Hello Folks.
Search the forum and didn't find recommendations on adhesives to use to glue cracks, so I'm asking for recommendations here.

Acquired a "The Fulton" 12ga from a pawn shop a couple weeks ago. Good shape exception for a 1.5" crack along the right side of the grip area. The crack begins where the stock is flush with the receiver, and will not open much to facilitate working an adhesive in, so I need something fairly thin I believe.

Thank you for your recommendations.

Super glue comes in a very thin liquid version that would be a reasonable possibility.
Arca Glass may as well.

Thank you.

I've got some super glue that's supposedly for wood specifically. I'll search around town for Arca Glass.

I refinish and repair gunstocks.
I use Satellite City Super Glue from Brownells. There are 2, thin for hairline cracks and thick for filling gaps and dings that won't steam out. The thin is watery and will literally run all the way across a crack to the opposite side if the crack went all the way across. Other thin super glues might do the same
however after using Satellite City for years and having good results I see it is in the Connecticut Shotgun catalog.
They say "THIS IS THE BEST INSTANT (SUPER GLUE) WE HAVE EVER FOUND" My 2 cents is use it.
If you need more help on this or other repairs feel free to ask. If possible start dripping the thin super glue from the inside of the stock and keep dripping till it comes out the other side. If you cannot work from the inside you will have to drip from the outside or drip some in a little lid and toothpick it in the crack.

I googled Satellite City Super Glue and found their web site. lot of information on the product and they sell it on the website.

http://www.caglue.com/
Pete

And don't glue your fingers together...that stuff can be quick.

For your interest
http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/17126039

If the crack is oil soaked, the stock needs to be degreased first. You can use acetone if you're going to refinish the wood, but milder solvents like trichlor brakleen will also work. Some brakleen has acetone in it, so beware.

I have used CASCOPHEN Resorcinol (2-part marine grade glue made by Humbrol) for about 30 years with excellent results.

Do NOT use Cascamite or similar! totally different stuff

parts need to be clamped for 24 hours

also: Cascophen has a dark brown colour which is very near most gun stock colours.

Not sure whether this is available in the US, but nowadays should be obtainable through the internet.

Regards from England

Gunter
NRA Life 1974

Acraglass will get very thin when heated. I use a heat gun and it really "leaches" into the cracks. I have had it flow through a crack and come out on the other side of a stock where you couldn't even see the crack.
CHAZ

IF you use cyanoacrylate, think about using an accelerator to strengthen the bond. Check with a local R/C airplane or model railroad store for the good stuff. Accelerator is usually aerosol and you spray it on the joint after wicking in the glue.

If you want to use epoxy, think about Liquid Wood from Abatron. It is designed to wick into the wood fibers and you can thin it with xylene, no heat required. Wonderful stuff for repairs and restoration.

Yes, use super glue. It sounds hokey, but I use it all the time. And it works great.
For a crack that you can't really get into fully, the liquid works well. Just open it up as much as you can and flow it in.

Of course, everything works better when the wood is clean and dry.

Thanks All. I appreciate the suggestions. I've used accelerator's before. I don't remember for what project exactly; I think it was some sort of music instrument repair.

IMO, any CA is not the best choice for MOST stock repairs. It doesn't like to "flex" and as the wood expands/contracts over time and recoil, it can separate.

Many, many different kinds of epoxy that IMO, are better for this application.

With a little heat and and compressed air, you get get epoxy to flow anywhere you need it to go.

You can often get runny acraglass in with a shot needle from veterinary supply. Expoxy should hold up better to recoil IMO. It can also be thinned. Pins can also be placed from invisible angles if needed in lots of cases. Steve

I have repaired and rebedded a couple of rifles that had originally were repaired with what I believe was Acraglas. Time does not seem to be friendly to that formula. Acraglas seems to get 'brittle' over time. It is easy to use, and DOES work.

So I switched to a marine epoxy, as those formulas are designed to deal with hull flex and movement. I don't know if it will last better than Acraglas over decades, but I hope to never find out.

I use this product: http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&key..._sl_jpvplb1k3_e

Good working time and easily thinned by heating the stock with a lamp before applying the epoxy.

I like the idea of marine epoxy. I found some wood specific super glue just down the street, so I gave it a try. Seems to have worked very well for the time being. Hope it holds up.

Thank you all for being generous with your suggestions and shared experience.

Cyanoacrylate glues are very strong in tension, but weaker in shear. For clean wood, Titebond II wood glue is tough to beat, but you'll need compressed air to force it into a crack. I tested various wood glues several years ago on small blocks of planed black walnut. The Titebond II was stronger than the wood when I attempted to break it apart after a couple weeks, as was Acraglas, and a Marine Epoxy. A polyurethane glue I tried was also very strong and gave a glue joint that was hard to detect, but it was messy to work with and affected finishing of the surrounding wood if you couldn't sand off what squeezed out of the joint. I have read that polyurethane glue works good when there may be traces of oil left in the wood.

