Correct finish for a Turk-38 stock

[saands]

A while back I ordered up a bunch of those $39 Turk-38's for use in projects and one arrived in what appears to be unissued/unused (dare I say untouched? ) condition. I put it aside thinking that it would be a shame to use such a beautiful specimen for a sportster. I was looking at it the other day and noticed that the wood has a very rough texture to it, and I got to wondering if this rifle was ever even finished or if the oil on the rough wood was just from the years of soaking in Cosmoline. Were these rifles issued with smooth surfaced, BLO'd stocks ... something like a Garand might have had? If not smooth BLO, what would the period correct finish be?

Thanks in advance,

Saands

 

[Dogsoldier]

The wood fiber swelling you are seeing is probably a combination of the cosmoline and humidity from overthe years. There is an old saying in the world of collectables, "The money is in the finish". So, if this puppy looks to be something that will really appreciate, I would say, leave it alone.

I seriously doubt that a Turk Mauser will ever command a very high price within our life times. Could be wrong, just my opinion. What I would do is wipe the wood down with some denatured alcohol or acetone to getthe surfcae crud off. You could also wash it with hot water and Tide soap. RInse real well and put some place to dry slowly. If it dries too fast, it may crack. The original finish was linseed oil. You can start piling on the coats of linseed oil and rub it in. Let it dry between coats.

 

[saands]

Thanks for the input. I think that you may very well be correct in that something (ie. moisture) has raised the grain over time. There are no rough "tooling" marks in the wood and it is in the correct shape, so it must have been finished at some point in the early 40's. If it were shot as-is, however, I think that the result would likely be slivers embedded in the shooters cheek

I guess the idea of a Turk dramatically appreciating in value never even crossed my mind ... I was more thinking that I wanted to have it in the historically correct configuration. There really isn't any surface crud on this one ... it arrived to me that way ... REALLY clean except for a light coat of cosmoline ... almost like it had been used by the distributor for some advertisement photos.

Saands