Why is louthepou smiling tonight? (warning lots of pics!)

louthepou

louthepou

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Hi everyone,

Been busy recently - received lots of drill purpose wood for three No1 Mk3's I'm retrofitting.

A few pictures...

1. Stocks when received (rough...)
HPIM0920.jpg


2. After about 6 hours of work, wood is prepared and ready for fitting / bedding
HPIM0946.jpg


3. Some cracks have to be repaired; and in the case of this forend, shims have been installed for snug fit of the sear lugs (you can see the contact marks on the shims). I'm quite new at this bedding thing, but it is a lot of fun, and I think I'm making progress.
HPIM0950.jpg


4. First coat of boiled linseed oil is applied. From pic 1 to 4, between 10 and 15 hrs of work; still a few (or many) to go before I'm done... :)
HPIM0952.jpg
 
Off topic/hijack but curious - do I see a Yamaha Vision there?

Nice work with the wood, have a Cooey waiting o the same type of treatment in a couple weeks - yes I know its a Cooey, is about developing the skill.

Cheers
 
lineofsight said:
Off topic/hijack but curious - do I see a Yamaha Vision there?

Nice work with the wood, have a Cooey waiting o the same type of treatment in a couple weeks - yes I know its a Cooey, is about developing the skill.

Cheers
Click to expand...

naaw, looks like some sort of cheap shop vac knock off.

Great work on the stocks, if you didn't already know you can strip the wood with circa 1850 furniture stripper first. It will really clean it up and you are pretty much ready for sanding and repair. With close to 100 years of oil in the cracks you really have to get the wood on both sides good and clean so your glue or epoxy will bond well.
 
Thanks Yodave. I did take the time to use stripper on two of these parts, they were soaked with oil and oozed quite a bit as soon as they were in the sunshine!

And Yes the Yamaha Vision produces probably the same amount of horsepower as my shopvac, but the shopvac handles better in the curves. :D Lineofsight, you sure know your bikes, so 45.3 Enfield points are given to you on this fine ID job! ;)

Lou
 
I agree...

Greenfields said:
Sanding bad. Say it with me....Sanding bad.

Nice work Lou!

Cheers
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You're wright, Greenfields, sanding is bad. Now, I hope folks believe me when I say that I'd never use sandpaper on originally issued wood on a Lee Enfield.

What I'm playing with here, though, is drill purpose wood; definitely not the same historical significance - and, for the most part, in an "unfinished" (rough, oversize) state. Hence why I allow myself to use the dreaded sand paper...

If the surface and the size is ok, then a better approach would be to simply strip the surface finish, and use the finest steel wool before staining, then coating with BLO.

I guess I could also say that I'd have a hard time convinving myself to refinish an original Lee Enfield, since it's appearance also has historical significance in my opinion... but that's another subject ;)

Lou
 
lol, it's drill wood guys.....use a belt sander it will be okay :D
I agree any usgi wood should be stripped and smoothed with steel wool, but yeah I would agree you can also enjoy the historic bruises and bumps as well.


Hats of to lineofsight for guessing that motor bike with a picture of half of a rear tire. You are a true testiment to the Yamaha community, I prefer to push a Honda but I don't rag on anyone who has a bike and knows what the wind in the face syndrome is all about. Had the air conditioner on in the truck today out on the coast of BC and the bike out of the shed.
 
Why sanding bad - removes too much wood, not fine enough, too imprecise? What to watch out for? Suspect that the stock am looking at refinishing may require some but depending on the response may avoid.

The Vision was my second motorbike, good handling, fairly responsive, good times touring. It (as with my first motorbike) met its demise two weeks after I sold it. Miss it but still have the stereo I bought with the proceeds 18 years ago - also a Yamaha (with Bowers & Wilkins speakers). Rode a Honda ST1100 for a while, turbine smooth, limitless power above 3000rpm but never really got a good reading on the front brakes. Always wanted the '86 VFR 750, one day will own a Ducati - 907, 996, ST2.
 
lineofsight said:
Why sanding bad - removes too much wood, not fine enough, too imprecise? What to watch out for? Suspect that the stock am looking at refinishing may require some but depending on the response may avoid.
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You really don't want to remove all of the markings on a historically correct milsurp, this will depreciate any sort of value it could of had to a collector and is considered to be a bubba. You can sand the cooey you are working on as it has no significant history, most milsurps do. There are still a few good men around who can decipher all of the marks and tell you the whole story and history of the rifle but they are getting to be few and far between.
 
yodave said:
You really don't want to remove all of the markings on a historically correct milsurp, this will depreciate any sort of value it could of had to a collector and is considered to be a bubba. You can sand the cooey you are working on as it has no significant history, most milsurps do. There are still a few good men around who can decipher all of the marks and tell you the whole story and history of the rifle but they are getting to be few and far between.
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I think with the internet and the HUGE databases of all wartime historical stuff nowadays (and not wartime), that the collector value of any milsurp is going to go up if it has all the marks intact. It isn't about the old guy who is a rare treasure able to decipher the marks and insignia anymore, because all those marks are online for any of us to see and understand. All that individual knowledge is available to anyone today.

