I have received some very nice but cleaned up Lee Enfield No.4 wood, destined for an airsoft build.
The one issue it is very light, almost the colour of a "pine", as it looks like it has been totally reworked.
I thought I had read somewhere that the enfield stocks we see now are dark through decades of gun oil and other stuff being put on them.
Since the rifle will be a recent issue, will this light wood be correct or were they originally stained when new?
Yes, should be perfectly fine and more realistic to a newly issued rifle.
I've a few butt-stocks here, and they're all unissued and some are significant different shades to each other. One complete wood set I own is beleived to be unisseud and made post war around the late 40s and it is like an "antique pine" in colour, where as an old wood set I own from a heavily used 'Savage' made rifle is almost black!
A Proud Member Of 'Team Spleen!' who play mainly at Gunman Airsoft, Tuddenham, Suffolk.
To a large extent the colour of the wood is dependant on which type of wood it is. Many No.4 stocks were walnut, but both beech and birch were also used.
When I made mine the butt stock was solid walnut, so a good colour already, he front set was very pale beech which had been stained light brown (I assumed it was an economy / post war thing). I gave it a light coat of walnut stain to try and match the buttstock and it looks quite close but it is still lighter. The stock on the deac I borrowed as a template was pretty dark from 60 yrs of oil. So, I suppose the answer is, as so often with these things, "As long as it looks like wood...." Best advice would be to look at lots of pics.
pale wood is actually more sought after by collector's or so i'm told ,what you have to understand is that we are emulating a period when these gun's were new not 60 years old , having said that there was a large variation in colours even at the time, in my mind so long as its not too bright as in drawing attention to you'r position and all the coulour's match then it's all good.
armoury
m1a1 Thompson,sten mk2,mp40,stg44,sterling,mk2 bren gun,lee Enfield no4 mk1,Mauser Kar98, Walther ppk,smith and Weston m10 and Mauser m712
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