http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Concentrated- ... 2a3f5635a1
Use this or pre-made wood stain before the oil.
Slowly but surely.
The wood shows the grain on one side, but not the other. Cut of the wood I s'pose; disappointing as one side it's got a beautiful rich grain and down the other it looks flat. Nothing I seem to do brings it up or improves it which is a ball ache. 
Dry brushed the resin with Vallejo 'Oily Steel' to give it a metallic look which does improve it, I think.
Honestly, if I did this again I'd use a real stock. Live and learn.
there's a down side to the real stock's , they are less deep around the point where the airsoft magazine is inserted ,so the magazine stick's out at the bottom of the woodwork by about 3+mm,Warren has made them subtly deeper ,not much i grant you but it's impossible to make an invisible magazine with a genuine stock , plus given that the genuine stock's were natural wood as well and they were not made for aesthetic's ,there's no guaranty it would look better unless you could pick and choose one.it will get more of a luster once the oiling is complete as well ,that takes day's before you get to a point that it stop's absorbing it.
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
Give me a big enough hammer and a place to stand and I could fix the world.
i'll kill a man in a fair fight or if i think he's going to start a fair fight or over a woman or.......
a problem shared is a problem halved ,but an advantage shared is no advantage at all
if a job's not worth doing then its certainly not worth doing well
Looking good. I have to agree with Dadio, that when making the stocks, the aesthetics of the wood grain would not be a major consideration. If you have one side that looks good for taking photos then that's just a bonus.
My SMLE is now at customs in the UK so very soon I will have to decide whether to strip woodwork and restain and at the same time start the process of getting it to work well. I have a feeling I may chicken out and keep it red 
Looking good. I have to agree with Dadio, that when making the stocks, the aesthetics of the wood grain would not be a major consideration. If you have one side that looks good for taking photos then that's just a bonus.
My SMLE is now at customs in the UK so very soon I will have to decide whether to strip woodwork and restain and at the same time start the process of getting it to work well. I have a feeling I may chicken out and keep it red
You know you want to strip it and stain it. 
It's incredibly fun, actually. Best bit of the build so far.
Conducted a 'poor mans' chrono test with a Coke can. Wouldn't penetrate the bottom of the can with .25s; went through both sides easily enough. I'm guessing it isn't sub 360fps.
Well it's through Customs so I guess I will see soon enough. 
£10 say's you strip it back and stain it. The temptation will be too great. 
What work have you got to do on it when it arrives to bring it up to spec?
I've got to sort the spring on the No.4 out as it's way too hot at the moment!
Unboiled linseed oil made a good job on my carcano, and its non toxic
I'm not sure about the wood on this; doesn't seem to take it very well. Tried some 50/50 Terps and Linseed Oil on some wood I cut off the stock and to be honest it didn't pish. Very anaemic.
Wondering about a Pine stain first.
Your Enfield build was great by the way; had a good nose through that!
Thanks very much, though I'm sure your's will look much better when your finished, that receiver looks great!
Hmmmm I just had a look at the original wood you received and it is very light, I know a array of hard woods were used, from all over the world, but perhaps using it that colour would be like wearing red at San Fermin bull run 
£10 say's you strip it back and stain it. The temptation will be too great.
What work have you got to do on it when it arrives to bring it up to spec?
I've got to sort the spring on the No.4 out as it's way too hot at the moment!
There are some guides on this but essentially:
It comes smothered in grease that will destroy all the rubber seals, so it has to be stripped, cleaned with meths and then oiled.
The Magazine generally leaks so will need to be taken apart and sealed better.
The nose has orange paint so will need to strip that off and refinish
the valves will need adjusting to get it to actually shoot.
and I may or may not decide to redo the woodwork.
I do want a slightly reddish look to the wood
To mimic a Lithgow made SMLE which would have been Queensland Maple. Maybe a red mahogany stain before oiling?
Hmmmm I just had a look at the original wood you received and it is very light, I know a array of hard woods were used, from all over the world, but perhaps using it that colour would be like wearing red at San Fermin bull run
The Linseed Oil makes an incredible difference to the wood.
Only put two coats on over the last few days and it's already looking a lot better.
Sergeant Thomas, Duke of Cornwall Light Infantry, approves.
I've been assured the J R Hartley Fly Fishing hat was standard issue...
Though these WAAF are still nothing but trouble!
Oh, Russell, the Colron wood stains do a red mahogany one that'd look just the part. Their stains are excellent.
that's looking very nice indeed , well done team Allenby
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
Give me a big enough hammer and a place to stand and I could fix the world.
i'll kill a man in a fair fight or if i think he's going to start a fair fight or over a woman or.......
a problem shared is a problem halved ,but an advantage shared is no advantage at all
if a job's not worth doing then its certainly not worth doing well
Looking good. You can't beat a bit of wood oil to liven the stocks up a bit.
Cheers
Martin
"Mistakes in the initial deployment cannot be rectified" Helmuth von Moltke
Toys: AGM MP40, Cyma M1A1, TM M14/G43/SVT40, TM VSR/K98, SnS No. 4, ASG Sten, Ppsh.
Arnhem3,Gumrak,Campoleone
Dadio signal has been activated; spring needs to be cut and I've never attempted that before so the master will be unleashed!
From research online the Varmint seems to take VSR hop rubbers and I've found a video of a lad using an MB01 cylinder upgrade set. Where you're buggered with these seems to be the sears. Though they on surface value accept standard VSR sears they don't quite fit. Read that it's possible to fit them but required mega dremmel work.
Given the frailty of VSR sears, running the Varmint at 350 fps or lower may be the best idea.
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Just paid the £45 customs charges plus £12 to get a Saturday delivery on my SMLE.
The SMLE looks amazing, I'm not sure I want to get rid of the red, it actually looks less ridiculous in the flesh. I have taken the bolt out to see how much grease I will have to clean off and found that there's no grease, everything is dripping with silicon oil. Could it be that Matrix/Iron-airsoft have listened to all the criticism? Tomorrow I will dig out some gas and try it out.
It may be mineral oil. Mine was soaked in the stuff. The o ring in the bolt crumbled, probably because of this.
The magazine was also soaked inside too. Got to say though, since sorting mine it has held gas with no leaks!
Hmm, might clean and re-oil just in case then. Will fill with gas when I get home from work and try shooting it tomorrow and see what happens.
If you have some silicone sealant, carefully hook out the bolt o ring, clean the o ring and the aperture and put it back with s smear off sealant. Thus will hero to stop the seal falling ought and getting caught in the mechanism.
Having re finished the wood on mine, this is one gun I can't leave alone. It is a thing of beauty
Nearly there, just work to do on the wood and getting the stock band knocked together.
Yesterday, Dadio very kindly cut the spring down and got the gun running smoothly at 330 fps, down from a rather eye watering 420 fps BEFORE a hole was filled in the piston head. 
The result is now a bolt action rifle I can use, with surprisingly decent accuracy and good range. Best of all, with the spring cut down, the internals, which are not perhaps the best quality, are under a lot less stress. The action now is also extremely smooth.
I've also added a flip up rear combat sight which arrived on Saturday.
Still things to do to it; sling ordered and I'm going to cut and reposition the receiver. The wood needs plenty of love too. I'm nearly there, though.
Thats looking really sweet Im so jealous
