M1 Garand Stock Refinish

[Gone Hiking]

The CMP only took two weeks to get a Field Grade Garand to my door recently. I included a sticky asking for an original walnut stock, and brother, did they send one with original wood! It's scarred to death, but has no cracks, which is exactly what I was hoping for. What I wasn't hoping for is a layer of solid black crud on the stock that made my hands filthy just from holding it.

I wanted to clean it up while preserving the character, so I initially scrubbed it down with mineral spirits to get the worst of the black gunk off, and then began coating it with thinned tung oil. The oil was drying very streaky, however, and looked horrible. Thinking there might be some cosmoline in the stock that was causing this, I took a heat gun to it to try to draw it out, but nothing rose to the surface. Clearly there something in the wood that wasn't allowing the tung oil to penetrate well.

So, I went to my final recourse and stripped it with a citrus based product, and then sanded the wood down with 180 thru 400 grits. There was still some trace of varnish or oil in the wood, because it clogged my sandpaper something fierce. I followed Garand Gear's tung oil finishing process on another stock that turned out wonderfully, so I stuck with that for this one as well. I think even after stripping it, it kept its character after all with the pure tung oil.

http://www.garandgear.com/m1-garand-new-oil-finish

I'm anxious to shoot this now. It has an HRA receiver, barrel, and stock. The muzzle and throat erosion are just 1 and 2, better than the service grades I've received. I have high hopes that it will be precise.

 

[trackskippy]

Looks good!

I think you made the right move going with the original stock. The new ones are nice too, but just sorta look "to nice", if you know what I mean.

I always used boiled linseed oil, hand rubbed on my GI and most other older stocks. I usually give them a couple of coats around three or so times a year. Makes watchingTV a little less boring too.

Looks like the tung oil comes out with a very similar finish to the BLO.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

Looks great to me, with lots of character- like it just came back from "Bloody Chosin."

 

[bannockburn]

Gone Hiking

Nice job on refinishing the stock! Looks great, especially with all of the character marks!

 

[GunnyUSMC]

You have to remember that the M1 Garands that CMP sell are all coming from other countries these days. This can be a problem when it comes to refinishing the stocks. Most of the Garands that never left the US had PTO (Pure Tung Oil) or BLO applied to the stocks, or both. The ones coming from other countries, there’s no telling what was applied to the stocks.
When cleaning the stock , you need to remove what is on the surface and then some of the stuff that has soaked into the wood. Scrubbing with mineral spirits will remove Dirt and grime from the surface, but as you discovered, it doesn’t work that well for removing finishes.
A good stripper will remove most finishes, but it’s best to get one that will also remove poly. I don’t care for citrus based strippers. They are great for clean water paint from the hands of little girls.
Once you strip whatever finish that’s on the stock, you should clean the stock a few times. I say a few times because, if there’s cosmoline or other oils that are soaked into the stock they will eventually come to the surface and effect your new finish. You need to clean the stock with a wood safe cleaner that will remove oil. But remember, you will only be able to remove oil from the surface and just below the surface. You need to let the stock sit for a few days to see if any deep soaked in oil comes to the surface. The way to tell this is, after cleaning the stock it will dry to a lighter color. As the soaked in oil comes to the surface, it will get darker. This may take a day or two. You can speed this up by applying heat, but avoid getting the stock to hot. You don’t want to cook any cosmoline that is in the stock.
You will know that you have gotten about as much oil out of the stock as you can when the stock stops getting darker after 3 or 4 days.
Now you have to decide if you want to keep the patina or remove it. The patina is the aged surface of the wood. To smoothen the stock you can Bone or sand the surface. Sanding will remove the patina, and there is no putting it back. Boning will compress and smoothen the surface without removing the patina. This is a personal choice, but I prefer to Bone a stock.
Now when it comes to applying a finish to the M1 Garand stock, BLO and Tung Oil are the two most common ones used. The problem here is that 90% of Tung Oil Finishes on the market have little to no Tung Oil in them. If you go with Tung Oil, you need to use PTO. It will take some time for PTO to cure so, don’t be in a rush if you use it. BLO will cure faster and give a good finish. Some people use Raw Linseed Oil, but it takes even more tine to cure then PTO. Some people cut it with mineral spirits to help it dry, but all they are really doing is making a poor quality BLO.
Now once you have finished applying your oil finish, you need to protect it. This is done by applying a wax top coat. Here again, you don’t want to be in a rush. You must allow the oil finish time to cure before applying the wax. If you apply the wax to soon, it will become cloudy after a day or two. Just give the oil finish 3 or 4 days to cure. Use a dry paper towel to rub the surface. If a little bit of oil comes off, let it sit for a day or two longer.

For more detailed information on restoring an old military stock. Look up my post on my road trip to the CMP.

 

[Gone Hiking]

Good info @GunnyUSMC. One other step that I forgot to mention is that after stripping, I scrubbed the stock with a bar of fels naptha soap, water, and a green scrubby pad, and rinsed, three times. ...a trick I learned in my selfbow making days from a master bowyer to remove natural oils from wood prior to gluing on a rawhide or sinew backing.

 

[Riomouse911]

Looks great, and it sounds like you did a good job with the stock refinishing so it’ll keep its looks for a long time .

If you get a chance to stretch it’s legs at the range let us know how it shoots for you .

Stay safe.

 

[Boattale]

That looks like the stock on the M1 I took ashore in Normandy 77 years ago today. Well, one that someone took ashore that day. To me, it's a thing of rare and distinct beauty. Great choice and great job.

 

[Reloadron]

Something I used for years was TSP (Tri Sodium Phosphate) in a deep sink starting with scalding hot water. TSP in 1.0 Lb containers is available in any home improvement store. I fill a deep sink and in goes the oil and dirt soaked wood.



Yes, that is a big rock holding the stocks down and a piece of scotch brite. About every 30 min I rub the wood down using scotch brite.I usually wait a few hours but you can tell where you are at.

Then I allow the wood to dry in the sun but about anywhere is fine.


The lighter wood is a GI Birch Stock often called "the orange wood". I used tongue oil for the finish.






There were also a few "whiting" products marketed by Brownell's for drawing years of oil and dirt from wood stocks. I also liked Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil which is pretty much a boiled linseed oil with a fast drying agent. After cleaning one can do sanding as needed and I liked finishing the sanding with 0000 steel wool.

Ron