Restoring a No4 Mk1 Enfield

[GunnyUSMC]

Well, I'm on the last step of the stock cleanup. It's already had a good hand rubbed coat of BLO and then a polish coat of BLO. The mistake most often with BLO is that people try to soak their stock. Your first coat should be applied generously and rubbed until very warm. You should have oil left on the surface and let it sit for 30 minutes then wipe dry. Most often there will there will some oil on surface but if the stock has soaked up all of the oil, hand rub on a little more and wait another 30 minutes then wipe dry. Now let it sit for 24 hours. This time is needed to allow the BLO to cure.
Your next coat, or coats should only be polish coats. That is, just rub on a small amount. Rub it in until your hand gets hot. This will cause the grain of the wood to show much better. Wipe it dry and let it sit for 24 hrs.
You shouldn't need more then two polish coats.
The last step is to wax the stock. Before you apply the wax the BLO should be dry. Most often you just have to wait 48 hours after your last polish coat. Here is a tip to check to see if the BLO is dry. Take a paper towel and rub the stock. If oil rubs off, you need to wait a little longer. The reason for this is, depending on the wax that you use, if the BLO has not dried the wax will become cloudy.
You can use a paste wax made for wood, a 1/3 mix like Tom's 1/3 Mix Military Gunstock Wax.
I'm going to us Tom's Natural mix.


Here is the stock before the wax.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

Not long ago I was buying complete Enfield stock sets, with hardware, for $40. Now days the price has more then doubled.
I do have to admit that some restorations I've done in the past have cost more the what I could have bought a complete rifle for. But I have more fun restoring a rifle then just buying one.

And that's the fun part. You are doing what they would have done which makes it more authentic and, probably, more satisfying for you.
I like building self bows and sometimes it's that gnarly and twisted stave that is the most frustrating but satisfying to a make bow from.
And I have always said that if you're spending Time, Money or Both it must be a Hobby.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Here is the stock all finished.


When putting the rifle together I put Howard's feed-n-wax on the stock bolt and in the screw holes. This helps them go in easier and reduces the chance of rusting.




The rear barrel band had the wrong screw and the swivel was missing. So I dug out the Enfield parts box and found the parts.


Here it is all together with a repro sling. It has that BT, DT look. It still has all its dings and dents.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

Wow, looks great! And I felt so proud of myself for fitting a new wood handguard to my AK.....

 

[CapnMac]

Tom's For The Win.
Looks good. Real good.