OK, I’m not a photographer
but this is the kind of finish you can get with Minwax Antique Oil
here’s another shot that maybe shows off the grain. It’s hard to get a decent picture with the flash. Maybe I should take it outside when the light is gray and diffuse.
The photograph does not do it justice at all.
You can apply the oil, wait ten minutes and buff wiht burlap or coarse cloth, and it gives a deep matte luster, or you can simply let it dry, and it turns shiny.
I’ve been steel-wooling it after each coat, to let it fill the grain, which has worked wonderfully. I can still give it another coat and buff it, which will leave the finish matte and lustrous, or shiny and pretty. It’s a tossup. One way or the nother, it looks great.
19 comments Og | Uncategorized
Outdoors under winter light would make for nice diffuse and even lighting – but, SWEET!
That has such a deeply gorgeous luster to it…. wow.
Niiice furniture!
Very nice. Did you strip down the original furniture or buy new?
I was lucky enough to put my hands on nice new furniture.
I would like an original bayo band, because I want a bayonet on this sucker so bad i can taste it.
That does look nice! I’m tempted to try it on my Mini-14.
Nice indeed. I’m going to have to try that when I do the north wall bookshelves.
M
Looks great!!
I wonder how well it seals the wood?
Bob
III
Sarco has your barrel band w/bayonet lug – $14.95.
jeffro: yeah, ive seen several. my biggest concern is getting the sight off!
Bob: the wood looks plastic coated. This seems to be predominantly tung oil so it probably has similar properties.
In ref to your earlier post … now THAT puppy has SOUL!!
That finish is looking professional. Very nice. What number steel wool are you using?
Four ought.
Getting the front sight off is easy-peasy. First go to Harbour Freight and buy a set of el-cheapo pin punches. Now set the muzzle on a block of lead or hardwood, lead preferred. Start the cross pin with the tapered starting punch. Drive it far enough to clear the groove in the top of the barrel. Tap the sightband and key forward off the muzzle. Get a magnet and fool around for an hour finding the key and pin in the fucked up 70’s shag carpet. Slide the old barrel band off, and the new one on. Put the key, then the sight band back. Install the cross pin.
Do a face palm, and holler “Doh!” when you realize the other barrel band was the “correct” one and the “Milsurp Purity Nazis” are knocking at your door. Never mind that the Yew of Ess Army doesn’t and never has given a royal shit one way or the other about what parts go on a particular piece of ordnance so long as said part fits, functions, and meets (more or less) the pertinant mil spec.
Fix your aftermarket bayonet of choice, and answer the door.
Shove the bodies into the ditch, hose the blood and guts off the walk and pour yourself a nice glass of Single Malt, you’ve earned it.
Good job, looks swell.
Gerry N.
I did something similar to a Remington 22 back in the day. Had it looking real good, but my brother took it to a gunsmith to get a cooked on blue and that guys scraped it all off. Man was I pissed. Not that I could show it as he is still my brother. Oh well.
Looks goog Og. Steel wool between coats and you can make it look a foot thick.
I would really like to find an M1 or M14 that needed a little care if they just didn’t cost so bleeding much.
I’m a tung oil man myself. Oil finishes are best and you can take thosse sprayed on Poly finishes and mail them to hell first class.
Whether tung oil or linseed, if you get a scratch, you can just work it down, refinish it, and it’ll look like new. With a Poly finish….well you’re just screwed.
More commonly the non-lugged band is what’s faked to presume an early “original” carbine — HAHAHA! No such thing really, they all got overhauled.
*nods* Take it outside to photograph during the daylight, Og. Don’t put it in direct sunlight, just a well-lit porch or deck; the boards of the typical backyard deck make a good backdrop.
Once it’s fully cured, it’s a very hard protective finish, and- short of actually setting something like a sweating glass on it for a while- seems to be waterproof.
And yeah, the Type III band with the bayo lug is what almost everything was upgraded to when they went back to the armory at some point; it’s why models with original early features cost so damn much, they’re rare.