handguard restoration. Need advise

catapult

catapult

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Hi,
So I have bought a lee enfield full wood and the handguard has a good crack in. I am looking for advise on how to fix it.
Was thinking to open the crack a little more and from the inside, drop some epoxy in the crack and around, add a small piece of glass fiber tape and cover again with epoxy. I saw that somewhere on the net but Im not sure if its the good thing to do.

Thanks for your inputs.

Here is few pics of the handguard to give you a better idea.

img_0621.jpg

img_0622.jpg
 
I'll tell you what I did but I'm not gunsmith.

I got a good deal on a Yugo M48 with a mismatched (colour & wood type) hand guard with a crack in it.

What I did was strip the finish off (I did not sand it) and then I slathered in Gorilla wood glue. It holds as strong as the wood fibres, it dries in a natural colour and it takes stain and finish. I wiped off the excess with a damp clothed, clamped it for 30 minutes and let it set for 24 hours. The hairline is still visible but the crack seems well filled. I then finished the wood in the original arsenal finish which happened to be a few coats of linseed oil.

With a little sanding and patience you can greatly diminish the appearance of the crack. It's not recommended to sand any milsurp wood if you care about the value and character of the piece though. I wouldn't.
 
I've fixed quite a few over the years.

1. strip the old finish with furniture stripper.
2. Clean the crack with brake cleaner.


3. Glue the crack with good glue; I've had good results with Gorilla glue as well, but usually I use West Epoxy System; the clamping is the fun part. You need to be creative here for a proper clamping of a part that's convex on one side, concave on the other...


4. Put reinforcing pins / splicing across the crack.



Hey you could always drop by, you're almost in my neighborhood...
 
Nice work Lou! The West epoxy, you've had good results with it? Ever had it break? Where are you getting it? I'm having a lot of fun finding good glue right now...
 
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The method that LOUTHEPOU used, with the splices, was a method used by British armourers and can be seen frequently on SMLE rifles. The big thing is to CLEAN any old oil or dirt, etcl, out of the crack so that you get a good bond. By gently spreading it apart, a "watery" type of epoxy can be applied to the crack, then it will bond with the wood and actually be stronger than the wood itself. By "watery" I mean an epoxy that will flow freely and not the thicker "gel" type epoxies (for example Brownells Accurglass instead of Accurgel."

There should be no need for a fibre tape if the job is done right. However, you might also contact Trade-Ex and see if they have top handguards for the Lee Enfield. They advertised some a while ago at a reasonable price.
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Thanks for the good advise. Im gonna try that for sure.
I was thinking of a handguard replacement but since the rifle is fully matched including the wood stock, Id prefer to keep the original handguard.


Thanks again !
 
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