Gone Hiking
Member
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2019
- Messages
- 177
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.
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.