Summer 2021 stock repair fun

Well, today we finished up with the repairs.
Here’s the NEW M91 after I blended the finish.


After using some black and brown die to blend in the repair, I applied a coat of Tom’s Pine Tar Mix.
Back when I talked with Tom about making a pine tar mix, I thought he was going to call it Finn Mix, but I guess that Pine Tar Mix sounds better.

Here’s another one of the handguards. This is the one that had old glue on it and some wood missing in the top of the crack. We decided not to fill the crack, but splice in a piece of wood to mimic an old Arsenal repair.


It still needs a coat of BLO rubbed into it but the epoxy needs to cure for a full 24 hours first.

Well everything is finished. Matt will be heading back to Illinois in the morning.
Here’s pics of the stocks and rifles we worked on.


I’ve got two other stocks to finish up for a couple of forum members, a Winchester Model 70 and a Browning 22 Auto butt stock. I want to try and get them done so that I can catch up on some bowl turning.
Each year when Matt comes down we take a day to go shooting at the range, but this year we didn’t get a chance to go. But we’ll make up for it next year.

Claus said:

Great stuff, thanks for all the postings. I’ve not done any work with gun stocks but have done a good bit of general woodworking. I’m curious about your choice of glues. Regular wood glue works for me as well or better than anything else. The only think it doesn’t do is fill gaps, like a crack that can’t be pressed closed. What are you using and why do you choose that?

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For repairs I us Acraglas or Devcon Clear 2 Ton epoxy with 30 minute set time.
Gun stocks are subjected to heavy and violent recoil. Wood glue and some epoxies don’t hold up. The fast set epoxies dry to hard and are just a little to brittle for stock repairs.
You are correct that wood glue is not for filling gaps. This is because wood glue sticks to things very good, but it doesn’t stick to itself very well. Wood glue is just bad Ju Ju when it comes to stock repairs.
Epoxy sticks to surfaces very well, but will also stick to itself. As long as the gap or void is not to big, on filler is needed. But when filling areas such as when glass bedding a fiberglass flex is needed to add strength to it.

Acraglas and Devcon are impervious to oils and solvents once they have cured, wood gules are not. And we all know that gun stocks get exposed to oils and solvents all the time.
Old military stocks are pretty much soaked with oil, some more the others. It’s important to clean the oil from the repair area so that the epoxy will adhere. As time goes by the oil will work it’s way back into the area and the epoxy will hold. With wood glue, the oil will start to break down it’s hold on the wood.
I’m doing a repair right now that wood glue was used on. I will end up spending more time removing the old glue then it will take me to do the repair itself.
On wood working project, other then stocks, that have gaps, epoxies work great. I have a 9” Cypress bowl blank that has a large crack that runs across it. I’m using epoxy to fill the crack before I turn it.
CA glue dries to brittle for stock repairs, but is great for wood working projects. Sanding dust can be added into cracks and voids and then a thin CA glue used to make it solid. I prefer Star Bond CA glues.
I hope that this answers your questions.

igotta40 said:

From what I’ve seen so far, and from the pictures and descriptions in this thread, it’s obvious you’re a master at this type of work!

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Would you believe that I was basically told that I didn’t know what I was talking about, when it came to stock work, over at the CMP forum. I stopped posting there.
I’ve been doing stock work for over 30 years now. It all started back in 1988 when an old Gunsmith took me under his wing. As I learned, I found that I didn’t like repairs that showed so, I taught myself how to hide them as much as possible. I don’t mind repairing modern stocks, but my true love is working on military stocks.
I came close to dying in 2006 from tonsil cancer. After surviving aggressive treatments, I thought about what would have happened with the knowledge I had if I had died. There was no one that I had passed it on to. So I started posting on gun forums and was surprised at how little about stock work people knew. But there was a reason for this. Many Gunsmiths did not want their secrets know. And this is also why the art of Stocksmithing was dying.
I always say that there’s more then one way to skin a cat and even more ways to repair a stock. What I like to teach is what I have found to work. I have never had to repair one of my old repairs.
My buddy Matt comes down almost every year with a bunch of stock to repair. I do most of the work but Matt has learned a lot and is doing some of his own repairs now.
We also do a little gun hunting when he comes down. Here’s a pic of us in my truck, heading to a local gun shop. That’s Elle in the middle.


I’m am always willing to help anyone with repairs. If you start a topic and would like me to chime in, just PM me a link to the topic and I’ll do my best to help.

windini said:

Thanks for all the info & technique posted here, Gunny! I've decided to take you up on your offer to answer questions.

