[Unclenick]

I don't buy the CMP's explanation of the red color on Garand stocks. It's far too uniform to be the result of random exposure to contaminates that oxidized, and I've stripped enough of that muddy stuff off stocks to know it appears to be colored through and through.

If you look at the Garand blueprints they call for staining when necessary to meet the color standard, which is 11018988-W. I haven't been able to find more on that standard. This is in finishing specification, MIL-F-13088, which the Garand blueprints refer to. There you learn the Garand stock finish is a tung oil preparation with solvents and is intended for use on Black Walnut, English Walnut, Yellow Birch, and Sweet Birch. They all had to come out looking the same as that standard, so any but the darkest wood got stained.

The test was 3 to 5 minute submersion of the wood samples in the finish followed by drying for 24 hours followed by examination of the color of the heartwood, which had to meet the aforementioned standard. If I'm a contractor faced with all that wood sample testing, I want one opaque finish that winds up matching the standard with all the wood I might have to dip into it, and that's what the stuff I've stripped off looks like it does. I can't tell birch from walnut under it until it is stripped.


Riverwalker76,

Somewhere on the inside, where it can't be seen when the gun is assembled, take some Watco Danish Oil in Neutral color and try wiping it on thinly. It should be too thin to affect the appearance color, but will protect the finish from weather and may help uniform the appearance of the surface.