Best way to fix this cracked stock?

CoryTheCowboy

CoryTheCowboy

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A decrepit duck blind in Atikokan, ON
Took my BSA Viscount apart this morning to put some BLO on the stock and noticed this just in front of the trigger guard.

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I'm just trying to figure out my best course of action and thought I'd ask you guys what you thought. My initial thought was to try to spread the cracks, fill with epoxy (Acraglas?) and then reinforce with a crossbolt, but I don't think I can install a crossbolt there because of the screw in front of the triggerguard.

Thanks,

Cory
 
See if you can spread the cracks, get some epoxy well down into them from top and bottom, and then wrap the area with elastic while the epoxy cures. You could put slender pins though fore and aft of the screw, but if a good epoxy repair is made, this shouldn't be necessary.
 
I had an old Hawken style muzzle loader similarly cracked. Use Brownells Acraglas liquid epoxy and like mentioned:
Split crack open slightly, use a tooth pick to get the epoxy into the crack, it can flow reasonable well so you can also blow it int deeper.
Release opening pressure and let stock return to normal - epoxy will likel squeeze out. That's normal - but still wipe it off as per the instructions (if it sets it is a pain to remove later)
either with elastics (wound TIGHT) or with wood clamps apply pressure to the joint for the time period specified in the directions.

Acraglass repairs are both invisible and as strong (if not stronger) than the original material.
 
If that stock is well seasoned with years of gun oils, I don't think there' much chance of getting any type of glue or epoxy to stick to the wood. Epoxies might be too thick to try and squeeze into the cracks or get it deep enough into it.

If the part isn't soaked with oils, you can pour a small amount of waterbased woodglue into a little container (enough to get the job done), cut it with some water (only a drop or two should work) so that is runny but not overly watery. Apply liberal amounts of the glue to the cracks, wipe off the excess and apply a padded clamp to the area with just enough force to close the gap without damaging the stock. Put the stock in a plastic bag along with a homemade humidifier ie take an empty plastic bottle and drill a bunch of small holes in it, stuff a wet sponge in it (not dripping wet or it'll get messy in a hurry) and seal the bag. Let sit for a week or so.
 
My thoughts are that it appears that there are multiple cracks from drying and being old.
You glue one and it may just crack right next to it.

You may want to relieve some of the side area where it touches the action and bbl as the stock may have shrunk to the point it is just too small now.

You can try the glue and humidity as suggested, but if it cracks again, I would bed the rifle front and rear.

Prior to the final bedding material, put a hidden cross bolt at the front and rear (I use a brass bolt with the nut and head flattened like a dog bone ) - sink it under the surface of the wood across the grain - then proceed with bedding. Make sure you swab bedding compound into the recess for the cross bolts.
 
I'd try glue as the above posts mentioned, but don't be surprised if it doesn't work permanently because of the oils that have saturated into the wood over time.
 
It's well worth stabilizing that crack. And it's not impossible to work with the oily wood provided we take the time to de-grease the wood quite well. I've used the following procedure on three different stocks with cracks or missing wood in the often delicate action area now. All three have held up well for quite some time now. And one is my double barrel shotgun used regularly for cowboy action shooting. So the method works for me.

First step is to flush out the oils that are certainly in the wood. This is going to require a fairly steady degreasing effort over the course of half an hour initially and then 5 minutes at intervals of 1/2 hour or so for a day or two.

First off prepare a small strip of old rag and some plastic bags and buy an aerosol can of brake cleaner. Soak the wood with the cleaner and wrap around it a couple of times with the rag strip and soak that down as well. Then quickly wrap around the rag and area with the plastic bag. Every few minutes squirt more into the area from around the edge. Keep it continually wet like this for a good half hour so the de-greaser can really soften up any oils deeply into the wood.

Then remove the plastic and rag and begin with the flushing of the area. This will require you to blast into the cracks with the probe of the aerosol can to flush out the cracks. The stuff is hell on the eyes so be sure you're wearing safety glasses. It WILL get you! ! ! The excess will most likely be enough to rinse the outside surfaces but some extra hosing down would not hurt. The key is to flush out the cracks and end grain of that short bridge of wood. At this point you can let the wood dry the dry surface will pull up oils from deeper in the wood for quite a while though. So about every 30 minutes to an hour for the next day or two squirt into the cracks and on the end grain to flush out the surfacing oils.

It sounds like a lot of work but really other than attending to keeping the area well soaked for the first 30 minutes it's really not that big a deal. Just give it a good squirt as you pass by. The one can should be easily enough to do the whole job. Short well placed squirts are better than a long push to hose the area so you can use the can fairly sparingly. But it SHOULD take you a good half to 2/3 of the can by the time you're done or you are being too cheap with the solvent.

It IS smelly work though. And the fumes are not good for us to be around. So it's best if you can do the solvent work outside or in the garage. Or perhaps in a spare bathroom with the exhaust fan running the whole time.

