How would you fix these cracks? Krag 1898 Stock

GunnyUSMC said:

The problem with using it on gun stocks is that it dries too brittle and doesn’t hold up to recoil over time.

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I never noticed that in RC model aircraft,,,
And those things take quite a bit of shaking.

But then, I usually crashed them before they got too much age on them.

Aarond

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aarondhgraham said:

I never noticed that in RC model aircraft,,,
And those things take quite a bit of shaking.

But then, I usually crashed them before they got too much age on them.
Aarond

.

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You have to remember that the wood used in RC aircrafts is much different than what is used to build stocks.
And that recoil from shooting is more severe then what RCs get.

GunnyUSMC said:

...recoil from shooting is more severe then what RCs get.

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Not when you fly (crash land) them like I did,,,

Aarond

.

Something else that might be considered, are aluminum pillars for the stock screws. That thin wood material in the bottom of the stock where the action will reside doesn't lend itself very well to any excessive torque on the action screws. The aluminum pillars will take the brunt of that torque and save the wood in that area from any further compression, or strain.

I know that a few of y’all have been waiting for an update on this stock so, here’s the first part.
Carbine85 contacted me and took me up on the offer to make the repairs to the stock.
It arrived last Monday and I was able to give it a good inspection today.
The stock is in very good shape other the crack. And yes, I did say crack because it is one crack.
As you can see in the photos, the crack runs from the left rear side of the action going to the rear. One side of the crack runs along the left side of the stock and the other side runs up the middle into the top of the wrist.




The hardest part of the repair will be hiding the crack the shows at the top of the wrist. It appears that is where the crack started. I may be able to get it to close after drilling into it.
Here’s the plan for the repairs. Drills hole at rear of the action where the crack starts, down along the crack on the left side.
Next drill into the back of the tang area into the crack.
Next will be to drill down between the trigger slot and the rear action screw hole.
I’ll post some more pics once I have the hole drilled.

Gunny you have more courage and a steadier hand than I. Goes to show that there is no replacment for lots of experience. Thanks for bringing us all along for the trip.

FROGO207 said:

Gunny you have more courage and a steadier hand than I. Goes to show that there is no replacment for lots of experience. Thanks for bringing us all along for the trip.

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Courage is knowing that if you screw up, you still may be able to fix it.

Whatever it takes sir! I do learn a lot when you post your progress on your various projects. I have always been a Vise Grip and duct tape kind of guy and do appreciate a true expert at his craft.

FROGO207 said:

Whatever it takes sir! I do learn a lot when you post your progress on your various projects. I have always been a Vise Grip and duct tape kind of guy and do appreciate a true expert at his craft.

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Thank you.

I have the holes drilled.
Here’s the first one. t
To get the angle right a long bit is needed. Once the hole is started you can move the bit to gat the angle you need.



I couldn’t get enough angle on the drill so, I drilled another hole from the back of the trigger guard to reach the end of the crack.


And the other two holes.




Now I’m going to clean the holes with denatured alcohol to remove any oil.

Well, it took a little longer to get the oil out of the repair area. I was doing my best not to over clean the area around the repair area.
The next step was to make the dowels and wrap them with fiberglass thread.
I like to use bamboo for dowels because it is much stronger then wood.


For fiberglass thread I just pull strands from a sheet.
When wrapping the dowels I start by overlapping the end to secure it.


By doing this you make your dowels stronger and also help the epoxy resin hold better.


Here they are all ready.


I then filled the holes I drilled with the epoxy resin, flexed the area and then inserted the dowels.
Then everything was clamped up tight.



I did forget to take pics of plugging the action screw holes with clay. If you look closely you can see the black clay that I used.
After a few hours the clamps were removed.


The next step will be to dress up the repairs.
I’ll use a high speed mill bit with my Dremel tool to trim the dowels and reshape the area.
Files and sandpaper will be used to clean up the outside areas.

I’ll try and finish up after work today and post some more pics.

I got tied up yesterday and didn’t get time to work on the stock, but got to it shortly after getting home today.
In these next few pics I’ll cover the dressing up of the repairs.
Here’s the mill bit that I use to cut and clean up the dowels. The hardest part about using this bit is not to let it get away from you because, it will chew up wood very fast.


I used me wood jaw bench vice with a piece of leather to hold the stock.



Here’s the first dowel I cleaned up.


In this pic you can see that I removed the clay from the action screw hole.


I then just worked my way to the rear of the action



All done with the dowel cleanup on the inside of the action. All this took about 30 minutes.

Here’s the dowel at the back of the trigger guard. I already removed the clay from the action screw hole


About five minutes of work and it’s done.


Next is to clean up the outside of the stock where the cracks were.
This is one of my favorite files to work with. It’s just an old half round.




Every now and then you may end up with a repair that doesn’t get filled to the top. This is addressed by mixing a little sanding dus with some epoxy and filling the area. Once it has cured it will get dressed up.
Once everything is dressed up I’ll do a little stain matching to blend the area to hide the repairs. I’ll do that tomorrow.