The value comes in being able to posess an actual piece of history, something with all the marks and nicks and scrapes and gouges that happen when something has been built for war, then owned, lent, bought and preserved for decades after. It has a story, and it it's not the rare old guy who still knows his stuff that matters as much as all of us who are interested in owning these increasingly rare bits of our past who should be invested in keeping our original pieces preserved as close to the original item as we can.

Dont' sand... :D Hell, even trainers and drill pieces have a story.
 
In the Museum that's my work place, we try to keep the artifacts in as-perfect-shape as possible, and we are aiming at "forever" as far as preservation goes.

A genuine, untampered-with Lee Enfield, I do consider an artifact; if you sand the wood, you are removing a portion of the artifact, thus changing it with no way to return it to the "before your action" state. Cleaning crud, is not bad; but removing dings, scratches that may have been the result of war events, removing stampings on the wood, punched numbers... etc is not good.

For example: I will not do anything to this Jungle I just got in Montreal a couple of days ago (ALL numbers match!) :dancingbanana: :dancingbanana: :dancingbanana:

HPIM0953.jpg


Lou
 
I leave all of the dents and dings on my rifles. I find "pristine" or "mint" examples of war time rifles suspect. I check for matching serial numbers but am not dissuaded if they all don't match...armourers don't fix rifles for collectors they fix them for soldiers to use in battle.
There are rifles that are babied (right Longshot? lol), for example sniper rifles or rifle team rifles....I imagine most 22 trainers are babied. The average infantry weapon is used, and used hard regardless of it's pedigree (wartime or not).
Restoration and preservation is one of the best parts of Milsurp collection as long as it is not billed as "original" when you pass it on for someone else to enjoy.

Cheers
 
Historical artifacts are for museums, not rifle safes.

There are more than enough Enfields, Garands, Mausers, Mosins, etc to keep several warehouses full of museum quality stuff. By that logic, you shouldn't be shooting milsurps either, because that will wear them out and de-value them. I have no problem ironing out the small dents and dings, because they are more than likley the result of mishaps in the safe and in the field on the hunt. Same goes for the dirt and gunk and grease that builds up on the wood.

Besides, any real war damage would be removed or repaired by the armourers. The dents and dings on most rifles are the result of poor shipping or handling practices.

90% of milsurps aren't rare collectors items... so shoot away and don't get your panties in a bunch over the collector value of a $300 rifle.
 
My panties definitely are not in a bunch LOL, maybe should've used more smilies? It is not a rant, just my personnal opinion. I have restored rifles back to the correct configuration and I have corrected small "faults".
When I started collecting LE's 100-150 bucks for no1 or no4 was the norm. Long lees and rare configurations of LE's commanded a premium 600-1100 depending on which rifle was offered.
The term Bitsters, is a derogatory term for rifles that are put together and billed as the real deal. In the end it is a collector who will pay the premium for the correct rifle.....right? Nope, allot of new collectors get suckered in and realize that they have bought something that they won't get the value out of unless they sucker another newbie. LOL Caveat something or other.
Lou is doing a fantastic job, and doing it in an open and friendly manner. These old girls need....nope...demand to be put back to rights. I aplaud his efforts.
I agree that 90% of milsurps aren't rare, but they are going to be (depending on interest etc.....). You can't make a wartime rifle again, the wars are History after all. LOL

Cheers
 
When I was a kid, G41/43, Johnson M1941, Enfield No.4 MKIT Snipers were $65.00 Rifles, try to find one below $3000.00 today! If enough Bubbas do their best, even Mosin-Nagants will be $1000.00 rifles soon enough.
 
JP said:
When I was a kid, G41/43, Johnson M1941, Enfield No.4 MKIT Snipers were $65.00 Rifles, try to find one below $3000.00 today! If enough Bubbas do their best, even Mosin-Nagants will be $1000.00 rifles soon enough.
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LOL, come ooooooon bubba! Baby needs new shoes! LOL
 
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