doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Featherweight wrist repair

This image is of an LC Smith Field Featherweight I bought. The old repair material was degrading, and finish was bad so it's been cleaned with an acetone soak and I gently picked out the old substance with an exacto knife. There is a rod the spans the void, and the void will not close.

I am not an expert, nor can I afford to hire one. The curve of the crack makes me think that a wood sliver insert is unlikely and I need to fill and bond with an epoxy. I do have a nicely matching scrap of material to make sawdust from, and I am wondering if a sawdust/epoxy mixture is the way to go, or is there another path realistic to take.

The gun is my first sidelock, which I want to shoot. It has other issues and is not a clean collector gun.

I believe that closing the crack is going to be necessary to get a good repair. Can you seperate the two pieces? I would try to get it apart, pull the pin and reclean the split with another soak to be sure all oil is gone. you could reinser a pin and even add other reinforcements and then bury any reinforcements in colored epoxy, clam it up and let it cure. I like to do another step and that is to wash off any overrun of epoxy with isopropyl alcohol. Just wash the exterior wood don't clean out the joint. this will save a lot of work.

bill

The wound doesn't go all the way to the head, so I'd have to purposefully break it. I don't know how long it's been this way, but the wood seems used to being in the position it is in. Also, the metal pin is still there, which could be holding it open, maybe, but I don't know about digging it out or how to do so. Risk adverse because I can't afford a new stock.

I am no expert, but I had an almost identical crack on a 1921 Featherweight field grade 12. I had Bill Schwarz in Ellijay GA glue the crack and possibly glass bed (can't recall) for very little money. It almost seems like the pin is holding the crack open. Link to a pic of mine repaired below. As you can barely make out, crack ran from the side plate to the safety.

http://s1219.photobucket.com/user/danfandango/media/shotgun003-1.jpg.html?sort=3&o=137

Also, there is a really good DIY tutorial on crack repair on the LC Smith association page. Good luck.

Can you get at the rod from the top tang mortise? Looks like you could cut the rod from the top and then file it shorter from the inside to allow you to pull the pieces back together.

Don't assume that you can close that crack and still have the lockplate and top strap inletting fit properly. It may have to be that way. If that's the case fill it with colored epoxy or, even better, fit a piece of wood in the void.

I'll try to fit some wood. If I color epoxy as well, or instead of wood, is the saw dust mixture viable? If so, is there a ratio of dust to adhesive that folks like?

I have fixed broken stocks quite a few times, but without seeing the gun personally it's impossible to ascertain the best course of action. That said, I suspect that the pin is causing problems and needs to either be removed or cut off shorter inside the crack. Before doing that, survey how the locks and tangs fit. The lock seems likely to have some gaps, no? If that is the case then proceed with getting the metal pin out of the way. Now you should be able to close up the gap, although it may take some force. Don't try to use a metal clamp, like a C clamp as it will likely damage the wood and just slip off any way. I have used long strips of bicycle inner tube for clamps. Free, they won't damage the wood and you can apply considerable force with them by just wrapping the stock tightly. Shellac and then heavily wax the stock before applying epoxy and you'll keep clean up to a minimum. Don't mix the epoxy with anything as it reduces the bond. Apply the clear epoxy, wait a few minutes to allow it to soak into the grain, then add more epoxy and wrap. Any cosmetics like matching the color and touching up the checkering can be done later. Here are a few pictures of a stock that I did recently.

The locks fit nicely as things are. The receiver is proud of the sides of the stock, especially towards the front most area, the right lower edge most of all. I think they were milled or sanded down at some point.

Beautiful repair by the way. Thanks for sharing the images.

What do you folks think of the advice from the LC Smith site, where it states the following?

"After carefully checking the stock and finding no cracks or oil soaking, you might paint the head of the stock and lockplate inlets with Goat Tuff Glue Apply until the wood will absorb no more, allow to cure several hours, then reassemble."