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The plan is to make a start on the woodwork for my 2A1 project over the next few days and this is what I have to work with. Obviously it has seen some action in the past and as my preference is to bring it back to as close to new as possible and I would be interested to hear of anyone's views on the finish to apply to the stock.

I am tempted to move away from the tried and tested BLO and am considering stripping, raising the numerous dents, sander sealing and then.... I would like it to be in keeping with the rest of the rifle so a fine finish is essential.

Thoughts anyone?

To strip back I cover in Nitro Morse, now unfortunately a shadow of its former self, cover in strips of newspaper and stipple more NM through it with the paint brush, wrap it up in cling film to seal and leave for at least 24hrs. Then remove and scrap down to the wood. Putting it into a dishwasher next gets it pretty much back to the original wood.

Dents raised with damp cloth and a hot iron.

Finnish with bronze wool.

I am a fan of linseed oil finish. I use linseed oil, not boiled, cut 50% with white spirit. Apply a coat and then when dry buff up with a bit of old denim rubbing 'till friction makes the cloth warm. Repeat once a day for a week, once a week for a month and finally once a month for a year and your will have a real oil finish with depth and lustre.

Dishwasher? I have used a wet towel and hot iron in the past with reasonable results and the dishwasher is nto something I have tried, how long do you bung the parts in for?

Greasy cycle.

Hmm.. we have short, economic and long so I assume long is the one to go with and then allow the parts to dry out very slowly to prevent warping.

You have PM.

I was going to use the dishwasher on an old beat up SMLE stock I had but she refused to have anything to do with it.

I scrubbed mine down in a bath of acetone with an old (soft!) toothbrush to draw the worst of the crud out. Then rubbed it down with #000 and #0000 steel wool to smooth it out. To finish it I rubbed in a few coats of linseed oil (not boiled) by hand to bring the finish back up. As dromia says, once a day for a week, once a week... etc.

I wouldn't think putting it in a dishwasher would do it any good at all. Intense heat and saturation in water and steam would seem to be a recipe for warping.

Wet towel and hot soldering iron is good for raising small dents. Larger dents probably won't come out fully - it looks like you've got a big dent behind the rear sight protector.

Gaz, we have a lot of acetone here and it seems to be taking the worst of it off just using soft tissues at present. The area behind the rear sight protector is not as bad as it looks, unlike some of the other areas....

Put a 12/15 wood in the dishwasher a couple of years ago, then BLO, came up good no warping.