[stevenjay1]

I have an 1899 Forehand double barrel 12 Ga. I use for black powder upland game hunting. There is a split in top of the butt stock about an inch long that starts in the center where the upper tang meets the wood. The crack is tight but it needs to be fixed before it gets worse. I can spread the crack just a little and thought some clear epoxy will do the trick. Any other suggestions?

Thanks, Steve

 

[lee2]

i like/use gorilla glue. good stuff.

 

[RH7777]

I have been using CA glue for stock repairs for years. Works well and comes in different viscosities at your local hobby shop. Brownells also has it.

It is hands down the most powerful glue for wood I have found. It does not expand like gorilla glue when compressed.

You should glue with the thin stuff for penetration, then clamp or vise the wood.

It bonds very fast, so plan ahead.

Side note.

Cracks that form on the rear tangs on any rilfe are usually a sign of play in the action in the stock.

It is a sign of recoil being transfered against the stock wood near the rear of the tang. This is not good.
On Milsurps it is a good idea to have a small gap between the tang and the wood to keep the forces from being transfered to the wood in that area.
The same principal applies to your shotgun.

I would strongly recomend taking the action out of the wood and checking why the recoil is cracking the wood by the tang.

In military rifles, it is usually the area around the recoil lug is hammered loose, or the screws are not tight and caused play of the action in the wood.

The CA glue will also work in the other areas that may have come loose. Unless there are gaps between the wood and action. Then you will have to bed with a product like Arcaglass.

In the last few years the epoxy type glues sold lack the ingredient that used to make the stuff tough. It is all crap now. At least I haven't found any that works.

 

[stevenjay1]

Thanks for the suggestions. RH7777, I am unfamiliar with the CA glue, can you tell me a little more about it?

lee2, Thanks for suggestion about the Gorilla glue but I learned my lesson the hard way with Gorilla glue. When it first came out I used it to fix my daughter's doll house and ended up making a new part, that stuff does expand.

Steve

 

[chester]

On old Cracks.

If that crack is oil free' i put masking tape each side of the crack then open it and fill it with super glue and when i am clamping it shut i wipe the glue off as it ooz's out' as that stuff can ruin a good finish, Worked great on a Win. 92 and an old wall hanger SxS Shottie.
Hope this helps.

 

[jjk308 In Memoriam RIP]

I'd use a good quality epoxy instead. Not the quick dry stuff as its weaker. Epoxy is highly oil resistant and better on firearms than any other glue because there's invariably some oil contamination of the wood.

Any problems with epoxy may be due to glues formulated to meet idiotic California regulations. I've had no trouble with any slow drying epoxy sold here in FL at ACE or Home Depot.

Just spread the crack a little, work the glue in, wrap the outside with a rubber strip. Before its really hard cured take off the band and scrape off excess glue.

Then cut the wood at the edge of the tang inlet at a slight angle, maybe 10 degrees or so out from the vertical. All top quality shotguns are inletted like that to stop the wood from splitting as it shrinks slowly with age.

 

[AZshooter]

Gotta agree on the Gorilla Glue. I've used about everything else & GG is the best. It's a diisocyanate compound, which is more stable over time than CA (cyanoacrylate) glues.

Follow instructions regarding dampening the wood beforehand. I've simply lightly steamed a crack spread apart with wedges, injected the Gorilla Glue, and wrapped it tightly with stretchy yellow gum rubber tubing - same tubing you use for slingshots.

GG will foam & expand, and once it is cured, it trims off & sands off easily and gives an almost invisible glueline that stains and finished better than any other glue I've used in over 40 years of woodworking.

 

[vintovka]

GG is the best, super glues are too brittle and break with very little pressure. The surgical rubber wrap "clamp" and GG works for me om everything from brown besses to nagants.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

I will have to disagree with those that say that the Monkey Glue is good stuff. It about as good a crap is for floor wax.
Now I know that some of you have used it and like it but, when it comes to stock repairs it would be about as good as a welder using JB weld to do his work.
Those that know me know that I am not one that will just tell you something is good or bad. I will also tell you why. I will also show you how to do something when most will just tell you how.
Now I have been doing stock work for over 20 years and have repaired more stock then most members here. To give you a clue to how many repairs I do, just last year I did right at 100.
I use Brownells Acraglas epoxy to do all of my repairs. If I had to use something else my 2nd pick would be Devcon 2 Ton epoxy with the longer work time.
Now I don't know everything and will never know everything, but I do know a good bit. Over the years I have learned a lot of tricks and how to make repairs that will last a life time.
Here is a link to some of my stickies over at SRF where I go by Candyman.
http://www.surplusrifleforum.com/viewforum.php?f=137
And here is a link to a few of my victims.
http://www.surplusrifleforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=83&t=55920