After you're done let it dry for a good couple of days to ensure the solvent in the grain of the wood has time to dry away. At this point the wood should look dry. If it still has oil go back and use the rest of the can to finish the job.

Epoxy responds to warmth by thinning out to a water like consistency really well. We can use this to aid in getting the glue down deep and fill those cracks. Set the stock on a heat register and warm up the wood so that the wood is warmed up right through. Wood is a good insulator so give it a good 20 minutes or more. Also have a good hot hairdryer or even a heat gun standing by. Even a propane torch can be used if a lot of care is taken to avoid scorching the wood or burning the epoxy. As long as you use the torch on the wood in the same sort of way that you would use it on your hand from some distance and keeping the flame moving it'll be a good heat source.

After the wood is warmed right through mix up the epoxy and apply it to the cracks. Now warm the area with the hairdryer on high heat. You'll see the epoxy thin out and get very runny from the heating. Flexing the stock a little to work the cracks open and closed repeatedly should see the glue pumping down and fill the cracks simply due to the low viscosity and surface tension. Once the cracks are fully filled I'd lightly but firmly bind the stock with some cord or lightly C clamp the sides to clamp the cracks closed a little. You don't need or want to fully squeeze them closed. Then monitor the joints and add or wipe away resin as needed until it gels up. But leave the binding or clamp in place overnight.

When done you can add cross pins if you like. But from the looks of it the pins would be extending from side to side. So at least one side would be visible. I'd probably try it without any pins and see if the wood and epoxy stands up OK by itself.
 
Lots of good suggestions/methods presented in this thread. I've used some of them(spreading, air, etc) with some success but I was never sure that I was getting full coverage inthe cracks.

A method I use now utilizes the power of hydraulics. Take a 1/8" brad point bit and drill a series of blind holes down through the cracks. In the OP's case, I would probably put one hole in the small crack that is to the right of the screw hole, another hole to the left of the screw hole and two holes in the longer crack. The drilled holes have to follow the cracks and must NOT be drilled all the way through.

Thoroughly heat the wood. Mix some runny epoxy(Brownells acraglas(not gel)) should work well. Fill each hole with epoxy then take a short length of 1/8" dowell and tap it into each hole. When the dowell bottoms out, remove it and refill the holes with epoxy then use the dowell again. Repeat this process untill there is epoxy oozing out of all the cracks. Cut dowel pieces to the appropriate lengths, coat the dowels with epoxy and insert them into each hole so that the ends are flush with the surface of the stock wood. Wipe off excess epoxy and clamp the stock in a vice with padded jaws or wrap the stock with surgical tubing.
 
Mauser, that would be a great trick for some situations. But not in this case I think. Look at the pictures again. The split piece isn't much bigger than about 3/16 thick by maybe 3/8 wide by maybe 3/4 long. Not a lot of room for drilling holes even if the method were amended to smaller sizes of drill and wire instead of drilling and dowel.

If the piece can be easily broken clear with a light tap from a hammer and stick that might be a big help with de-greasing and applying the epoxy or Acra-glass if that's what you have handy.
 
Princess Auto has aerosol brake cleaner on sale now for $2.50 a can if you choose to go this route.
Makes sense using this method.
Dry the snot out of the wood so the glue will stick to it.
 
Thanks for the help everyone. Seems like I was on the right track, but you guys definitely helped with the methods to get there.

Mauser98 said:
Lots of good suggestions/methods presented in this thread. I've used some of them(spreading, air, etc) with some success but I was never sure that I was getting full coverage inthe cracks.

A method I use now utilizes the power of hydraulics. Take a 1/8" brad point bit and drill a series of blind holes down through the cracks. In the OP's case, I would probably put one hole in the small crack that is to the right of the screw hole, another hole to the left of the screw hole and two holes in the longer crack. The drilled holes have to follow the cracks and must NOT be drilled all the way through.

Thoroughly heat the wood. Mix some runny epoxy(Brownells acraglas(not gel)) should work well. Fill each hole with epoxy then take a short length of 1/8" dowell and tap it into each hole. When the dowell bottoms out, remove it and refill the holes with epoxy then use the dowell again. Repeat this process untill there is epoxy oozing out of all the cracks. Cut dowel pieces to the appropriate lengths, coat the dowels with epoxy and insert them into each hole so that the ends are flush with the surface of the stock wood. Wipe off excess epoxy and clamp the stock in a vice with padded jaws or wrap the stock with surgical tubing.
Click to expand...

I think that idea sounds good, but unfortunately like BCRider, I don't think I have enough "good" wood left to do that.

BCRider said:
It's well worth stabilizing that crack. And it's not impossible to work with the oily wood provided we take the time to de-grease the wood quite well. I've used the following procedure on three different stocks with cracks or missing wood in the often delicate action area now. All three have held up well for quite some time now. And one is my double barrel shotgun used regularly for cowboy action shooting. So the method works for me.

