Where is the best place to find an original Garand buttplate and screws that are either new or like new?

Also, if I'm refinishing the stock, so what stain and sandpaper would you all suggest? Someone suggested Pure Tung Oil (Chinawood oil) by Real Milk a few years ago for another project. Would that be the one to use on the Garand stock as well?

The stock is mostly in good shape, but it faded, and I'd like to bring it back to life. There are also one some very small scratches I'd like to remove in the process. Thanks!!

Fulton armory has your parts, although the buttplate is a reproduction I think.

There is so much information out there about stock refinishing! Boiled Linseed oil, pure linseed oil, tung oil, tru oil.... I have used plain old hot water and maybe some dish soap to clean the grunge out of the stock, then steamed out the dents. There is lots of good info on the CMP forum also.

Good luck with your Garand. I just bought another last evening that I have a thread about. They are such great rifles, and a ton of fun to shoot.

Acckks I've refinished the wood on a couple of M1's and used Tung oil or Boiled Linseed oil on them.I believe the BLO is what was used originally. Just using the Tung oil will clean some of the built up dirt and oil off the stock.

I would check the CMP forums and the M14 forum for help on the refinishing of the stock especially for not harming the cartouches still present on the stock. Also for the availability of NOS or excellent condition buttplates.

I steamed the old finish off my stocks using a Coleman stove, a tea kettle and a length of automotive heater hose. This worked well for stripping the old oil finish off and also steamed out many of the dents in the stock. Do this outside it makes quit a mess.

Its been a few years since i did this hope my little bit of info helps you. This can be a very time consuming thing depending how involved you want to get but also very satisfying.

Good luck to you.

Nice Garand buttplates are harder to find and expensive (relatively speaking) when you do find a nice original finish unit. Especially WWII vintage units. Nice buttplate screws are not tough to find. NOS is still out there as the short screw was used on loads of other rifles besides the Garand and the long screw was also used on the M14.

Loads of used buttplates out there with zero finish and the checkering pounded flat.

IMO, if your stock is anything collectable, you may want to consider your plan to refinish.

That said, lately I've been using Alkanet root powder in Flaxseed oil. I do not use Boiled Linseed Oil (BLO) with all the chemicals and driers in it, but I have preciously. I've used Tung Oil on occasion as well.

BLO was the standard used by the US Government in the finishing of the M1’s stocks. What is the maker of your Garand and it’s born on date? There are a few variations of the buttplate.

Thank you all for the help so far. I probably should have mentioned it's a CMP rifle with one of the new stocks they came with about 10 years ago. Something got absorbed into the wood and I'm going to sand that spot out and refinish it. I want to make sure that spot doesn't look different than the rest of the rife when I start applying the stain.

The buttplate I have isn't in horrible shape, but I'm not sure what I could use to clean it up a bit without changing the color. Bronze wool?

A picture would make it easier to answer that, but if you're talking some surface rust and the plate is parkerized, you really can't go wrong by first soaking it in Kroil and seeing what you can get off with a shop rag and a brass brush.

Murphy's Oil soap is good for cleaning wood, make sure you get the original formula.

I'm not sure if I can scrub that off or if it's easier just to replace it.



This is where I had to get the mark out of the stock. Should I sand the entire stock down to this level to avoid having there be a discoloration? What grade of sandpaper?

Lastly, with this color would you all suggest Tung oil or Boiled Linseed?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Ackks,

If you know someone with a media blaster that could hit it with some aluminum oxide or glass beads would be 100% better than using sand paper would be best. Alternatively you could get some Prep & Etch solution at Home Depot and give it a soak. If you use sand paper you will remove any embossing. The corrosion is not too bad. The prep and etch will leave a phosphate finish and kill the rust. You may need to scrub the rust spots with a little wire brush to completely remove the corrosion. After you are done oil it up to prevent rust.

Go with tung oil, it is more moisture resistant than BLO.

Prep and Etch

IIRC, the CMP/DuPage stocks have a stain on them other than just BLO/RLO/PTO. You might have to strip the stock and start over.

Personally, I spend 2-3 hours stripping and sanding CMP/DuPage stocks to get the wood to metal fit a little better before refinishing, but that is just me.

As for the buttplate, Manganese and Zinc parkerised repro buttplates are all over eBay, etc. and they are cheap. I'd likely buy another before I paid someone to blast and park that one. Provided a little 0000 steel wool and oil doesn't clean it up that is.

Just to be specific, the Garrand stock was NOT stained. All you need to do with your stock is to apply Boiled Linseed Oil. It is a drying oil and the best method for applying any drying oil is to place a small drop of oil on the stock and use your thumb and firm pressure to spread that oil as far and wide as you can. Try and apply it like paint and it will take forever to dry and you will likely have a run or three to contend with. Yes, done properly each coat is only microns thick and you'll need to put down 20 or 30 coats but the end results are well worth the effort.

