Patching in wood

[n stephenson]

I have an original Southern rifle. It has some wood missing between the tang and lock panel , right behind the breech. My friend that was very good at restoration work has passed away. He was planning to help me replace this wood. I know there is lot of experience here with restoration work. The wood is curly but not extreme , so matching figure , won`t be a big deal. Any tips will be appreciated. I feel confident that I can do a reasonable job, I`m just looking for pointers. Any examples that you can post would be appreciated. Thanks Nate

[Scota4570]

I have done my most successful patches on that area by first looking at the wood under the but plate and noting the grain orientation and general tightness of the rings.  I select a similar piece of wood.  I then spit the piece out for the patch in the same orientation as the stock.  I split it out because that will hopefully match the grain of the  spit out portion of the stock.  I then flat both pieces off in a milling machine to just clean up the split grain.  I then epoxy the two pieces together and clamp with surgical tubing.  After I re-inlet and finish to match.   Sometime the patch is almost invisible if the planets align properly.

[stubshaft]

I do it in basically the same manner.  If the tang area is really chewed up I may flatten both sides and replace the entire piece then re-inlet.