First step is to flush out the oils that are certainly in the wood. This is going to require a fairly steady degreasing effort over the course of half an hour initially and then 5 minutes at intervals of 1/2 hour or so for a day or two.

First off prepare a small strip of old rag and some plastic bags and buy an aerosol can of brake cleaner. Soak the wood with the cleaner and wrap around it a couple of times with the rag strip and soak that down as well. Then quickly wrap around the rag and area with the plastic bag. Every few minutes squirt more into the area from around the edge. Keep it continually wet like this for a good half hour so the de-greaser can really soften up any oils deeply into the wood.

Then remove the plastic and rag and begin with the flushing of the area. This will require you to blast into the cracks with the probe of the aerosol can to flush out the cracks. The stuff is hell on the eyes so be sure you're wearing safety glasses. It WILL get you! ! ! The excess will most likely be enough to rinse the outside surfaces but some extra hosing down would not hurt. The key is to flush out the cracks and end grain of that short bridge of wood. At this point you can let the wood dry the dry surface will pull up oils from deeper in the wood for quite a while though. So about every 30 minutes to an hour for the next day or two squirt into the cracks and on the end grain to flush out the surfacing oils.

It sounds like a lot of work but really other than attending to keeping the area well soaked for the first 30 minutes it's really not that big a deal. Just give it a good squirt as you pass by. The one can should be easily enough to do the whole job. Short well placed squirts are better than a long push to hose the area so you can use the can fairly sparingly. But it SHOULD take you a good half to 2/3 of the can by the time you're done or you are being too cheap with the solvent.

It IS smelly work though. And the fumes are not good for us to be around. So it's best if you can do the solvent work outside or in the garage. Or perhaps in a spare bathroom with the exhaust fan running the whole time.

After you're done let it dry for a good couple of days to ensure the solvent in the grain of the wood has time to dry away. At this point the wood should look dry. If it still has oil go back and use the rest of the can to finish the job.

Epoxy responds to warmth by thinning out to a water like consistency really well. We can use this to aid in getting the glue down deep and fill those cracks. Set the stock on a heat register and warm up the wood so that the wood is warmed up right through. Wood is a good insulator so give it a good 20 minutes or more. Also have a good hot hairdryer or even a heat gun standing by. Even a propane torch can be used if a lot of care is taken to avoid scorching the wood or burning the epoxy. As long as you use the torch on the wood in the same sort of way that you would use it on your hand from some distance and keeping the flame moving it'll be a good heat source.

After the wood is warmed right through mix up the epoxy and apply it to the cracks. Now warm the area with the hairdryer on high heat. You'll see the epoxy thin out and get very runny from the heating. Flexing the stock a little to work the cracks open and closed repeatedly should see the glue pumping down and fill the cracks simply due to the low viscosity and surface tension. Once the cracks are fully filled I'd lightly but firmly bind the stock with some cord or lightly C clamp the sides to clamp the cracks closed a little. You don't need or want to fully squeeze them closed. Then monitor the joints and add or wipe away resin as needed until it gels up. But leave the binding or clamp in place overnight.

When done you can add cross pins if you like. But from the looks of it the pins would be extending from side to side. So at least one side would be visible. I'd probably try it without any pins and see if the wood and epoxy stands up OK by itself.
Click to expand...

I think this is likely going to be the method I'll go with. It's pretty much what I had in mind, I just didn't think of the heat aspect of it.

Also, I guess since the stock will no longer be "original" I might as well bed the action while I'm at it.

Cory
 
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Believe it or not soak area with alcohol rubbing alcohol
It will dry up most oil, heat area with a hair blower
Or heat gun on low to draw oil up
Then put some alcohol and it will dry on its own
Once dry, spread crack and use the gel super glue
From loctite, once you inject it into crack
Let it close on itself,
Put stock in a wood clamp with enough pressure to close it
You wouldn't believe how strong that glue is
Trust me I've repaired dozens of broken off stocks without
Pins with that glue, but clean wood is needed for the bond
 
Might sound a bit creative, but It might work well to reinforce the area near the bolt hole.

Why not enlarge the bolt hole a bit, like 1/8 all arround. Put a wood dowel in there with epoxy. Let it dry and redrill the action hole.

Fill the cracks before with some some glue however.
 
I've used both regular epoxy (not the "5 minute" stuff ) and crazy glue to repair a number of stocks & forends.
Looking at the photos of the OP's gun, I think I'd take HUNTERODD"s recommendation. The brand I've used is
"Hotstuff" from Lee Valley.
 
You can thin epoxy (I use G2 from Lee Valley) with methyl hydrate or acetone. Acetone will give you thinner epoxy with less solvent yet retain more strength given an equal percentage of solvent. You could also simply heat the epoxy to temporarily reduce the viscosity of the epoxy but it might not be as thin as you want it to be to get in those cracks.
 
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