FWIW, DuPage trading (maker of the CMP replacement stocks) states that they are "stained a medium natural brown" to ensure a color match between all three pieces of the stock set. I've found that to be true (thought you can also get them unfinished too) which is why I Citristrip them before sanding and refinishing.

GI wood is a different story, but at least some of that was stained from new as well. Not necessarily WWII wood mind you.

I'm confused about what's on the stock from the last two posts. Either way, would I have to sand the entire stock because I took that one spot down to wood?

quote:

Originally posted by Ackks:
I'm confused about what's on the stock from the last two posts. Either way, would I have to sand the entire stock because I took that one spot down to wood?

Have to, no.

You have several options as I see it.

Add oil finish of your choice to the whole stock and handguards and hope the light spot matches/blends in.

Strip (but not sand unless you want to) the stock and handguards and refinish in the finish of your choice. BLO/RLO/PTO, Alcohol stains, Aniline dye, leather dye, conventional wood finishes, etc. Options for refinishing are many if you go that route. Just depends on what look/sheen and color you want in the end.

Drop DuPage Trading an email and ask what they recommend to touch up the finish on on of their prefinished stocks. Maybe you get lucky and it is something commercially available in pint cans or other small quantities and you don't need to buy it by the 55 gal drum.

https://www.dupagetrading.com/.../finished-stock-set/

Check out ammogarand.com, or Garandguy.com. Both are very good websites.
both have lots of parts for your Garand. We’ve purchased from them, always have been happy with the parts.

quote:

Originally posted by M1Garandy:

Have to, no.

You have several options as I see it.

Add oil finish of your choice to the whole stock and handguards and hope the light spot matches/blends in.

Strip (but not sand unless you want to) the stock and handguards and refinish in the finish of your choice. BLO/RLO/PTO, Alcohol stains, Aniline dye, leather dye, conventional wood finishes, etc. Options for refinishing are many if you go that route. Just depends on what look/sheen and color you want in the end.

Drop DuPage Trading an email and ask what they recommend to touch up the finish on on of their prefinished stocks. Maybe you get lucky and it is something commercially available in pint cans or other small quantities and you don't need to buy it by the 55 gal drum.

https://www.dupagetrading.com/.../finished-stock-set/

My biggest concern is whatever substance soaked into the thumb sized area of the stock is deeper than thought. It is still showing when a bit of water is applied to the area. Would you all suggest sanding it down or trying something else? If it goes down far enough it may not be able to be removed.

I’ve been accused of being lazy once or twice, so maybe it’s just me, but if we changed places, I’d probably just move on and finish over it and consider the mark part of the rifle’s story.

Maybe you sand down deep enough to remove that stain, and find out that to do so, you’ve altered the stock geometry in ways you don’t like. Might you try staining over it and see how you end up? It may still be there, but perhaps darkened enough so you’d have to look for it to really notice it.

quote:

Originally posted by Ackks:

quote:

Originally posted by M1Garandy:

Have to, no.

You have several options as I see it.

Add oil finish of your choice to the whole stock and handguards and hope the light spot matches/blends in.

Strip (but not sand unless you want to) the stock and handguards and refinish in the finish of your choice. BLO/RLO/PTO, Alcohol stains, Aniline dye, leather dye, conventional wood finishes, etc. Options for refinishing are many if you go that route. Just depends on what look/sheen and color you want in the end.

Drop DuPage Trading an email and ask what they recommend to touch up the finish on on of their prefinished stocks. Maybe you get lucky and it is something commercially available in pint cans or other small quantities and you don't need to buy it by the 55 gal drum.

https://www.dupagetrading.com/.../finished-stock-set/

My biggest concern is whatever substance soaked into the thumb sized area of the stock is deeper than thought. It is still showing when a bit of water is applied to the area. Would you all suggest sanding it down or trying something else? If it goes down far enough it may not be able to be removed.

I would try Purple Power or Simple Green on your spot. It'll raise the grain, so you'll have to sand a bit more.

If that fails, try using waterless hand cleaner without pumice. A fellow I know that makes good money repairing and refinishing USGI stocks swears by it.

Failing that, perhaps Acetone. Following all proper precautions as Acetone is nasty.

I don’t know much about refinishing wood.

The rust on the buttplate should be easy to address. The buttplate is parkerized, a little phosphoric acid, like Naval Jelly should convert the rust from iron oxide to iron phosphate, which will blend in with the manganese or zinc phosphates.