Lee Enfield no4 Stock refinish

Improving and repairing firearms. Rifle bedding, barrel work, stock replacement and other ways to improve your firearms.

Lee Enfield no4 Stock refinish

Post by YAREYARE » 04 Sep 2022, 5:15 pm

Hi all.

I just wanted to pick everyone's brain. I recently came into possession of a No4 mk1* for an absolute song, even came with a PH aperture sight. The only catch, minor though it may be, is that the wood is far from great. Im not a fan of the varnished finish, ill have to take care of that and refinish it with some oil.

There are 2 issues id like some advice on really.

The 1st (and probably hardest to fix), is the original owner had a medal or something inlayed in the the butt and removed it before selling it so I got a big nasty hole in the stock. I was considering having a mate turn down a brass disk to fill the hole. I think a big shiny brass disk against the dark wood would look nice, but honestly i think the inlay job is beyond me. Does anyone have any experience with this? other wise i might consider replacing the butt all together (if anyone has a No4 butt stock there not doing anything with and wants to make some beer money let me know)

The 2nd issue I have is the previous owner for what ever reason scratched (poorly i might add) some odd pattern into the lower fore stock and butt stock. It looks like its just made it past the varnish coat into the wood, so even if I strip the varnish ill still have the pattern in the wood. Does anyone have any tricks or tips as to how to tidy this up? its rather not go at it with sand paper and make a small problem into a big one.

thanks everyone for reading my mini essay
Attachments
302199738_470182475123678_3846554183637429602_n.jpg
302199738_470182475123678_3846554183637429602_n.jpg (310.77 KiB) Viewed 993 times
304982129_809138843596555_1636446085990441489_n.jpg
304982129_809138843596555_1636446085990441489_n.jpg (217.8 KiB) Viewed 993 times
305320931_802420770767447_7238363569773900821_n.jpg
305320931_802420770767447_7238363569773900821_n.jpg (261.62 KiB) Viewed 993 times
303042657_3252633771617955_1650184984669807325_n.jpg
303042657_3252633771617955_1650184984669807325_n.jpg (213.36 KiB) Viewed 993 times
YAREYARE
Recruit
Recruit
 
Posts: 8
Victoria

Re: Lee Enfield no4 Stock refinish

Post by Larry » 04 Sep 2022, 7:13 pm

I would hit it with paint stripper and then some oven cleaner and finish the job with sandpaper. Look at it another way there is not much you could do to make it worse or take away any value. You will only improve its appearance.
Larry
Staff Sergeant
Staff Sergeant
 
Posts: 775
-

Re: Lee Enfield no4 Stock refinish

Post by Over The Hill » 04 Sep 2022, 9:29 pm

Since you got it at a good price just ditch the stock and foreend and put your efforts into bettertimber. There are plenty o replacement options online from used n abused through to new old wood. All depends on what you want to spend on it but even if you have a go at refinishing your current wood I expect it will be better than what you have atm
Over The Hill
Recruit
Recruit
 
Posts: 40
Western Australia

Re: Lee Enfield no4 Stock refinish

Post by dnedative » 04 Sep 2022, 9:50 pm

Replace the butt stock
Sand that s**t out of the forend
Boiled linseed oil, dash of turps warmed with a bit of beeswax melted in is the way to finish em.

The woodwork on these were rough from new, I have no idea why people sand them and make them look like a french dining table.
dnedative
Corporal
Corporal
 
Posts: 258
New South Wales

Re: Lee Enfield no4 Stock refinish

Post by Wm.Traynor » 05 Sep 2022, 9:18 am

That fore-end wood is a different colour to the butt. Does that bother you? IMO, it would (no pun intended) be a tricky job trying to stain it to match.
Wm.Traynor
Sergeant Major
Sergeant Major
 
Posts: 1644
Queensland


Back to top
 
Return to Gunsmithing