VZ 58 wood stock set

[osu84]

I just snapped up a VZ58 wood stock set on Ebay for 99 plus 20 shipping from the land of the Czechs. It was listed as used but the notes say is new but the upper and lower forearms are a darker color than the handgrip and butt stock which are the more common honey beechwood color. It also comes with all new hardware too. So in about a month I should get it and see if I will need to have a friend refinish then wood for me.

[Brasky]

We will be patiently awaiting photos

[RSR]

It is not uncommon for the uppers in particular to be darker.   The storage method for many I've seen was to coat in cosmoline or other grease and it absorbs into and darkens the wood...  Can probably be baked out like on SKS, Yugo Mausers, etc, but have never tried...  The uppers are also the rarest component...  Under rapid fire and rapid heating, the thin wood has tendency to crack, so my recommendation would be wood upper for display and swap in a beaver barf upper for shooting/range time.  Beaver barf being more durable than the beech is why the Czechs made the switch.  But your gun and your furniture.

*One of the best methods (insofar as not angering the mrs and also substantially reducing space constraints) I've used is to put cosmoline stocks into a hot attic...  Clean off as much as you can w/ paper towels and degreaser, and then wrap liberally with paper towels and put inside a box inside a box and leave it there for a week or so.  Ideally, cleaning off what you can each evening and replacing paper towels...  For the metal parts, mineral spirits works well.  PVC tube for barreled assemblies.

[osu84]

Now that is a great idea on getting cosmo out by using the attic! It definitely gets hot enough up there during the summer to do the job. I was hoping that the wood would be better than the beaver barf on heat. I saw that Timbersmith had some new wood sets for the VZ58 and stated that there hand guards were thicker wood with some fitting required. They were pretty pricy though. Is it possible to put some thing fiberglass in the hand guards to help defeat the heat?

[RSR]

Lower should be fine.  With upper you have the half circle curve and ~1/4" thick wood...  The wood is just to make it pretty and keep skin away from hot metal. 
As the moisture in the wood rapidly heats up it effectively boils or steams and can't escape the wood fast enough causing cracking.  It takes 30 seconds to swap out a upper handguards.  Lower you can leave on.  It's probably 1/2 to 3/4" thick in most places and much more durable.

Issue with the top is that there really isn't clearance between the piston and top cover to place anything to shield the heat beyond the top cover itself...

[osu84]

thanks