What is "Boning" that you referred to when blending the handguard & stock on the Turk Mauser? Is it a hard, smooth tool rubbed on the protruding wood to sorta bend or push two surfaces together? It didn't sound like sanding or scraping.

I love to tinker with some project guns now & then, and try not to be The Bubba everyone hates. I'm also a recovering woodworker, so your "lesson" on epoxies vs wood glues re: oils & solvents; fiberglass reinforcement/flex & fillers, and characteristics of different epoxies will be VERY helpful.

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Boning is smoothening the surface of the wood. Many moons ago it was done with real bones. Today it’s a little harder to find good smooth bones so, I use Ash wood dowels that I make from old pool cues. Ash is a very hard wood.
When you bone a surface, you are doing two things. One, you are making the surface smooth by compressing the wood fibers and Two, by compressing the fibers they resist dings and dents.
I’ve been boning stocks for years. It takes me about 45 minutes to do a complete stock.
In the post on the restoration of the Enfield No4 Mk1, I did a while back, I covered boning in more detail.
To blend the finish on that Turkish Mauser, I used a combination of brown and black die to match the patina of the rest of the stock.

tlynch said:

So, you retired and have less time?

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Funny how that works out.
For the first few months my daughter was calling and asking what was I doing, I would say nothing and then she would ask if I could do this or that for her.
I finely sent her this text.
==
When you ask me what I am doing today, and I say "nothing," it does not mean I am free. It means I am doing nothing.
==
She doesn’t ask me what am I doing anymore.

Boomholzer said:

Great thread and content. I also really enjoyed the quote above. Cheers.

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A few years back I created a thread called, And The Purists Screamed. I posted it on a few of the surplus forums, can’t remember if I posted it here. It had some pretty funny stuff in it. Some got upset with me when I put them in the same category at those in the McDonald’s happy meal toy collector’s club.

27hand said:

Thanks Gunny. Great pics and description of steps taken.

I have to go back.over all these posts and pics more slowly.

Heres a question and you may have addressed it earlier.
I have a 1916 Spanish Mauser In 7mm.
It was the first rifle I ever bought and has a cracked stock. How do you get any oil, and debris out of the crack to make sure any epoxy or other repair compound will adhere?
It gets skinny in there.

Thanks. I won't be back on till tomorrow but I'll post a pic when I can.

Thanks again for your detailed explanations of how you do this.

27

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Old cracks can be hard to hide, but not so hard to repair. To clean out the crack, I like to use denatured alcohol and a small nylon brush. Oil is your biggest problem so you need to make sure your repair area I’d dry.
Another area where epoxy works better then wood glues it that you have to squeeze out as much glue from a repair. If the glue has to fill a gap, the repair will be weak because, glue does not like to stick to itself. Epoxy on the other hand will fill gaps and remain strong.
Here’s a Turkish Mauser stock with an old crack that’s about four inches long. This crack was caused by the rear action screw slamming into the wrist when the gun was fired. The previous owner ignored the damage at the cross bolt.


Here’s the damage at the cross bolt. The wood behind the cross bolt is giving way and no longer supporting the cross bolt. When the gun is fired, the recoil lug at the front of the action pushes the cross bolt to the rear and a large amount of force is placed on the wrist by the rear action screw. The damage at the cross bolt is called Cross bolt Setback. This is what it looks like.


Once the cross bolt damage was addressed, the wrist crack could be addressed. To give the epoxy more area to hold, a hole is drilled into the crack. This hole needs to go just past the depth of the crack. The crack was all the way through the wrist and I drilled two holes. One from the top and one from the bottom. Be sure to clamp the crack as tight as possible when drilling to keep wood chips from getting into the crack.


Here’s the crack from the top side with the fiberglass wrapped dowel that will be used to fill the gap and reinforce the repair.


Here’s the repair after it was completed


When you post pics I advise the best way to repair.

igotta40 said:

You take care, with Ida bearing down on you.

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It’s just a little old hurricane. When death comes knocking at your door, do not hide. Invite him in, have a beer with him and then kick his butt out the door when he has finished his beer.

27hand said:

I'm going to try taking this old girl out for our old mans rifle doe season this year.
It's pretty tired but not 100 yet. 1924 dated Spanish (1916 short rifle 1893) Oviedo 7mm Mauser.

Here's a pic of the stock crack. It's right at 3 inches long
I think this will be a post hunting season project.

View attachment 10217392021-08-29_02-33-27 by poofy27, on Flickr

View attachment 10217402021-08-29_02-33-09 by poofy27, on Flickr

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Not a hard repair. When you’re ready to fix it, start a topic with good pic from inside and out and I’ll walk you through the repair.