Mac,
That is some sad sad news... they are history. plain and simple.
Here is the history and the future plans of these honies.
As a Deputy Sheriff here in Montgomery County, TN, I decided a little over a year ago to join the Honor Guard. I served on the 9th ID Division Honor guard and the I Corps Honor Guard, so I figured I could learn AND contribute, while honoring those that served.
Well, we were initially using Remington 870 12 Gauge shotty's, and that served the purpose. But we are in the process of dialling it up to the next level. Our Sheriff's vision is an honor guard that can serve multiple roles. Funerals, parades, civic functions etc. AND he wants a competition ready team.
That's where the Garands came in. The Dept bought 16 well used M1s, and they needed service to make them the high standard of appearance that we need.
I got issued mine, and she was black with decades of oil and use. So one weekend about a month ago I started to refinish mine.
First I take 600 grit paper and rough the surface. Then I take a soaking hot cotton rag and lay it on the wood, while taking my clothes iron on the hottest setting and iron the piss out of it. This does a few things... First the moisture swells the dents and war hits out of the stock very very well. It doesnt smooth out the gouges, but it raises the dents really well. On the third pass with the iron I have a acetone dampened rag standing by, and when I pull off the steam rag, I immediately rub the acetone on the stock. The steam brings the old gun oil and solvents to the surface, but if you do not wipe them off with denatured alcohol or acetone, it soaks RIGHT BACK into the stock.
When I get all the black off the gun, I have a beautiful flat, pure wood finish.
Now comes the finish.
I use Birchwood Caseys Tru-Oil, and a lint free small patch of old towel, cotton. I firmly rub the first coat of oil on the stock, and it immediately soaks it up. I hang it from a rack by screwing in one of the butt plate screws 90% of the way and wrapping a wire around the screw, and hang the wire from my rack.
After this first coat dries I hit the stock with 0000 steel wool to get the bugers off, and hit it with another coat of oil.
I am beginning to see a more reflective finish in patches of the stock at this point.
Let it dry and hit it with 1000 grit sand paper, wipe with lint free tack cloth and oil it again.
I repeat this process until I have at least 6 coats on the stock and then honestly, it is a nice tough mirror finish. With the original color and grain of the wood showing through beautifully.
If anyone would like, I can make a detailed thread on re-finishing stocks with step by step pics and instructions.
We started rehearsing with these babies, and I TELL YOU what.... they are heavy beasts. I have had to do some curls and pull-ups to get the old arms in shape to stand in formation without wobbling or dropping these shooting irons.