odd specie of wood for hand guard?

[trimmer99]

With the help of Mark Wade of Stormy Mountain Sports I've switched out parts on my Eddystone replacing about 10 mostly small parts which were not marked properly. The largest piece needing replacement was the front hand guard. Marc sold me a NOS one marked with the proper "E" but it was not walnut. It looks like either oak or ash. It was not particularly smooth and stained dark from the factory. With a little sanding and creative staining and finish it looks pretty good though. My question is: How prevalent was the use of woods other than the original walnut for parts like this? I will probably keep my Remington grip in case some future owner gets picky. Thanks, RB

[leftyo]

im not aware of any substitute woods being used when the rifles were made.

[JB White]

Post up a photo so we can see the grain. Odds are it could be birch.

[trimmer99]

Thanks for the input. I believe you are right in what type of wood the hand guard is. The grain was a bit too tight to be oak which was why I was thinking "ash" but birch or maybe beech would seem to be a better match. Was this something done often? Thanks RB

[Tuna]

There are different types of Walnut and each has a different color to them. If the wood was birch you would know it trying to stain it. Birch comes out blotchy quite often as the grain doesn't absorb the stain uniformly.

[JB White]

That all depends upon the type of stain being used. On some rifles I've seen birch blended perfectly to walnut in regard to color. Beech on the other hand...you'll often need to go nearly opaque and the flecking still shows through like light bulbs.

[trimmer99]

Here is a photo (I hope) of the interior side of the hand guard. Sorry about quality. Best I can do with the camera I have. The surface that can be seen when installed is much darker to match the rest of the stock. RB By the way, thanks for the replies004.jpg Hope the picture comes through.

[JB White]

That very well could be beech.

[Stephan]

huh?...Just saw this topic....wood is beech...flecks in the grain are a dead giveaway. My M1917 has same/similar front handguard. My guess is that these beech-wood M1917 handguards are actually P14 replacement wood.

[m1903rifle]

Many M1917 stocks were made of birch....I think they were made for replacement stocks as I used to see a lot of them in the 1980's with out finish or stain.

[chuckindenver]

replacement stock and handguard were made from Birch.

[chuckindenver]

this is Birch

[JB White]

As someone mentioned, beech does show up on P14 rifles. Spotted on British WRS rebuilds and on returned P14's from India.

[Hal O'Peridol]

Also look for beech wood on surplus M1917 rifles from Denmark. The Brits gave most of the M1917s we gave them to the Danes post war.