Hairline crack tang

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MattE93

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I have a rifle with a very small hairline crack starting to form at the tang. This rifle came to be very dry and I have since oiled the stock to protect it from future cracking but I am worried about the crack spreading. Now when I say small it’s about a 1/4” long and hairline, so no separation. I think two problems started this crack. First the dry wood was more brittle than oiled wood and second the wood appears to have shrank a bit with age as there is almost no gap between the tang and the wood where the crack is.

I know to fix it will have to relieve stress between the tang and the wood and glue the crack together so it doesn’t become a major problem. What is the best way to go about doing these two things without hurting the rifle value
 
Cheers man!! That’s exactly what I need. I like the thin applicator tips, there are a couple other small non structural cracks I want to fill. One around the rear sling swivel where the wood looks like it shrank into the swivel and make a small crack. I am hoping the oil will also make the wood more pliable and stop future cracks
 
It's a really good thin glue to get into annoying cracks. If it is a crack you can manipulate (open/close) easily then you can absolutely fill it with glue.
 
Assuming that this is a Mauser type action, there needs to be some clearance between the tang and the stock recess so that the recoil force isn't taken at that point, thus causing the stock to split. The wood can be slightly relieved to establish clearance behind the tang. Alternatively, shims can be placed between the recoil lug of the action and the corresponding recess in the stock to move the action forward slightly so that the tang is out of contact with the stock.

If the crack can be opened glue can be inserted. If not, an armorer type fix can be achieved by opening up the crack and gluing in a wooden biscuit to fill the stock. headless screws could also be inserted laterally thru the stock behind the crack. These measures will reduce collector appeal/value.

In any event you need to establish clearance between the tang and the stock recess to prevent further cracking.
 
In general...
Glue before oiling. Get oil into the crack, and the glue will not adhere as well.
Often a crack at the tang can be stabilized internally, without any pins, dowel, etc. showing. Use a Dremel with a small bit to rout a tiny channel across the crack, inside the tang inlet. Epoxy glue a little bit of threaded rod (from a little screw) across the crack. This will stabilize the crack, and will be invisible externally.
Small, old cracks may well be stable, haven't gone anywhere, aren't going anywhere; doing nothing might be an option.
That Lee Valley product...
Note that the advertising says "swells wood, makes it tight". Do you really want to swell the wood? There are cyanoacrylate adhesives - super glues - intended for gluing wood, that will wick into cracks.
 
True it is possible the cracks have been there for decades and aren’t going anywhere.

If I was to relieve stress at the tang by making a very small gap between tang and wood what is the be at method to achieve this?
 
I use a little curved carving chisel to shave the wood at the rear of the inlet to create a bit of clearance. I would not use a Dremel - way to easy to remove too much wood. Make sure the screws are pulled up firmly to prevent shifting of the barrelled action. Also check recoil lug seating. If this has shifted, the tang may have moved rearward. As an example, the 98 Mauser recoil lug engages a steel crossbar. With this engagement and a bit of clearance at the rear of the tang, there shouldn't ever be any splitting.
 
Would have been ideal to glue while the wood was perfectly dry, but no use looking at the past! You will want to remove every oil molecule from the crack before letting glue make its way in it.

What i do: i use brake cleaner, and i use a lot of it. Then i use my air compressor and make sure everything is out of that hairline crack. I use West Epoxy System stuff, but other glues may work just as good. As long as it's fluid enough to seep in and saturate the crack. In a nutshell...
 
Several mentions above about the cause - your action has likely "set back" in the inletting, likely because of wood shrinkage around the recoil lug area. Easy enough to re-assemble with .005" or .010" shim between recoil shoulder of receiver and recoil shoulder of the stock. If that creates the correct clearance at the rear, then you have solved problem, or can make more permanent by epoxy those shims in place to the front face of the recoil shoulder in the stock.
If your action has "set back" in the stock, also possibility that rear action screw is curved / bent and is now bearing on the rear edge of the metal tube in the stock, which makes it part of the recoil transfer from action to stock. Ideally, want that screw in centre of that tube - not touching. Your trigger guard may have become "bound up" in it's inletting, if the action moved rearward - needs to be clearance so rear of magazine box, rear of trigger guard does not act as recoil shoulder. Mauser 98 is designed to transfer recoil from action to stock ONLY at the action recoil lug.
 
