Help!!! Broke stock.

[Rifleman1776]

Much as others have suggested, glue and pin. I would use Titebond III. Over the long haul much stronger than epoxy which hardens and can crack. But TBIII does leave a glue line. To avoid that, use Titebond II. 90% as effective as TBIII and my favorite. Then use brass screws all the way through secured with glue (epoxy OK here). The ends can be filed and sanded smooth. They will show, but, to me they just tell part of the story of the gun.

 

[user 34300]

i have wonder that.
i have not done this type of repair, yet. my thoughts on the rod inserted into the stock lengthwise.
i would think the hickory dowel would accept the glue better than steel or brass. then run the screws in from under the trigger guard with no change of hitting steel.

just thinking out loud.

ou

Yeah.....? No.

IF you hide an 8" piece of all thread, say 3/8" in the middle of the stock it will not break again. High grade epoxy is the best possible glue. Somebody theorized that heat and cold will break such a joint and wood glue is better. Nonsense. IF steel and glass bedding compounds were were weak we would use wood glue to glass bed modern guns. We would use titebond to build composite aircraft and boats. This is being over analyzed here until we have some ridiculous thinking going on here.

I am not saying that wood glue and dowel a repair can not work. I'm just passing along the very best way that professionals make these repairs.

BTW, it is not a good plan to buy a gun with crappy gain layout in the wrist.

I would also not use such a stock on a build, unless I factored it into the price and planned on sinking a big chunk of steel in the wrist. You can drill back from the breech end of the barrel toward the but plate. Then, epoxy a 3/8" piece of all thread that spans the whole wrist, it won't break. It is not more difficult than drilling a ramrod.

 

[kansas_volunteer]

An old stock maker and restorer once told me not to try to hide a repair. He advised using Brownell's epoxy dyed black. Trying to match the wood color any other way usually leads to an unsightly line.

 

[French Colonial]

Yeah....maybe that ready rod in the wrist is a good idea..

Does any of the Pedersoli rifles come standard with it?
I wonder if I call Jim Chambers and ask him to drill out one of his stocks and put a piece of ready rod through the wrist what he might say?
Maybe Kibler would do it? Lets ask!

Maybe we could get ALL manufacturers to start putting ready rod in all the wrists even on synthetic stocks!

All tongue in check, lighten up!

 

[toot]

when I broke my stock, I wanted to PUKE!! it was akin to loosing a child.

 

[Col. Batguano]

This is an "after the horse is gone" observation, but it illustrates how critical grain direction is through the wrist when doing your blank selection. If you must choose another blank with runout in that area, reinforce it first with a rod or a tenon under the TG foot.

Pistols are even trickier, Those blanks are best when they come from the trunk where a limb is coming out and the grain is making about a 90 degree turn.

 

[user 34300]

If I was going to use a stock, quarter sawn with bad grain flow, I'd hide a slab of maple under the trigger guard. Mill a slot and glue in a piece of maple with strong grain orientation.

 

[beardedhorse]

Artificial sinew is no where as strong as Brownell B-50 bowstring material. It frays and stretches a lot more and lot less tensile strength. My 11 gauge William Moore double barrel muzzle loading shotgun also had a similar repair. A room mate's girl friend blinded by bright snow walked into my Kentucky rifle before deer season and snapped the wrist on it like Dick's photo. I had brass rod but not threaded and had to file grooves for epoxy. To show that it was repaired put a cast of shrunk rawhide on it. Still shoots after 40 years. I would make sure you degrease the raw wood before using epoxy. It is preferable in my opinion over Titebond 2, 3 or 4 or Elmer's wood glue. The inner tube strips give a good compression clamp and should release with minimal clean up. Hope Dick is able to do good repair. Keep us updated on the repair's progress and success. Good luck with it.

 

[Roundball2319]

Can’t begin to tell you all how much I appreciate your help, suggestions and kind thoughts. I think the bolt through the two pieces would be the strongest. Looks like lots of different ways to skin a cat. However, I took Danny’s advice, used the wood glue and three wood screws up from the bottom which are covered by the trigger guard. I then scraped the glue joints smooth and wrapped with the artificial sinew (mostly cosmetic I’m sure). Next I’ll put some finish over the sinew to hold it together. Everything I’ve read about wood glue indicates it’s stronger than the wood once it sets up. We’ll see. This “accident” happened yesterday as I was patterning my gun. Turkey season opened today! Just finished up with the repairs and should be good to go tomorrow morning...hopefully. Again, thank you all for the help. Really appreciate it.

Good luck on your hunt.

 

[Artificer]

i have wonder that.
i have not done this type of repair, yet. my thoughts on the rod inserted into the stock lengthwise.
i would think the hickory dowel would accept the glue better than steel or brass. then run the screws in from under the trigger guard with no change of hitting steel.

just thinking out loud.

ou

Hi OU,

Glues and epoxies aren't absorbed much, if any at all, even in wood. So the key to the best glue joint is more surface area to glue and especially more roughened surface area to glue, gives the strongest joint.

A hickory dowel through the wrist does work, but it is best to thread it or at least groove it or flute it for more surface area to glue;

or

however compare the amount of surface area to glue in them compared to a brass or iron/steel threaded rod:

Of course the brass or steel threaded rod will be much stronger inside the wrist than a hickory dowel and will pretty much ensure the wrist can never be broken again, unless you deliberately do it.

Gus

 

[user 34300]

Gus, watch out, you will be mocked for point that out.

 

[Philip Lebow]

Gents.Been down this road with my own and customers rifles. A very fat old boy fell on my side lock California rifle, snapping it, and said "golly!" and split. I'm with the gent that drilled oversize holes and epoxied in a piece of all-thread.. Short pins have never been that reliable for me. Need to be minimum 2"
long across break. Headless long drywall or gutter screws are OK. if you have splinter gaps, dye the epoxy a little darker than the wood to hide a gaps a little better. After the glue is hard, use the tip of a scalpel or X-acto to draw grain lines through the glue, that look like the parent wood,. that follow the real grain. Keeps the eye from stopping at the break.

 

[cajun]

My dad did a repair many years ago on his old gun. Infact I still have the gun and it's still in great shape. What he did was use a couple of wood dowel (made of sinker cypress) he made sure the holes he drilled lined up. That was the hardest part I remember. The glue was a wood glue made back in the 70's, sorry can't remember the name. He let it setup for a week or so and re-sanded the stock. To this day it's still holding up and it's been about 47 years. I hope you have success in fixing yours.