'Rehydrating' Lee Enfield wood stock
- Thread starter Ironers
- Start date
I use a 50 50 mix of turpentine and rlo. Remove stock and apply heavy until wood won't absorb more. This takes a few days. Apply and let dry , can tell when to do again as visually it's not there anymore.
Seems to soak in and not change the original finish.
Seems to soak in and not change the original finish.
I just did a a very dry carcano with RLO. First coat I did a 50/50 mix of mineral spirits and RLO, then followed that with two coats of uncut RLO, didn’t affect the colour or finish, just rehydrates the wood.
One caution. Make darn sure the coats are cured before applying another. Also apply, let sit for 30 minutes and then rub in with cut up t-shirts, then I also run after 12 hours, and 24 hours. You should notice the rag picking up oil even after 24 hours. Failure to do this causes oil to cure on the surface and leaves a whiteish hazy residue. If you run in your coats and let them cure youlll avoid this.
One caution. Make darn sure the coats are cured before applying another. Also apply, let sit for 30 minutes and then rub in with cut up t-shirts, then I also run after 12 hours, and 24 hours. You should notice the rag picking up oil even after 24 hours. Failure to do this causes oil to cure on the surface and leaves a whiteish hazy residue. If you run in your coats and let them cure youlll avoid this.
Thank you the advice but Im not going to be able to use turpentine, i have no garage and would have to use the basement.
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Ironers: I use a length of PVC pipe with an end cap cemented on, standing vertically. Wire it to something so it can't fall over. I cut it just long enough to hold a Lee Enfield forend. Soak your forend in pure RLO for a day or two. When originally manufactured they were dipped in a bath of warm raw linseed oil.
milsurpo
milsurpo
Ok this I can do, thank you!
I use paper towels so that I can flush them down the toilet.
Good way to plug up a toilet or lines. Soak the rags with water after use and seal in a metal can,then dispose of. Oh and keep it outside.
That’s not a great plan, they don’t disintegrate like TP does. The threat of these igniting is real but overblown. If they are spread out individually or hung to dry they won’t ignite, only if a few are balled up together is there substantial risk. RLO is 100% food safe, so I spread my rags on my BBQ until they harden. That way if they do ignite the fire is contained
Oh I do not flush them dry, I let one sheet soak in the bowl for a while before flushing. Yes not a good idea regardless but where I live I do not have an enclosed yard so anyone can come up to anything I have outside. And I have no place to dump soaked paper towels any more as the communal dumpsters are long gone.
No I have nothing like that, my backyard is pretty much an extension of a old school yard / baseball feild surrounded by houses with the same kind of backyard.
Do you mean "rub"?
Ok, just got alot of free time to do stuff this week, so I figured I would finally be able to do this project.
No store in Edmonton carries raw linseed oil. Not even crummy tire.
Will boiled linseed oil work because it is all I can find.
No store in Edmonton carries raw linseed oil. Not even crummy tire.
Will boiled linseed oil work because it is all I can find.
- Location
- Western Manitoba
I made exactly same set-up a few years ago - had bought a couple No. 4 fore ends from CGN'r in Faro (?) and hand guards from U.K. through eBay - NOS, was not real certain about their history. Mixed up 50/50 turpentine and RLO from local Co-op hardware store. Submerged wood in ABS tube, placed one of those blue temporary caps on the top. I am sure the wood was in there 3 or 4 days. Used some old bath towels and rubbed as much off as I could when pulled from the tube. Amazed how much "crap" came off, from "new" stocks. Hung the wood pieces in my shop and let dry - a week, probably two weeks. That was about 5 years ago. The wood/linseed oil is now starting to oxidize - has definitely changed colour. Knowing they were "well soaked", I do not think it matters whether RLO or BLO is used on them now - a few drops dribbled on wood and then rubbed in well, with bare hand. RLO is going to take longer to "dry" - like a week, but is a "pure" product; I have read that modern BLO is not actually boiled - has chemicals added to RLO to make it "dry" quicker. I believe the "correct" linseed oil finish involves the couple years of exposure to air - it does change colour, to my eye, a pleasing change.
Years ago, there was a set of consecutive numbered Longbranch rifles that turned up on the EE, both of them had oxidized to the most beautiful red colour. Something you only get with the right circumstance. And time.
RLO is the same as flax oil. Most health food stores carry flax oil. Having said that, I myself prefer BLO because it dries a lot faster and accomplishes the same thing. But use whatever you want, it's your gun.
