Wood Stock Inlay Repair

N

neos

CGN Regular
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Hi there. I recently acquired a Thompson Center New Englander in fair condition. The stock was in need of some repairs, and I am in the process. The cracks are already filled and glued, and next was the oval plate where the pin holding the barrel in place is. The original hole is there, but the screws were stripped out, missing, and there was some repair work done to the area. So, I removed whatever type of repair material had been placed there carefully then proceeded to clean the area up with my dremel tool both cleaning up the wood edges, as well as making a sort of inlay area. Total depth of the inlay area in question is approximately 1/8" deep. I got a 1/4" piece of wood that I sanded to shape to match the inlay hole and now my problems arise. I will also mention that the stock inners are fairly dirty and would also like to clean it up before refinishing and re-assembly. So here are my two questions. Is it best to clean the stock insides first, let fully dry, then inlay the wood? And second question is what glue is best used for something like this for the repair, inserting 'A' into 'B'. I have quality 5 and 15 minute epoxy, Gorilla Glue Polyurethane, and Gorilla Glue Wood Glue. The fit of the piece is pretty snug all the way around. I am going to fix this gun up mainly as a shooter, not a show queen. I am also unsure of the stocks final finish. As a temporary repair, I will just varnish the repair up, and decide its fate after shooting it (paint it up, or go natural wood finish again? Thank you in advance for any and all help in this matter.

 
If you intend to screw on a metal liner over that repair, then I would go about it a different way entirely. I would make a vertical repair in the area the height of the stock and undercut the edges so that the patch is held in by the surrounding wood. Always undercut your repairs and the plug should be tight enough that it has to be lightly tapped into place. This makes for a good solid monolithic piece of wood when you are done. I like using clear 2-part epoxies. Don't mix anything with it and make your patch out of the same species of wood you are repairing. You'll be left with 2 tiny hairlines and that's it when you are done. Trying to color the patch edges will only make it stand out more.


What I'm describing is how armorers made repair to rifles that would be handled roughly. It works and is the best method.

The top patch is an example of a bad gouge being repaired with an under-cut patch:

before:

DSCN3268-1.jpg


During:

DSCN3271-1.jpg


After:

DSCN3277-1.jpg


the top repair is the better of the two and is structural. the lower repair is only cosmetic and would not hold a screw-ed on escutcheon reliably IMHO.
 
I would steer well clear of the Poly glue for anything that is visible.

A good quality epoxy would be my first choice, I have a bunch of West System around, so would like as not use that, but a good, clear drying wood glue should work OK.

I would try to match the grain and color of the wood as well as I could to make the repair less obvious, or make the insert look like it was intended to be a different material altogether.

Cheers
Trev
 
Ok. Yesterday afternoon I had already glued it in with the Gorilla Glue Wood Glue. There is a metal piece that completely covers the 'repair' area. Now to just slightly recess it and away I go. Thank you.
 
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