The Titebond II gave me the most invisible glue joint when finished with over half a dozen various finishes including Tung oil, Permalyn, Spar Varnish, Oil Modified Urethane, Polyurethane, Watco Danish Oil, Tru-Oil, etc. With careful grain and pore matching on my test blocks, it was almost impossible to detect a closely fitted joint. For a cracked stock with no missing wood, and careful clamping, you can make a repair so invisible, no-one will ever know it was broken. This is what I was looking for. Many repaired stocks may be strong, but the glue joint sticks out like a sore thumb. I did not even test any of the Super Glues because I knew they were not ideally suited for the shear and flexing type of forces required for a lasting bond in a gunstock.

Finally.

A man who know what the heck he's talking about.

Refreshing.

All epoxies will be brittle if they are not mixed in the proper ratios. The rule of thumb is that the less catalyst you use, the more flexible the joint will be when it cures. Hotter batches cure faster, get harder, and will be more brittle as they age. Cooler batches may take a long time to reach full bond strength, but will generally be better in the long run.



Warming the stock is a double edged sword. It will thin the material and allow better penetration and wicking, but it also accelerates the cure and can lead to the brittleness problem down the road. There are various grades of epoxy, with wide variations in quality, but all generally behave in the same way with heat and cure ratios. If you really need to thin epoxy and want to avoid heat, thin the epoxy with xylene/xylol and be prepared to clean off any squeeze-out immediately.

Agree on the CA issues, but it wicks well and cures quickly. It is also good for strengthening the head of a punky stock if you are not comfortable with epoxy. I prefer epoxy, but I have my own blends. Re TiteBond, it is amazing stuff under the right circumstances, but those "right circumstances" require a near-perfect glue joint because TB has absolutely no gap-filling properties. Epoxy does maintain a lot of strength when there are missing splinters or a ragged joint, and can easily be tinted to the final finish color if the joint will show. If you want to color epoxy, use dry pigments because the universal tints and oilbase colorants will interfere with the cure. Properly cured (i.e., not brittle) epoxy can be worked just like wood if you are rebuilding inletting. Different glues for different repairs, there is no one correct answer.

In repairing broken and cracked stocks,regardles of the adhesive, clamping is very difficult to do often times, and can damage the stock in the process.I have found that one of the best methods is to wrap a strip ,cut from an innertube,of rubber around the joint. Pull the "stretch" out as you go. A few wraps will pull the joint very tightly together, making Tite Bond II a good adhesive to use.This does not make dents in the wood and is easy to do.The Gun can be assembled to insure proper placment of the parts, without fear of gluing the stock to the gun(with Tite Bond II,not epoxy).
Mike

You might contact epoxyworks P.O. Box 908,Bay City,Mi 48707-0908 epoxyworks@gougeon.com. (they use West system epoxy which has a product called G/Flex which was designed to flex and not part under load. Hope this is of some help, Pligrim

Satellite City, which makes Hot Stuff CA (Super) glue says their's is different in that it has high shear strength.

This company is aptly named.

Their claim is from outer space.

And NOT true.

The folks at Loctite told me they were not familiar with any cyanoacrylate adhesives with high shear strength. I tried to find something to glue hook shims that would hold.

Joe, I recall a couple of years ago more than one of our posters were using a 3M CA glue to do just that. I believe they were successful although I cannot be sure if it lasted. In any case, you can check Satellite City's website where they discuss this or call them at 800-786-0062. I would be interested in what you find out.

O.T. but for securing shims in hooks try Permatex High Strength
Sleeve Retainer. (NAPA part #765-1149). It has 3000 psi shear strength & it's used to secure valve seats & valve guides in automotive cylinder heads. You can get it at NAPA & other automotive parts suppliers.

I did one gun with this about 6 months ago & so far the shim has stayed in place & I'll have a better idea of how well it works once sporting clays weather reappears this spring.

Loctite has some similar products.

Loctite Black?

Replacement,

No,if you mean Loctite Black Max 380. Black Max is a rubber modified cyanoacrylate.

The Loctite products closest to the Permatex High Strength Sleeve retainer would be 640 or 638 Retaining Compounds. They & the Permatex product are urethane methacraylate compounds that cure in an anerobic environment.

Black Max was the only recommendation Loctite gave me. They said the micron sized rubber particles were added to give the compound a little flex. I had mixed results with it. Out of half dozen shims on various guns only one has stuck.

G/Flex is what I linked at Amazon in my earlier post. Great stuff.

Agree about the heat and set times. G/Flex is VERY slow setting so I believe the heat will have little long term affects. Of course this also makes clamping very critical.