Cheers. I think it is from wood shrinkage. The rifle is 121 years old so I wouldn’t be shocked if the wood shrank. The rear action screw looks straight. I will check the trigger guard for clearance as well
 
I have used tiriaq's method of bridging the crack many times with good results and louthepou is dead on regarding removal of the oil. A modification of tiriaq's method is to make a wire staple to bridge the gap. Drill holes for the legs, trench in the part bridging the crack and epoxy in place. The advantage of that method is the staple will hold things in place even if a glue joint fails - think oil contamination. These methods are, of course, only appropriate when the repair is hidden.
Epoxy can creep and would not be my first choice for gluing a crack that is is not wide or can be closed. Yellow PVA carpenter's glue has a strength of about 3,000 pounds per square inch, which far exceeds that of the wood. If the crack can be flexed, smear the PVA glue into it and flex the crack. Continued smearing and flexing will draw the glue through the crack. Clamp when done. A trick for dealing with cracks that can not be adequately flexed is to put the glue into a hypodermic syringe. There is a plastic ring surrounding the stub the needle attaches to. Remove the ring. With a drill bit slightly smaller than the stub, drill one or more SHALLOW holes (less than 1/16" deep) along the crack. Hold the syringe tightly against each hole and force the glue into the crack. Do not attach a needle. Clamp and clean up with a damp rag. Surgical tubing makes an excellent clamp. Inner tube cut into strips about 1/2" wide is every bit as good. I prefer bicycle inner tube.
 
Cheers guys! Thanks for all the tips.

My plan of action is to stabilize the crack with glue, might try hot stuff cyanoacrylate. Lee valley carries but it is also sold by brownells and is specifically listed as being good for hairline wood cracks. After getting the crack glued I will try to figure out why it started and fix that situation as well.

The crack is very very small right now but I want to stop it from going anywhere
 
I have more than passing interest in your project - will be interested how it goes for you and what products you used. I have my own challenge here - a Parker Hale (Mauser 98) stock that must have taken a serious blow - crack from front action screw hole forward into barrel channel, split from front action screw hole to magazine well, then rear of magazine well to trigger slot, then trigger slot to rear action screw hole. So, five different places to set up to glue and clamp all at the same time. As the man once said, some days not worth chewing through the restrains!!!
 
Here is the crack in question:

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Another has formed at the butt plate. This one should be easy to fix as I can access it through the butt plate and it does flex. It also won’t take the beating a tang crack will and should hold up.

hCxQ3SD.jpg
 
Less is better. From the looks of those cracks I'd relieve the wood behind the tang. If the crack isn't deep, I'd be inclined to leave it alone and deal with it cosmetically by filling it with a furniture crayon. Same with the buttplate crack.
 
The butt plate one is a little deep and extends under the butt plate just a bit. I’ll probably did that one. I’ll have to remove the metal and see how deep the tang one actually is. I was considering just relieving the tang and leaving the crack alone
 
Okay so it looks like crack is fairly superficial. It doesn’t even seem to extend to the tang inlay. I’ve narrowed the problem down to poor tang to wood clearance and a little bit of play in the recoil lug. I think the best best here is to shim the lug and relive the tang a bit.

The thing is the metal seems to be tight in the wood but the receiver isn’t tight in Metal piece in the stock. Should I slip a thin piece of wood in the metal piece in the stock?

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purple said:
I've used metal shimstock behind the recoil lug to move the action forward in the stock.
Click to expand...

Between the recoil lug on the receiver and the metal inlay in the stock? I don’t think I have room to skip anything between the wood and metal on the stock
 
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