 

[stevenjay1]

GunnyUSMC and all, this turned out to be an interesting thread. I was leaning towards epoxy from the start due to the longer work time and I've had good success with it in the past. But I thought I would bring up the subject here as it has been a while since I've repaired a stock and wanted to see if there was something new. Again, I appreciate all the input but the decision is made, epoxy it is.

Thanks, Steve

 

[Soup]

GG SG

Last night I repaired an old Mossberg 500 stock with Gorilla Glue Super Glue.

It's not brittle like other super glues and it's thicker. It is also made to be shock resistant.

On a cheap stock like this Mossberg it's fine.
But Brownells Acraglas epoxy would be better for a more valuable piece of wood like yours.

Edit: But any piece of wood that holds a firearm in one piece is worth gold. So from now on I'll do it right.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

The problem with glue is that oil will cause it to break down and it does not hold good to itself.
The hardest repairs that I do are the ones that I have to remove old glue from.
Here is some pic's of a toe repair on a Polish Wz48 stock. There were two wood dowels used to help support the glued on toe. When I got it the dowels were the only thing keeping the toe from falling off.
I drilled out the dowels, removed the toe, cleaned it up and used Acraglas to put the toe back on. The dowel holes were filled with Acraglas then cross grain plugs were used to dress up the holes.

When removing the old glue you sometimes loose tiny bits of wood which make it harder to hide the repair.

 

[dou 44]

i like the gorilla glue and [wood dowels ] if it need them

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Acraglas is much stronger then tho old Monkey glue. I have repaired many stocks that someone tried to repair with Monkey glue that failed to hold.
Here is a link to a toe repair that you could not do with the monkey glue.
If you look real colse you will see that there is a small chip of wood missing at the front of the break. Acraglas was used to fill the chip and it almost can't ge seen onse the job was complet.
I also stand 100% behind the work that I do. If one of my repairs ever fail, I will repair it for free and pay the return shipping. In over 20 years I have never had to redo any of my repairs.
http://www.surplusrifleforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=137&t=55283

 

[jjk308 In Memoriam RIP]

The DoubleGun BBS has had some posts on Gorilla Glue and other urethane glues failing unexpectedly. Thise who had their shotgun stocks come apart unexpectedly had no warning at all. This has also been a problem in boatbuilding where contamination from oil or polyester glues causes catastrophic delamination.

 

[Fushigi Ojisan]

Okay, no more Gorilla Glue for me

Just curious Gunny, if that trashed Winchester 1890 stock I sent you helped other stocks live on yet.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Okay, no more Gorilla Glue for me

Just curious Gunny, if that trashed Winchester 1890 stock I sent you helped other stocks live on yet.

Nope, haven't used it yet. But it's sitting with the doner stocks and parts.
With it I now have about 6 different color Walnut colors to use for repairs.

I Have been a little under the weather with the weather chanding from warm to cold And just had another PET/CT scan done. Dr. told me today that the cancer is still gone.

I have only finished up on 6 stocks so far this year. I have the repairs on 3 others finished and working on the finish on then right now. I have 5 others that I am also working on.
I will be adding some more pic's to my victim's post this weekend.

If anyone need some help with a repair, feel free to contact me. I can also send step by step pic's on most repairs.
Acraglas is very esay to use once you learn a few tricks.
I have been kicking around the thought of having a CD made on doing stock repairs, but I would have to slow down to make the time to put it together.

 

[Ordtech]

Acraglass Gel. It doesn't run, has dye in the kit to match the color brown or black (it doesn't take much dye) and it cleans up from over-run with household vinegar. It can be scraped or cut before it sets. The wood will rot before the Acraglass breaks.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

I find that the Acraglas Gel is great when bedding an action or filling areas inside a stock., but not so great for getting down into cracks, The regular Acraglas also soaks inti the wood fibers a little better.

 

[Soup]

Open minded.

I think it's time to get some Acraglas.

Thanks for the tip guys.