GunnyUSMC said:

I know that a few of y’all have been waiting for an update on this stock so, here’s the first part.
Carbine85 contacted me and took me up on the offer to make the repairs to the stock.
It arrived last Monday and I was able to give it a good inspection today.
The stock is in very good shape other the crack. And yes, I did say crack because it is one crack.
As you can see in the photos, the crack runs from the left rear side of the action going to the rear. One side of the crack runs along the left side of the stock and the other side runs up the middle into the top of the wrist. View attachment 897299 View attachment 897297
View attachment 897300

View attachment 897298

The hardest part of the repair will be hiding the crack the shows at the top of the wrist. It appears that is where the crack started. I may be able to get it to close after drilling into it.
Here’s the plan for the repairs. Drills hole at rear of the action where the crack starts, down along the crack on the left side.
Next drill into the back of the tang area into the crack.
Next will be to drill down between the trigger slot and the rear action screw hole.
I’ll post some more pics once I have the hole drilled.

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So you took in a cracked stock, fixed it up, and posted pics on the repair. Wow. A lot of valuable members here. I love this forum.

I try to pay it forward by giving away brass. Great community here.

Mn Fats said:

So you took in a cracked stock, fixed it up, and posted pics on the repair. Wow. A lot of valuable members here. I love this forum.

I try to pay it forward by giving away brass. Great community here.

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I’ve been doing stock repairs for over 30 years. I have been showing otters how to repair stocks for over 20 years. I always tell people not to take shortcuts because they always show up in the end.
I hate to see a beautiful piece of history, like this stock, get messed up with a poor repair. That is why I offered to do the repairs. I never quoted Carbine85 a price on the repairs, but the cost of the repairs would normally be around $150 plus return shipping. I’m not going to charge him anything close to that because, I no longer do stock work to make a living, it’s something I love to do.
I should be done in a couple of more days and have it on it’s way home. Another piece of history saved, and a few more people with insight on how to do repairs.
When I retire from my day job, I might start taking in work again on a regular bases.

Major surgery for sure. The process. Then the out come. Back in service. Perfect.

Sav .250 said:

Major surgery for sure. The process. Then the out come. Back in service. Perfect.

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I like to break repairs down into steps to show that they are not that difficult.
The hardest part to learn is the clean up and matching after the repairs are done.
I’ll go over the matching up the finish in this topic also.

GunnyUSMC said:

Now I’m going to clean the holes with denatured alcohol to remove any oil.

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Gunny, do you also use denatured alcohol to remove oil sipped into the cracks over the years? Any technic? If oil present in the cracks, the epoxy would not stick. Old cracks probably have wood soaked with oil over the years. Also, epoxy would not take stain, how do you color match, maybe you can cover it when you next posting on color matching. Thanks.

HankC said:

Gunny, do you also use denatured alcohol to remove oil sipped into the cracks over the years? Any technic? If oil present in the cracks, the epoxy would not stick. Old cracks probably have wood soaked with oil over the years. Also, epoxy would not take stain, how do you color match, maybe you can cover it when you next posting on color matching. Thanks.

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Removing oil can be time consuming. Like on this stock, I didn’t want to get to aggressive and cause a lot of damage to the finish. So after drilling the holes I put denatured alcohol into the holes and cracks. Just enough to get the areas wet and then let it dry. I did this two to three times a day for a week. Soaking an area works faster but will do more damage to the finish.
Some people worry about removing patina when cleaning, that makes me laugh. Patina on wood it not something that is not removed bu cleaning, that stuff is called dirt. Wood ages and depending on what it is exposed to, and what is on the wood will cause it to age differently. The aged surface of the wood is what your patina comes from. By sanding or filing you remove some of the surface and patina.
When doing repairs you may have to file or sand a little. Stain can be used to discolor and blend the area to match.
For this stock I’ll use a combination of black and brown, alcohol base, stain to blend the area as close as possible and then apply oil the help. As time goes by it will blend in better.
The make stain for epoxy but I have found that by just using the epoxy without the stain blends better. I will also use sanding dust in epoxy to fill areas .
Here’s the repair at the top of the wrist after dressing it up today. As you can see, the crack is a little darker the the wood next to it, but about the color of the rest of the stock. I just have to blend the area along the sides of the crack to blend the area and hide the repair a little better.


I got an unexpected guest today. My 12yo grandson is going to be spending a few days with me and getting him settled in took a little time. So I work on blending the repairs tomorrow.

carbine85 said:

The crack on the wrist is 1000% better. I tried to clamp down on it and couldn't get it to squeeze at all. The other cracks would flex but that one didn't move.

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I couldn’t get it to close either.

I did the forearm of dad's sxs Parker they same way almost, many years ago only thing I did was to heat the wood with a heat gun and after the epoxy was applied, a furniture maker told me that, the crack has never moved anymore and you almost have to know here it was to see it.

Very cool and interesting thread.
I may very well give it a try on my 1893 sporterized 7mm mauser.

Gunny. Great pics and descriptive sequencing.