Reinforcing the wrist

[Onojutta]

The wrist on a recent fowler build came out a little skinnier than I was planning, about 1.25" in diameter. I had the thought of reinforcing it as a prophylactic, this I would do by drilling a hole from the trigger guard mortice to the tang mortice and installing a steel rod with epoxy, much like you might do to repair a cracked wrist. This idea pits two of my favorite maxims against each other: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" and "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". So anyone ever done this? Is it worth the effort (and the risk) to drill and install a rod, or leave well enough alone and cross that bridge if and when I get to it?

 

[Gtrubicon]

Im interested to see what the guys with more experience than me have to say bout this.

 

[deerstalkert]

type of wood?
lay of grain?
pictures almost required.
I have used your method to repair but never as a preventative.
almost all the wrist failures i have seen were from a sideways blow. except for the Mortimer i got with usps tire tracks across the crate.

 

[billraby]

I am working on a 4 bore rifle now. I put a 5\8 inch steel rod through the stock from breech to butt plate.

 

[#BPBReloadingFFL]

A rawhide wrap will look really good. Then you can tell folks you broke it over a highwaymans head

 

[JohnBHM]

I have repaired several unmentionables but the last was this T/C and I like to use brass threaded rod and drill a hole just under size so that the threads just catch.

This was an old unfinished kit my son found for me to practice on.The brass rod runs diagonally from under the tang to under the trigger guard.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

The wrist on a recent fowler build came out a little skinnier than I was planning, about 1.25" in diameter. I had the thought of reinforcing it as a prophylactic, this I would do by drilling a hole from the trigger guard mortice to the tang mortice and installing a steel rod with epoxy, much like you might do to repair a cracked wrist. This idea pits two of my favorite maxims against each other: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" and "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". So anyone ever done this? Is it worth the effort (and the risk) to drill and install a rod, or leave well enough alone and cross that bridge if and when I get to it?

I would think that a steel rod set perpendicular to the line of the stock at the wrist would reduce flexibility at that point creating more stress on either side, and perhaps hastening a crack or break? I don't know as I've not used a steel rod other than a large wood screw close to parallel to the line of the stock at the wrist, inserted from under the tang tip to grasp the broken piece of the stock, and pull in back into place while a proper adhesive was also applied.

I would think that a wooden dowel, hartwood, would be better, and again applied at an angle along the stock line rather than perpendicular would be the ticket.

LD

 

[Onojutta]

LD,
I did consider that, especially in light of the fact that a cross section of the stock at the lock/breech area would reveal that there is less wood in that area than in the wrist. That is likely the weakest part of the stock and changing the stiffness of the surrounding area might or might not be good, and might not make a bit of difference if the stock wants to crack through the lock mortise.

 

[The Crisco Kid]

Unless it's cross grained and really weak I'd leave it until it breaks, if it ever does. If the grain runs good it is probably fine.

 

[rchas]

Much depends, as others have noted, on grain orientation. However, drilling from triggerguard to tang isn't going to add much strength. Consider drilling from the breech plug inlet longitudinally down the wrist

 

[reddogge]

It's a solution searching for a problem. Leave it alone.