Giving my No4 back some self respect... (pic)

MB, I am totally impressed. For final finishing you may wish to consider using the mixture and method described in a thread I posted this evening (2 Feb 09) in the "Gunsmithing" forum.
The thread is entitled: "Stock Finishing with BBLOT (Beeswax, Boiled Linseed Oil, Turpentine)"
 
Some nice wood work there,, to bad you could'nt streamline the process, I'm sure you would find a generous market out there, if you could make it cost effective.. A Labour of Love for sure..
 
Well...

If you take a block of wood and apply these...

DSC_0025.jpg


To make this...

DSC_0026.jpg


You end up with this...

DSC_0028.jpg


I managed to get the butt stock rough shaped tonight. Unfortunately the deeper I went, the more knots and voids I found. I was able to shape them out but the thingy at the base of the wrist (you know, the knobish thing that sticks out that the heel of your hand rests against) is a little thinner than I would have liked. Still, it feels nice in the hand and is shaped a touch shorter in the grip to better reach the trigger yet has a longer length of pull to fit my monkey arms.

I'm leaning to the BLO treatment at the moment as I like how the wood has turned out. Still that's a way off since I have some shaping and finish sanding as well as bedding to take care of.

I wish I was able to produce a number of these for individuals interested in re-working there old beaters. I have lost track of the amount of time invested in the project but it must be at least 20hrs by now. If I could rig up a basic copy router it might be possible to produce a rough inleted blank for others to finish... that's the only way I could see it being feasible. There are only a few difficult areas to shape from what I have found. The butt stock cap is a pain, the butt socket is a bit tricky, the inleting is obviously a big hassle and the nose caps are a bit tedious to do, Otherwise its really just basic woodworking. If there were a way to duplicate these sections relatively easily with jigs perhaps something might be possible.

MB
 
If you go with the BLO treatment, you will probably need around 3 or 4 coats. The bees-wax, BLO and turpentine is a makeshift polish that is a final step for after you do the BLO several times. But it looks sweet, it sucks that yours went through such a harsh sporterization and had the barrel cut down, it still looks damn good though.
 
Dude! I'm a carpenter as well, and wow! Great work, and way to take photos of the process along the way! This is my new favourite thread.
 
After reading this thread I've been thinking about this a lot. And its causing me brain strain :) I've been contemplating trying to make a stock for several years now.

I will have to look into setting up a jig of some sort to make stock sets. Some sort of rough stock duplicator, and then I can finish with the sander.

I've got both No4 and No1 stocks in new unissued condition to use as templates :D (the No1 stock is EFD not Ishy.

I've got enough sporter enfields (2 up for sale in EE) to keep me busy for weeks, perhaps all summer at +20 hours each I'll just lock myself in the garage.

Looks like I have another summer project now.

Your stock is looking great.
 
Very impressive!

If your inter-sight distance is the same as a 'Jungle Carbine', you could put one of those 800 yard back sights on. Looks close.
 
Well, I got an itch to get my new creation out to the range for a test run so Thursday night I gave it a quick finish sand, fabed' up the little reinforcing strap for the base of the fore end and slapped on some tung oil to seal it up. I'm a lousy shot so I wont even admit how it performed but I will say that it "groups" tighter than it did for me before the surgery. The barrel is totally free floating at the moment so I think I'll try bedding the end and see what happens. I need to get a taller front sight insert as it's shooting 6" high at 50yrds at the moment. I'm also thinking of changing out the rear sight and will see whats available at Ancaster this weekend.

On with the show...

DSC_0052.jpg


DSC_0053.jpg


DSC_0055.jpg


P.S. I did try the stains I had on a sample piece of wood and the results were less than satisfactory...
 
Pretty... It looks amazing, I like how the grains are very visible in the wood. A bonus to redoing the stock, you won't burn yourself on the barrel if you shoot more then 15 rounds! I learned that the hard way in my dads sportered No.4, three times...lol
 
You should invent your own cartouche to stamp on the stock once your done so anyone who ever owns this rifle in the years to come knows where it's from.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom