What was the original finish on USGI M1 Carbines?

[Capt'n Mil Coll]

I have been looking at all kinds of questions about M1 Carbines and I see a lot that have shiney finishes. My question is what was the original finish on USGI M1 Carbines? And what was the wood used in stocks?

[jimb2]

There is no simple answer, Finish depended on who and when. As far as the wood goes, mostly walnut but also heartwood walnut (much lighter color), Cherry and Birch.

[M14man]

All GI finishes were Parkerized. That was supposed to be a joke..
I believe most wood was given a coat of BLO. How they were treated later by the soldier, was more varied.

[Capt'n Mil Coll]

Ok was wondering because after looking at my Carbines the Vet bring back has hardly any finish the rest have varying degrees of finish including varnish or poly shiney finish. I thought they should have BLO. It seems the arsenal rebuilds have varnish.

[Orlando]

Stocks that have a original finsih can be shiney from years of grime, oil. I have cleaned many stocks that looked like this with a degreaser and the shiney finish and all the crud, dirt, BLO, oil comes off. It if was a varnish a degreaser wouldn't touch it

[jimb2]

Obviously you guys are NOT students of the carbine. GI metal finish depended on the time made and the manufacturer. For example, early Winchesters used the blue Dulite finish. IBM had a very light gray park on the barrels, many of the presentations models had fine blued finishes. Some parts were blued while others were left in the white. As far as wood finishes go, BLO was not normally used! It was either raw linseed or whenever available, Tung oil. I recommend you guys do some more studying before you start giving out misinformation.

[Capt'n Mil Coll]

Does that hold true on the arsenal rebuilds as well or did they do something different on them?

[Orlando]

Get up on the wrong side of the bed Jimb?. I never mentioned one word of metal finish and I dont see anywhere in his post where he asked about it. I belive his question was about the finish on the wood and what type of wood was used. You are right , linseed oil not boiled linseed oil. From now on I'll let you the "Grand Puba" of carbines answer all questions here

[Capt'n Mil Coll]

OK didnt know what to say. Thanks to both of you for your help. Thats all I got to say about that.

[jimb2]

My response was primarily for M14man and Capt. Mil, not you Orlando. You do have a fair knowledge of carbines. I know that. And the gloss finish is the result of many applications of Tung oil. Eventually it doesn't soak in anymore and develops that gloss finish. Early in the war, they used exclusively Tung oil. But after the Japanese captured the islands that supplied the Tung oil, they switched to raw linseed with driers. The original stock finishes were actually a soft, almost satin finish. As more oil was added and it dried, sealing the wood, the oils stayed at the surface and developed the sheen.
As far as metal finish goes, when you see a carbine that has the same color finish/parkerizing on all visible parts, you can be sure that it is a repark. Even those that were completely parkerized fresh from the factory had a large variation in color. Different parts were made in different plant or by different subcontractors and were parked in different batches at different times. It would be virtually impossible for the metal parts to all be the same shade.