Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada Martin Hagn

I hear you buddy, I am in the process of refinishing my M1917, which was sporterized with a Klaus Hiptmayer Original Stock, I went with an Oil Finish using 100% Pure Tung Oil. I had no choice but to refinish it, because I beat the chit out of it hunting for moose and deer. I had to give it the justice it deserved.

I asked because of the screenshot Dwayne posted in that video, looks shiny and has a Polyurethane or Oil/Wax finish.

I've looked at the photos you've been posting of your stock. I'm interested in wood finishes too. I want to finish up a nice piece of walnut so it looks like the finish on US military rifles, like the M1 Garand. I just bought a Mini-14 and some blanks of wood and I think I'll have one carved using my Mini-14 as a pattern and then try finishing it with a combo of beeswax/carnuba wax and linseed and tung oil. There are some interesting recipes on the interweb. The link below is to a guy who makes tabletops from Walnut slabs and uses some pretty exotic/expensive finishes.



https://www.amazon.com/Odies-Oil-Universal-9oz-Jar/dp/B07XKQ4LWX/ref=sr_1_5?crid=6MPHAYPMTVW9&keywords=odie%27s+oil+for+wood&qid=1703149144&sprefix=Odie%27s%2Caps%2C418&sr=8-5

Hi Tarquin, I watched the entire video, I find it fascinating how you can take a piece of wood and turn it into a thing of beauty!

Before I refinished my M1917, I had never done any woodwork as in zero lol. So before I started I watched many YouTube videos and asked the good people here for advice, and the members were so helpful!

I had dents and scratches in mine some bad ones! When my father gave me the rifle he told me to steam out dents if I ever wanted to refinish the rifle, had no idea what he was talking about, but after watching rifle refinishing videos it became clear that he was 100% correct so that is what I did. I had many dents and one very deep scratch, the scratch was deep so I had to sand it out, which I did after stripping off the oil finish with EZ Strip using 400 grit for the sanding. I was really nervous when I put sandpaper to the wood the first time because it's not like I was refinishing a standard off-the-shelf or mass-produced stock.

After all of my research, I went with 100% Pure Tung Oil for several reasons. The primary reason is that after I researched finishing compounds, I did not like the fact that most like Tru-oil are full of chemicals to speed up the drying process, and although most people finish their rifles with it, I wanted the best, not the quickest.

My two final choices were pure Linseed Oil and pure Tung Oil. I went with Tung Oil and in the end, I am really happy that I went with Tung because unlike Linseed oil it does not turn "Yellow" over time and it has better water-resistant properties and it smells great!

The downside is that the curing time of pure Tung oil takes a long time to cure, 30 days, so it is a way longer process. I have also decided to "Finish the finish" by rubbing it out with Pumice ff, then Pumice FFFF, and finally Rottenstone FFFF. Once that is done I am going to complete it with Renaissance Wax. Right now my rifle is curing and I will start the final finishing process on January 10th.

Because I have now had a tiny bit of experience I took a look at all of the cabinets in my kitchen, and now that I know what to look for I realized that the previous owners had not maintained the cabinets and they were dried out! So I did some research on products to use that you can simply wipe on and then polish with microfiber to rejuvenate and restore wood.

I found a product that works wonders, it's called "Touch of Beeswax" which is a solution of oils and beeswax and did that ever do a remarkable job! So instead of having to develop a recipe that works, Touch of Beeswax already does that for you, so I can recommend it as a great way to restore wood, without having to refinish wood by stripping, sanding, and starting from scratch.

I can post pictures of my rifle once it's finished if you like. I am going for a High-Quality Satin Gloss Finish, I am hoping the Renaissance Wax will get me there. Museums in England use it on all of their old and ancient firearms.

Yes. Please post photos of your rifle when finished. Which brand Tung oil did you decide on? I will check out Touch of Beeswax.

I used this brand and I love it, as mentioned I love the smell, my better half caught me smelling my stock and she figures I am cheating on her lol



After stripping and sanding and after Tung Oil application. Should look darker and deeper after I rub it out and finish it with wax.

Nice! Love the Bavarian hogback and schnabel fore-end. By chance is that for a Sako??

Hi Tarquin, good eye! It is a Ferlach Austrian Stock Design and you are correct that it has the Schnabel fore-end treatment, It's my favorite rifle of all time.

No, it is for my M1917, here is a before picture. I like the way the Tung Oil made the grain pop.

As you can see the checkering is loaded in oil, Olive oil to be exact. Knew nothing about oiling stocks, got drunk on JD after a moose hunt, and smeared olive oil on it lol. Never touch a rifle while you are parting with Jack!

Martin was pretty open minded when it came to finishes and I saw him use Varathane, spar varnish, Tru-Oil, and various mixes. He made everything come out well and look easy.
Klaus Hiptmayer was also a very skilled stockmaker. He used a French Polish or shellac on his stocks. He was also very quick and capable at checkering. Klaus roughed out his blanks with a hand saw and used no power tools that I ever saw. GD

That is cool that you know of Klaus greydog.

When he made my stock he lived in Quebec as did we, that was in 1973-74. His wife Heidi was an excellent engraver and artist, she designed and engraved the butt plate on my rifle.

