Another one back from the dead.

[GunnyUSMC]

Part one:

I was asked to save this Mossberg 146B-A stock.


Well, those that know me, know I like to fix the stocks that most say can't be fixed.


Lets look at some of the shame that was bestowed upon this poor thing.
First off the stock was refinished with paint used on metal doors to simulated the look of wood. Oh! This is a Walnut stock. :roll:
Later in life it got broken and glued back together.
It appeares that it was broken a 2nd time and that is when Manny the Handyman used nails to put it back together. :doh:
You can see that there is some wood missing from the inside of the grip.




I guess that Manny the Handyman didn't have the right size nails.


So he just bent the ends over so that he would not get poked in the hand.


Don't ask me, I wasnt there when this piece came off. Who ever had it at this time must not of had any glue or nales. :?


Now for the fixing part.
First I pulled out all the nails. Well I did miss one that was in the wrist. I found it and pulled it out after I took this pic.




I then got pertty busy with the stock and some others and forgot to take some pics while I was removing what was left of the glue and putting the stock back together. The paint on the stock was a pain to strip off, but in the end I found that the stock was pertty nice looking.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

part two:

After getting it put together I had to adress the problem of the damage from the nails. I could have just filled them with Acraglas, but that just would not have looked nice. So I went with cross grain plugs. I used an old chopped up Mauser stock to make the plugs.
I used a Fostner bit ot cut the areas where the nails had been in the stock.


If you look at the inside of the wrist you can see where I spliced in some wood. I also spliced on a piece at the foretip of the stock.






I did some reinforceing on the inside.


Here are the cross grain plugs, set in place with Acraglas. After the Acraglas cured, the plugs were shaved with hand files and dressed up. The stock was then preped for refinishing.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Part three:

I refinished the stock with a BLO Oil Scrub. Two scrub coats and two hand rubed coats. It was then topped off with Tom's 1/3 Mix.


















All of the repairs that I did to this stock are covered in detail in the Reference Stickie section over at SRF, but these links will help.
How to strip a stock using a chemical striper
http://www.surplusrifleforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=137&t=61170

Making Splice Repairs
http://www.surplusrifleforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=137&t=97944

How to make and use Cross Grain Plugs to fill holes.
http://www.surplusrifleforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=137&t=60812

BLO Finish with an Oil Scurb
http://www.surplusrifleforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=137&t=51760

 

[LoonWulf]

Nicely done, the repairs add some interesting character to the stock

 

[morcey2]

That's nothin'. Make sure you read through stuff on the links. He's talked me through several repair and refinish jobs over on SRF. He's THE MAN when it comes to stocks.

Matt

 

[LoonWulf]

Ive looked at a few of them its work that honestly beyond my patience or skill right now lol. Ive have actually used the cross grain plugs post to fix some errant sling swivel stud holes in my 1903s stock.

 

[TMiller556]

Amazing.. I know I'm not up to this type of repair yet, but I'm just curious, how did you put the two pieces of the stock back together again into one piece? Did you use epoxy and then just clean it up? I'm sure it's much more advanced than that, but I'm just guessing Do the cross grain plugs need to be the same wood as the stock?

 

[GunnyUSMC]

That's just about right. First it is cleaned to remove any oil or dirt. The Acraglas is used like a glue to put the pieces back together. Then Acraglas resin and fiberglass cloth is used to reinforce the repair. Then it is all cleaned up.
It is best to use the same type of wood for the plugs if you want them to match.

 

[Chris-bob]

So was the stock broken completely, or did you finish the break to make a better repair?

 

[GunnyUSMC]

The stock had been repaired twice before. First it had been glued and the 2nd time it was glued and screwed. Most of the glue was no longer holding, the nails were doing most of the work.

 

[rickb2202]

by golly gunny, my covers off to you. you are the man !!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[FROGO207]

That my friend was a lot of work to bring that stock back to useful. It is a great looking job for sure. A labor of love of old wood.

 

[Ditchtiger]

That was a fair amount of work, looks great.
How much time did you get into?
I'm guessing at 6 hours, maybe a little more.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Thats a hard question. Lets see, 20 min to take it apart. 30 min to strip it. 20 to 30 min to clean up the mess from the old glue. Put it back together with Acraglas, about another 20 min. About a hour to splice in the 4 pieces of wood and shape them. About 30 min to make the cross grain plugs, drill the stock and glass them in and another 15 min to dress them up. Then 20 to 30 min to prep the stock to refinish it. I did all this over a week or so. The finish took about an hour of time over 5 days. So that puts it at just under 4 hours of work. But how can you call it work when your having fun.

 

[jblackfish]

Really impressive work. I marvel at guys who can do this type repair/refinish. Super nice!

 

[Tim the student]

Very impressive.

 

[MasterSergeantA]

Gunny,

You are a true artist.

Semper Fi.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Thanks for all the nice comments.
I like fixing the stocks that most think can't be fixed.