glue

[bear57]

Does any one know of a glue or epoxy that can take stain? Need to glue a small piece . Thank you. Carl

[jerrywh]

 There is no such thing as a stainable glue.  Contrary to what anybody says.  If you try one you will regret it.   

[Ky-Flinter]

Hey Carl,

Welcome to ALR.  Stain the piece and the area where it will be glued in first, then glue it in.  I like Titebond.  Some have good luck with super glue, but I usually end up with my fingers stuck together.

-Ron

[Joe S]

I have had good luck by mixing a little burnt umber with Titebond glue.  A little bit of pigment goes a long way.  Experiment.   If the glue joint is extensive, you can disguise it by breaking up the line with a fine black sharpie.

I have no reason to believe that the pigment decreases the bond strength, but I have never tried to measure it either.  You can get burnt umber at any art supply store.

[mtlonghunter]

Titebond also makes a brown colored glue. II or III.

[Mark Elliott]

A really tight glue joint is hard to see.    If that is what you will end up with, then I wouldn't worry about it.    The mismatch of grain/figure would be more apparent.    You can always paint over a glue joint.    If you are aging the gun, then a black wash will hide a lot of things.

[Lucky R A]

     I have restored many guns and made many repairs using  Devcon 5 minute epoxy that was tinted with burnt umber.  I use Acra Glass gel  for forearms replacements and stress areas repairs.  I tint it with burnt umber as well. The only thing I have ever regretted was getting it on my hands somewhere I didn't notice and finding it after it is dry, $#*! to get off.
Ron 

[gus123]

DOT 3brake fluid will dissolve acraglas if you get some on your hands or any other place you don't it.
just a little bit of brake fluid goes a long way, not that I've ever had to use it.

[Mark Elliott]

Acetone will also remove epoxy.

[Nate McKenzie]

Alcohol will remove it if its not completely set.

[jerrywh]

 One thing I discovered when experimenting with glues is this. The hardener in Epoxy is methyl ethyl ketone peroxide. The peroxide is a bleach and when used over stain it will bleach out the color to some extent. That is why I usually use Super glue or Titebond wood glue for repairs.  Each has it's own defects. Super glue is transparent and is easier to camouflage  but it is brittle when fully set. Titebond actually holds better than superglue but is harder to hide. When staining before gluing it is important not to stain to dark. I you stain too dark you will have to match it and the whole area will be dark. This hides the grain and doesn't look as good.  Like Mark said. Matching the grain is more important than the color. I never build from kits because It pays to have extra pieces of wood from all the areas of a stock for repairs.

[kutter]

AgraGlas Gel will stain pretty well with Laurel Mtn stock stains.

The AcraGlas gel mixes up into a cream colored stuff.
Best results staining I've had are letting the stuff set well of course. 3 days isn't out of the norm for me,,I want it to be cured somewhat though it'll be hard overnight. I use a incandesent light bulb to heat the area being glued and that speeds up the set time greatly.

File the repair down, sand it, ect. Don't get a slick smooth polished surface on any epoxy showing. Instead leave it a bit rough from the sanding. Sometimes I scrape the area very gently with a razor blade to just take a wisp of the surface down and leave it open.
Maple usually doesn't need much if any grain marks but walnut does and they can help break up the foreign look of a glue joint line through the wood.

The L/M stain will take to the AgraGlas Gel. But in different levels than the surrounding wood of course. So it's a tedious touching up and knocking back of the area involved using different colors very often. Also use colored toner in covering coats of finish to mask and break up those lines.
I've also darkened separated little batches of the acraglas once mixed with water based earth colors (raw umber, ect) for use in the gluing up process(doesn't seem to bother the stuff from setting up).
 The small colored batches are used to swirl in streaks of color into the patch to help camo it. A toothpick with a dot of the colored epoxy does well drawn through the base epoxy. Then use the L/M stain over the top of that.

Takes some practice.  Figuring ahead of time what the final color will be of the stained and finished surrounding wood so you can build the repair to match it is part of the technique.