Flood Damaged Stock

[musketman]

Lets say you have a custom flintlock that sat in roughly 3 inches of water for around 7 hours in you sub-level den...

How do you do about drying out the stock without it cracking, and do you need to have the stock's finish redone?

 

[Dave K]

I would quickly remove the barrel and other ferric metal parts, dry and wax them pronto and return them to the stock. Doing so would be an attempt for the gun to not change shape by warping. Watch this for a period of time until the wood is dry. It is impossible to tell how the finish will respond to the drying. But, at least once dried out, you can access the stock and see what is your next plan of attack. :results:

 

[Zonie]

As only the buttplate and adjacent area of the stock was soaked, I would remove the butt plate and screws, protect the steel barrel with wax (or Stumpys moosestuff) on the outside and in the bore and remove the other metal parts.
Then I would replace the barrel and leave the stock/barrel in a moderatly damp area so that it could dry slowly. It might take a few weeks for it to really dry back to it's former condition.
I think if these precautions are taken, it will not crack and it may come out just fine.
(The last thing I would recommend is heating the stock or putting it in a really dry room. That could indeed cause cracks to develop.)
After it is dry, then examine the finish. If everything goes well, a few coats of linseed oil may be all that's needed.

 

[rootnuke]

It's gonna leave a water line in the wood which will make all submerged wood darker.

 

[kentucky bucky]

My parents bought an old house back in the 60's that had a garage attick ful of antique furniture and all of it had been in either 1 or 2 floods in the last century. Many pieces came through relatively undamaged except for the finish. Some were warped as in table tops and even some old jasso picture frames had flood mud on them, but were still fixable. My point is that if you dry it slowly, with the fixtures attached, you may be surprised how well it will recover. The finish, depending on the type, may bounce back fairly easily.