As you know, Klaus's work was exceptional, and both of them were very skilled people. Canada has some hidden treasures hey?

Cheers to Canada's very best gunsmiths, and stockmakers!

Merry Christmas greydog, and wishing you a phenomenal and healthy 2024

Klaus and Heidi spent some time in Kelowna, in 1978 or '79. Klaus worked out of Guncraft in Kelowna. I was in Kamloops at the time but spent the occasional day in Kelowna, helping out. GD

Hi graydog, so you are a master stockmaker as well, and worked with the best artisans, pretty cool!

If I may I have a few questions for you.

If you were finishing a stock with Pure Tung Oil, would you finish it by rubbing it out with Pumice and Rottenstone?

I watched a video and the guy demonstrating how to "Finish the Finish", he finished it by rubbing it out with Pumice FF and FFFF, then Rottenstone FFFF. After rubbing it he waxed the stock with Turtle wax.

I am thinking of doing the same and bought everything, as mentioned I will be using Renaissance Wax, not Turtle wax. The alternative is to simply just wax it, without rubbing it out, and call it a day.

Would you do the same?

If you did rub it out with Pumice and Rottenstone, would you use water as the lubricant or would you use Tung Oil?

Would you wax the stock as the final application, if so which wax would you use?

Cheers

Does anyone know what work Martin did himself in his actions ? Like were they roughed out for him from forgings ? My Dehass book says Martin had the actions made by Hartman and Weiss. Too bad there was not videos made of Martin doing the work on his guns. He was a master of his trade. Alan

Martin generally got the investment cast receivers and breech blocks from Hartmann & Weiss, but not always! I recall one occasion when he bought a piece of two inch plate from the machine shop I was working in and built the receiver from that. In many cases, Martin finished and fitted the breech block to the receiver, by hand, using files. Later on, Ralf Martini performed this task for him, and did a perfect job of it, I might add. Martin made levers, trigger parts, and tangs from scratch. Later on, he contracted some fitting and finishing to people with CNC machines but continued to do some in house. There was, quite literally, no part he could not make, no task he could not perform. When he contracted others to do some work, it was often a matter of expedience or, I suspect, an act of kindness. When he asked me to lap a barrel for him, it wasn't because he could not have done at least as well himself; it was because he had identified one task I could do and not screw it up!
So, when you got an action from Martin, the amount of work he did might be unknown but he would not allow any work to go out which was not to his standards.
By the way, I am not, nor have I ever been, a master stock maker. In fact, my shop motto, when came to stock making, has always been, "Stockwork by Leeper, it won't make ya puke". GD

Would be cool to see some of your beautiful work!

G.D. Thanks for the info ! I enjoyed reading it. I always wondered how Martin machined the action for the breach block. I thought broaching or EDM. I would like to make an action one day. I made a Stevens favorite 25 years ago from scratch from 400 series stainless. I was inspired reading De Hass books. Merry Christmas!

Hi greydog,

Since you have worked with Klaus, I thought you may get a kick out of this.

After hunting with my father's M1917 that Klaus made one of his custom stocks for, I thought it was about time that I refinished it. After bush and prairie hunting with it for deer and moose for over 20 years, it was pretty banged up with deep scratches and bad dents.

So I completely stripped it, lightly sanded all of the deep scratches out, and steamed the dents out of the stock with an iron on high steam. After that, I put 20 coats of 100% Pure Tung Oil on it, then finished it with an additional 5 coats of Renaissance Wax.

I do believe that my father and Klaus would be happy with the outcome. It is my favorite rifle not just because of its innate beauty, but it is also an extremely accurate and deadly hunting rifle.

Can't imagine what it would have been like to have been shot by one in WWI or II! My crappy pictures do not do it justice.

Cheers ~

I'm fond of the Pattern of 1914 series of rifles. The Model of 1917 was the main battle rifle of the US Army in WWI. Col. Hatcher thought it should have been retained. It saw little use in WW2 . The Filipino army got surplus ones as did the British. The Canadians bought 100,000 for use in Canada. The zombies sent to Alaska were likely armed with it. The Filipino army fought the Japanese. The British didn't have much 30-06 ammo for theirs , so it was used for the Home Guard.

Hi downwindtracker2,

An interesting fact that a nice member here shared with me a few months back. I was very surprised!

The Sirius Patrol in Greenland is still using the M1917 when on patrol, because of their dependability. Pretty incredible since the rifle is 107 years old. I personally would have no issues using it in battle, because it is a Killing Machine, in the harshest environments!

They have killed a lot of Polar bears with them, chambered in .30-06.

You can read about it further here:

https://wwiiafterwwii.wordpress.com/2015/07/24/m1917-rifle-in-21st-century-greenland/

Cheers ~

The only issue they have is the ejector spring breaking. 5 minutes with a Dremel and coil spring fixes that. Unlike other rifles of their era, the receiver is made of an alloy steel . Total interchangeability of parts. A very well made rifle.

Thank you for that info downwindtracker2.

I have never had an ejector failure or any other failure to date, and I have killed more animals with my M1917 than I can remember.

If that happens to me, I will definitely take your considered advice and do the replacement with the same. In the meantime, I will go by the saying “If it ain't broke, don't fix it.”

I kind of like slaying critters just the way it is, which is perfect!