savage No4 mk1 sporter rebuild. Everything is going great, the nos wood came off the EE, along with the nos bands , front sight
protector and Savage marked bayonet!!! Nice!! :)
Would like to say thanks to everyone that helped with all the parts.Thanks you very much!!
Anyways my question. Does someone have a recipe for the color (reddish) that was used on the Savage model Lee Enfield. The factory stock the came on the rifle (which I'm reusing) has a nice reddish color to it, and would like to match the rest.
When I get it all done , I'll do a post, from start ( when I got it) until finish.
Cheers
Brian
 
Lee valley has some nice water based stains that could be used to blend the stock set to a uniform colour.
 
There was an official mix of stain powder, linseed, denatured alcohol, powdered dynamite and gelignite that definately stained anything that went into the stain bath overnight. If you dipped your hands in it, they came out like Al Jolson' when he's singing 'mammy....., mammmmmmmmy'. To be honest, we didn't bother too much about the stain bath but DID bother with the Far East wood savior. 8 hours in the Hot linseed oil bath.

This is directly from Peter Laidler.

Also mentioned was that if the stock is a refurb as well it is likely sealed and once the "stain" has been sanded down to where the blonde wood, maple, beech,birch is showing it's very tough to get that reddish hue back again without soaking overnight in hot stain material.
 
You can mix alkanet root powder to blo and it will give a reddish tint to wood.
Not sure if it would give you the color you are looking for though ... i guess the only way is to experiment until you get a close match.
 
Given the lack of WHIMIS when thes rifles were made getting the exact recipe for the stain might not be possible unless you have access to some very dangerous chemicals and don't mind going through chemo. It's not a pleasant experience by the way.
 
When re-staining/coloring used military stocks you need to use an alcohol based stain that will penetrate through the residual oils in the wood. Water and oil based stains don't work well for this.

For a reddish hue in stock wood use an alcohol based leather stain. Fiebings brand light or medium brown stains work very well for this. You can buy them at a leather craft shop or from a tack shop or some shoe repair shops. There's no need to go searching for "eye of newt" or "wing of bat" strange brews.;)
 
I am pretty sure savage did not bother trying to paint their rifles in cool colours.

Just put boiled linseed oil on it like the rest of the Enfields. the colour will be what the wood presents you
 
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