doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com How do you fix stocks like this....

Half the people who call themselves stock men think Trueoil is the perfect finish and the secret is to slap it on extra thick. They call that refinishing. I call that crap.

Number one thing to do when repairing any stock is save every tiny sliver you can. Second is prep work. No glue sticks worth a darn if the stock still has too much oil in it. You must get all the oil out of the wood. Then you need to put it all back together in a dry run. Find all the cracks as well, because if you leave a crack in a stock it is not going to heal, at best will stay the same which is weak or worse crack more. Then after you have it all back in place you need to see if it needs more reinforcement such as a new price of wood inlet into the stock. Staining and finishing is last and too many want to jump into this step.

To me it's like putting a jigsaw puzzle back together then figuring out why it broke and how to make it stronger. Dewey and the Stock Doctor along with maybe four or five others can almost take a pile of splinters and put them back together in a stock. Then they can blend it to the point the repairs look as good as new. An art as well as a skill. But don't be afraid to try to fix your gun. You will learn a lot and the gun is not a high grade gun. It is a great basic learning stock repair job and the knowledge gain will help you evaluate gun stocks in the future.

Thank you KY Jon. I have refrained from giving advise just because of the jigsaw issue. Each piece of wood is unique. Each poses its own issues.

I really like L.C. Smiths. They are a pain in the rear at times when they are used as hard as this one appears to have been. This gun looks to have gone the way of "more is better" in the shell department....because it was a tool to use. I was taught to take care of my tools and they would take care of me.

This stock may be resurrected. Doing so is always a challenge to do it in a manner to be proud of. My advice. Go slowly and be not afraid of doing it over when it doesn't go right the first time. Ask for help directly from those who can give good advise. Pictures are helpful when explaining things. Information is always free at my house.

Thanks guys,
As a tinkerer and the son of a finish carpenter I am pretty good at wood repair. My Number 3 16ga had a beautiful stock made by a guy who had no concept of how the grain should run through the wrist. At the time I bought it, I was green about it too. Needless to say it cracked to all hell. I now have 7 pins in it. Unfortunately it was so bad that the repairs are noticable.

I have installed pins, screws, bolts, steel or brass rods on other stocks to put back in broken pieces. I was really just looking for more knowledge. (Not from Joe).

Thanks for the input. My idea is if I can make it better and shootable, so be it, if not, I have to invest in a new stock.

Jerry

Your time is free, material's cost is modest and you have nothing to lose. Not a difficult decision.

BTW I'm an AcraGlas fan for a couple decades and it is what I go to first. never fails

JMO of course


have another day
Dr.WtS

WTS,
How much do you thin the acraglass when you coat the head? Do you use the liquid or the gel?

Jerry

Jerry -

For real repairs I'm of the hog it out and fill it school since the glas is stronger than the wood. The big hole provides clean wood to bond to as well. And the gel works best for that. The liquid has a place too with big cracks. Superglue will wick into most small cracks that can be clamped to close. Recently I did a M12 stock that had 5 fine cracks in the head over an inch long with superglue and it is just fine.

I never thin the glas in any way.

have another day
Dr.WtS

You don't need to thin it. If you want it thinner heat it. I heat the wood first then apply the glass, then heat that. You can get it to flow like water into the wood. I use heat to thin it to get a little better penetration into the wood and into cracks. When trying to strengthen a stock head I have even gone as far as curing it under pressure in a big pressure pot I had. Tried to drive it into the wood more. Never failed so I don't know if that helped at all but seemed like a good idea at the time.

The only failures I've had have all been due to inadequate preparation of the wood or joint and not getting great clamping action. Oil, grease and dirt are your worst enemies when gluing any wood. Then comes moisture if you are not using a ureathane type glue which loves a little moisture. If you are working on your own stock take as much time as you need to make everything as perfect as you can. No corner cut is going to make the job better.

Someone that knows what they are doing can pretty much fix anything. I think a lot of it is trial and error, developing techniques over years of various challenges. I'm amazed at what a true craftsman such as a Dewey Vicknair can accomplish, I know I don't have the patience or skill to attempt repairing a badly damaged stock but somehow these guys can do it and make it better than new.
Link is to what Dewey accomplished on my Fox, I never would have thought that stock could have been returned to usable not to mention good looking.

http://vicknairgunsmithing.blogspot.com/2015/12/restoration-of-fox-xe-grade.html

Anybody know what kind of epoxy Vicknair uses and whether he dyes it before or after it dries?

Thanks for the info, I forgot about just using heat.....When I was a kid building slot car engineers, I used to wrap the armatures, coat with epoxy then bake in my mothers oven....she was a great mom.

I asked about thinning because I have seen comments here about coating the entire head with "thinned Acraglass".

Jerry