Stock Repair Ideas.

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redlee

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Friend brings me this stock from a 1919 Gun, really want to try and repair it to as close as possible to original, I was thinking cleaning with solvent , spreading the wood judicially , 2 part slow set epoxy , clamp together and then refinish. I will flatten the broken part out and try and match a piece.
Thanks for any ideas or advice.
 

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An alternative clamping method is to wrap the area with surgical tubing or rubber strips. Wrapping around and around really applies a lot of pressure. Won't mark the wood either.
If you feel the need to reinforce the joints with screws or pins, there are sneaky ways of doing it so that nothing shows externally.
 
jamesharrison said:
After you repair the cracks at the tang, you're going to want to bed the recoil lug or it's going to happen again.

I've found that after de-greasing the stock with acetone, you want to use some steeped in tea for a couple of days then dried paper in the cracks [it will help the epoxy disappear]
Click to expand...

Steeped Tea ??? You mean Orange Pekoe ?
 
1) Boil the kettle full of water
2) In a big Brown Betty teapot, place 3 tea bags (yes orange pekoe [which is actually black tea] will work, so will Tetley's &c., but NOT the new Red Rose, which has raw green tea added - the "brainiac" who came up with that idea and ruined Red Rose was probably the same moron who moved production from St. John's to some overseas $#!T-hole)
3) Now let the tea "steep" for a day or so, so that most of the tannins are released from the bags to the tea
4) Take a heavy piece of bond paper (type-writer or copy paper) which you have cut up into strips [I do 1/2", 1" & 2" strips, each about 2" long [you're going to get a fair bunch from an 8 1/2" x 11" letter sized piece of paper so you'll have left-overs to use in repairing the next split stock
5) place in container with the cold steeped tea [if you use your tea-pot, how are you going to make a cuppa?]
6) Let sit 2 or 3 days
7) Take out the "coloured" paper & let dry [probably at least a day] on some old newspaper, preferably weighted down so they don't get all crinkly which then impairs your ability to work the paper into the crack
8) Now you have your "grain" paper.

Once you have de-greased the stock and have "eased" it apart, first syringe in the epoxy of your choice into the crack [you do NOT want to use quick-set epoxy for this], then insert the paper into the crack [I use a sawing motion to work it down into the crack, leaving an 1/8" or so of the paper proud of the wood. [You may want to do a trial run on a piece of lumber that you have purposely cracked to give you a feel for it] I've tried inserting the paper first but found the epoxy then went on only 1 side of the paper; YMMV

Once dry, use a brand-new thin Exacto knife blade [by itself, not inserted into the holder; be careful, they're sharp] to cut the extra from the stock, then sand down. Because of the darkened paper sandwiched between epoxy layers, it will give the appearance of grain, rather than what it is.

Sorry if my explanation is NFG.
 
redlee - about classic of what happens when a receiver allowed to transfer recoil to wood stock where stock was not designed or fitted to accept that "pulse". FYI - I have read in multiple places that properly installed wood glues or epoxies are stronger than the wood fibres - pins do not do much, if there is no side loading on the wood - like at ends of magazine wells. Install glue or epoxy without "starving" the joint - a starved joint will not hold.
 
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Potashminer said:
redlee - about classic of what happens when a receiver allowed to transfer recoil to wood stock where stock was not designed or fitted to accept that "pulse". FYI - I have read in multiple places that properly installed wood glues or epoxies are stronger than the wood fibres - pins do not do much, if there is no side loading on the wood - like at ends of magazine wells. Install glue or epoxy without "starving" the joint - a starved joint will not hold.
Click to expand...

I watched 2 Tube Vids on the gun, and both said that these models were very prone to cracking, one guy said most he has seen have cracks.
The wood is very thin and grain direction makes it inevitable.
 
jamesharrison said:
1) Boil the kettle full of water
2) In a big Brown Betty teapot, place 3 tea bags (yes orange pekoe [which is actually black tea] will work, so will Tetley's &c., but NOT the new Red Rose, which has raw green tea added - the "brainiac" who came up with that idea and ruined Red Rose was probably the same moron who moved production from St. John's to some overseas $#!T-hole)
3) Now let the tea "steep" for a day or so, so that most of the tannins are released from the bags to the tea
4) Take a heavy piece of bond paper (type-writer or copy paper) which you have cut up into strips [I do 1/2", 1" & 2" strips, each about 2" long [you're going to get a fair bunch from an 8 1/2" x 11" letter sized piece of paper so you'll have left-overs to use in repairing the next split stock
5) place in container with the cold steeped tea [if you use your tea-pot, how are you going to make a cuppa?]
6) Let sit 2 or 3 days
7) Take out the "coloured" paper & let dry [probably at least a day] on some old newspaper, preferably weighted down so they don't get all crinkly which then impairs your ability to work the paper into the crack
8) Now you have your "grain" paper.

