Refinishing a a Lee-enfield (Just finished!)

macadoodle

macadoodle

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Hi, all.

I have a couple of Lee-enfields. A savage No4 mk1 and a No5 mk1.

Both shoot great and are in good condition. I wanted to re-finish the stocks on both and was interested in opinions on how best to do it.

I have read some on lots of boards but, have ended up more confused than enlightened.

Neither are of great value or significance, so I'm not worried about compromising their authenticity. Their Just my special Enfields and I would like to give them some TLC.

I need advice on how to remove the old finish and prepare the wood as well as what finish to use. I would like the look to approximate the original while maybe showing the grain a bit more. Of course the easier the better as well.

Thx
 
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My personal methods are these: If the stock is cruddy and covered in cosmoline I use a hand steamer and go over it thoroughly, if it's simply dirty and could stand a good cleaning Murphy's oil soap in warm water and a scrubbie sponge or 00 steel wool. Let dry over night in regular room temperature conditions. Apply 2-3 coats Boiled Linseed oil (apply coat of oil, let sit for half hour, wipe off, and let dry. Repeat process again in 24 hours.)
 
Dents: wet a washcloth, place it over the dent, apply iron to raise the dent.
Caveat, don't do this near any stock markings.
On cleaning, use the least invasive method first. Try stuff like Simple Green, Murphy's, or any other furniture cleaner.
 
Hey, thanks WT! :)

Hi macadoodle,

A few pics would help, we could have a better idea of what's the best approach.

Typically, if the rifle is in a reasonable condition as-is, it could be sufficient to take it apart, clean the parts, re-oil them (metal with your favorite gun oil, wood with linseed oil), let the wood sit for a short while, and reassemble. More serious work, I'd only reccomend if required.

A few places on the web offer PDF versions of the tear-down instructions, some things are important to avoid un-necessary damage to precious parts (yup, speaking from experience... doh!)

Lou
 
cantom said:
Lou is the forum expert on Enfield refinishing! You're in good hands.

BTW, the member who mentioned NO SANDPAPER, I agree 100%. Don't even think about it!
Click to expand...
Thanks cantom, btw you're part of the reasons why I got started doing this activity :)

It's a well established fact that using sandpaper on an original Lee Enfield will cause this barbaric act's perpetrator's genetalia to turn into a viscous, foul-smelling, dark coloured, shapeless substance, for an as of yet unknown reason. I suspect James Paris Lee's ghost to be the cause, but I don't have any proof to support this hypothesis.

macadoodle, looking forward looking at the pics. In the meatime, here's a post in this section (one of the stickies at the top) that offers lots, the disassemblies should be in there somewhere. http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=260959

Posting picture: you need to host your pictures in one free picture hosting site (like Photobucket), and then paste in your message here the link to your pictures. Example: I am pasting from my photobucket account the following url: http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj180/louthepou/HPIM1480small2.jpg
 
ok here goes testing testing

IMG_0243.jpg
 
Ok, well, here I go with a few guesses.

1. You have a cat who's wondering why the f*ck you're placing these things on HIS bed.

2. Your Jungle Carbine has a scope and the wood looks quite nice as it is, may use a very thin coat of linseed oil after some very gentle cleaning, but that probably would be it

3. Your no. 4 is sporterized, the bolt is cocked and the trigger has a lock;

4. You need two magazines?

:)

Lou
 
Well I'm off to a good start then :D

As I said, unless the Jungle has been varnished (which doesn't look like it), I would not do a whole lot to it. Varnish isn't supposed to be on an Enfield, so a furniture stripper is used to remove the varnish, then the wood is cleaned, and then refinished with the oil. But from the pictures I don't think you need to to this. The butt "grip" part is duller than the forend, working with thin coats of BLO (boiled linseed oil) (pure, not mixed with driers) would make the parts more uniform in finish.

The No4: Purely on a personnal note, I prefer my Enfields "complete", so when I get my hands on a sporterized one, I try to find the missing parts and end up with something like this (note the crazy hapiness on the owner's face, a natural reaction I believe after numerous hours of effort):
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj180/louthepou/HPIM0989.jpg
 
OK, there was some varnish on it(No 5 Mk1), so I used a Gentle stripper to remove it. I then "sanded" with 0000 steel wool. then I Applied BLO, careful to wipe off excess.
I have let it dry for 24hours. I'm going to apply 1 more coat. Should i use the steel wool again before applying the second coat?
 
It depends on the actual result of the first coat. Usually, yes, but very gently "rub" the wood with 0000. I found that when the coat is really light and the blo is absorbed quite deeply in the wood, you can give another coat, and another one, and quite a few before worrying about the steel wool. It'll be more important to ensure a uniform finish once you reach the few final coats.

Your wood is not new, so it may not take that many coats to finish it.

Lou
 
It depends if you want your #4 to look new (it IS 1943) or like it was made in 1943. I have several #4's that have blo that has dried for the past 60 years and they look great. If you want to duplicate this finish without having to wait 60 years (I don't have that much time left). Use Watco oil and with about 3 coats you will be very close to a 60 year old finish. Agreed that you don't need sandpaper, we only let journeymen use it in our shop!
 
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