Repairing a cracked stock

[JPOHLIC]

So I had my muzzle loader in a soft case strapped to the rack of the quad. It stuck out a bit and I must have tagged it with a tree. The stock is cracked from the top by the hammer on the front right to just above and behind the trigger on the left side.

Can anyone recommend a gunsmith or woodworker near Edmonton Alberta who could repair it or replicate the stock. I'm pretty sure it's going to be difficult to find a replacement for a .54 Jonathan Browning mountain rifle

The stock appears cracked about half way through the wrist. It starts on top near the hammer and goes back to the left side just above and behind the trigger.













The rear screw of the upper tang was bent slightly due to the impact





I don't think it's as bad as it looks, hopefully.... I may try fixing it myself.

 

[Erzulis boat]

Totally fixable.

I use the really "thin" Acraglas (Brownell's)epoxy for repairs such as this. Not only is it thin, it has a nice long work time, so you can really get the repair saturated.

I did notice there appears to be a small chunk missing, but with that straight grain stock, you can repair it so it will be virtually invisible.

What I do once the epoxy is mixed, is gently pry the fracture "open" and get the mix as deep as I can to the apex of the break. Tape/clamp etc. and give it 3 days or so to dry (Acraglas takes about a week to dry in reality).

Super glue will also work (I don't like it in this application), but it will leave a telltale sign (typically black lines) but Acraglas will dry virtually clear if the joint is tight, and a refinish will be hidden incredibly well normally. I might add that the thin Acraglas is mega strong and will hold better than any superglue in the long run.

If you have never messed with Acraglas, make a little batch and just let it dry before you do the real thing. Acraglas is pretty sensitive to mix ratio, and is not as forgiving as JB Weld.

Hope this helps.

 

[Birddog6]

I would try to spread it & force Accraglass into the cracks, then clamp it til dry. It is important to get it in as far as possible. I usually put some on & take a air hose & try to blow it in as far as possible. (Makes a mess but it usually works) If the Accraglass is thin enough, you can sometimes us a large syringe & inject it down into the crack. (Can get them at the Co-op or Feed Store)
After it has set up a day, I would most likely put 1-2- or 3 small wood dowels down thru the wrist under the tang again glued in with Accraglas,being careful not.... to go thru the stock. That wrist has grain runout & from what I see, it wouldn't take much to crack or break it.

Keith Lisle

 

[MercerLake]

:v Trees+Quads+Guns=ouch. You can easily repair that stock your self, either use ACRAGLASS as recomended by others or another epoxy called GLUVIT. Gluvit is available in most marine supply stores or a good hardware store. GLUVIT is catalyzed by air and very thin so it will readily penetrate to the bottom of the split/crack when it is spread. Very important to work any epoxy all the way into the crack/split then clamp for several days. Also the wrist should be re-enforced with hard wood dowels as recomended elsewhere. The grain on that stock runs across the curve of the wrist and likely will split again unless it is re-enforced. You can do it yourself and save a bunch of money! :v

 

[wmaser]

I repaired an original Leman stock that had been completely shattered and delivered to me in a bucket containing about seven or eight pieces of wood. I put the pieces back together and added several missing slivers, using oak so that the original wood and the added wood repairs could be easily identified. I pegged and glued the repairs together with "Gorilla glue".
The stock is as strong, now, as the day it was built 180 years ago. I use it now for targets and squirrels.

 

[ebiggs1]

It does look like the grin is not the best for structure. It may have cracked fairly easy. I think the hard wood dowels and regular Elmer's or Titebond wood glue should fix it. It needs to be clamped together firmly until the glue has fully set. I have done many modern guns that way and none I know of have broken again.
You can do it, it is fixable.

 

[ohio ramrod]

Before panicing try and repair. I like to use the expanding polyurathane glues on repairs since they expand into cracks as they cure. Often penetrating into places that you can not even see the crack. Also wooden dowel pins drilled ninety degrees to the crack will reenforce the repair.If you can't get ninety degrees fourtyfive degrees will work. I have fixed doubles barreled shotguns that were broken completely in two pieces this way. (And the repair is still good over 1000 shots later ).

 

[mazo kid]

Once you have the stock all epoxied together, clamped and set up, I would put a hardwood dowel down through the wrist to further strengthen the area. Here is a photo of such a repair, although in this case the stock wasn't cracked. The grain ran parallel to the barrel and I was just taking a precaution. The dowel I used was an old cut off piece of hickory ramrod:

 

[billd]

Easy way to clamp it is with surgical tubing, or air hose for aquariums.

Bill

 

[JPOHLIC]

Thanks for all the tips fellas, I've looked much closer at it and I'm pretty sure I can fix it myself.

I've got some surgical tubing in my range box already - it's quite handy for grabbing on to a stuck ram rod.

 

[slumlord44]

I would think you could do a good structuraly sound repair that will look ok. There are guys out there who can repair it so you will see it unless you know it is there and even then will have trouble finding it. Had UPS make a similar break on a Stevens Tip Up Rifle several years back. UPS paid for the gun and I got to keep it. Had it professionaly repaired. I think $150 or so. If you do not know it is there you will never notice it. Depends on how nice you want it to look. For a hunting gun it should be fine.

 

[JPOHLIC]

Well, I glued the stock back together a couple nights ago using a premium wood glue. I blew it further into the crack using a compressor and then wrapped a few loops of rope around the wrist. I stuck a screwdriver through the knot and twisted the rope tight until the crack was closed (the surgical tubing just wasn’t cutting it).

The next night I removed the rope and the repair looks good - I just need to sand down a little bit of excess glue. Everything fits back together as it should, all that’s left is to carve a small filler to replace the missing chunk of wood and then refinish it. I can’t decide whether to refinish the entire stock or just the repaired area. Any suggestions?