Once you have de-greased the stock and have "eased" it apart, first syringe in the epoxy of your choice into the crack [you do NOT want to use quick-set epoxy for this], then insert the paper into the crack [I use a sawing motion to work it down into the crack, leaving an 1/8" or so of the paper proud of the wood. [You may want to do a trial run on a piece of lumber that you have purposely cracked to give you a feel for it] I've tried inserting the paper first but found the epoxy then went on only 1 side of the paper; YMMV

Once dry, use a brand-new thin Exacto knife blade [by itself, not inserted into the holder; be careful, they're sharp] to cut the extra from the stock, then sand down. Because of the darkened paper sandwiched between epoxy layers, it will give the appearance of grain, rather than what it is.

Sorry if my explanation is NFG.
Click to expand...

Sound complicated but plausible, I think I will wash well with Acetone and try the Epoxy route.
Thanks for the great description.
 
redlee said:
I watched 2 Tube Vids on the gun, and both said that these models were very prone to cracking, one guy said most he has seen have cracks.
The wood is very thin and grain direction makes it inevitable.
Click to expand...

Looking at various schematics on Numrich website, it appears that the rear surface of the lower tang is meant to transfer recoil to that rear stock? It appears to have a rounded surface? If so, that will also push sideways on the wood fibres, besides putting recoil straight back? As mentioned in posts above - you likely will need a good fix of epoxy bedding to get a surface that will hold against that recoil pulse, without causing the wood to split or you will simply get more splits?? Else, is possible that the leading edges of the "ears" of the stock were meant to take the recoil from the receiver - in that case, is likely that you want an "air gap" at the rear of that lower tang - as is found on many Mauser receivers at the very rear end of the tang. I am just not sure, from those schematics, how the recoil was meant to be transferred, without splitting that stock.

I have not previously worked on a Savage 1899 style rifle - just going on the notion that any "wiggle" allowed under recoil between the metal parts and the wood parts almost always splits the wood? I have seen in Swede rifles where the recoil area got oil soaked - punky - and it crushed, and then the rear of the stock broke away under recoil - was not meant to get recoil transferred back there ...
 
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There should be clearance a the back and the recoil absorbed at the front of the (plates) covering the side of the action like the No 1
 
tiriaq said:
An alternative clamping method is to wrap the area with surgical tubing or rubber strips. Wrapping around and around really applies a lot of pressure. Won't mark the wood either.
If you feel the need to reinforce the joints with screws or pins, there are sneaky ways of doing it so that nothing shows externally.
Click to expand...

YES ,,,,,,,,,, surgical tubing is the best . Strong & no marks. I have used for years on many stocks. Epoxy glue
is great but a good waterproof carpenters glue also is great.
 
Take some Gorrilla Glue, water it down and force it between the cracks. Apply clamps and clean up the glue foam the next day.

Make sure you squirt some water inside the cracks

Watering down Gorrilla Glue is tricky, but it's not viscous enough to get down inside those cracks.

I've seen people use Super Glue/Crazy Glue as well but I prefer Gorrilla Glue as it fills everything and soaks into the wood to make it even tougher.
 
Degrease thoroughly with tsp and a heat gun. This is a process and will take you a long time. Some use the dishwasher, but I’ve always been too scared to try. Then you’re going to need to pin, epoxy, sand, refinish. Bed the action at the tang and recoil lug as well. If it’s a Mauser stock (sorry I didn’t catch the make model) you’ll likely want to pin the area behind the box and ahead of the trigger as well.

Now that I’ve said all that. Go to Boyd’s or wherever and decide if all that work is worth the price of a new one. Also, inletting a blank stock isn’t that hard if you have the tools and know-how.
 
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