Filler Material For Inletting Gaps?

[Mattole]

I am trying to fill some small inletting gaps between the buttplate and the buttstock on a rifle of mine and am wondering what you suggest I use. I remember a substance being mentioned here on this forum many moons ago but I am forgetting what it was. I am figuring that I would use something dark-colored to match the metal rather than the stock..

Many thanks,

Kevin

[Dphariss]

Pean the buttplate. Or keep inletting till they go away.

Dan

[JohnTyg]

Well preen it if you are confident in the quality and softness of the brass.
Some brass is quite crystalline in structure and is very brittle, even when annealed.  You may crack it and that's pretty frustrating, just had this happen to me awhile back.  Just keep inletting it.  If you have already placed the top screw just fill the hole and move it forward.  Here is a photo of a plate that cracked in several places when attempting to move it only about .5mm (yes I did anneal it first).  Besides had a better fit after re-inletting my replacement butt plate.

John

[Mattole]

Hello Dan,

It is a lever action rifle that came to me with such poor inletting that I don't think it is fixable without going far beyond my skill level. Bad inletting on the lower tang as well. Other than that a great rifle. I realize I am not discussing a longrifle here and I apologize, but the filler I am seeking is something I would like to know about for this rifle and for my future longrifle builds..

[Dphariss]

Hello Dan,

It is a lever action rifle that came to me with such poor inletting that I don't think it is fixable without going far beyond my skill level. Bad inletting on the lower tang as well. Other than that a great rifle. I realize I am not discussing a longrifle here and I apologize, but the filler I am seeking is something I would like to know about for this rifle and for my future longrifle builds..

Get some Acra-Glas  GEL. Green box. Many gun stores carry it. Lower tang may have machine cuts etc that can form a mechanical lock.
Use paste floor wax in two thin coats. Use the same wax to plug any thing you don't want the glue in.
Paste floor wax is better than the supplied release agent.
If the stock has finish wax it as well so the glue pops off.
The dye in the kit will produce the right color for most walnut if time is taken to play with the color.

Dan

[Mattole]

Many thanks, Dan, sounds like exactly what I was looking for.

[Dphariss]

Well preen it if you are confident in the quality and softness of the brass.

John

Some of the castings are Bronze and are simply not soft enough to do anything with. Real PITA and the color is usually wrong too.

Dan

[Kermit]

"All that glitters is not brass."

[Acer Saccharum]

....was it Cumberland Gap Filler?

[wet willy]

Assuming the gap is too small for a spliced-in piece, and too big to not be noticed:

I have some shellac sticks in various colors, bought at a woodworking store. Heat until melt, smooth in with hot spatula. Numerous colors available. But ... I don't know how well this would take the stock finish, or how well it would hold up to repeated blows from a buttplate.

Also tried epoxy mixed with sanding dust from other parts of the stock. Never seemed quite right, always too light a shade. Tried dyed Accra-Glass, but most critical eyes who saw it said: "That looks like dyed Accra Glass, but a nice fill-in!"

Tried pounding in small slivers of wood mixed with adhesive, which look OK except the adhesive (Elmer's glue, Gorilla glue, white glue) is always is lighter colored.

Other than a 10 year apprecticeship to a master stockmaker, suggestions welcome.

I

[kutter]

+1 on Dpharriss recommendation,,especially about using floor wax for the release agent. Any paste wax works better than that drying film stuff they supply with the kit. Toothbrush the wax on,,keep it smooth but don't skimp on it either. Do all the sides of the parts so any epoxy you get on your hands and then transfer to the parts won't end up sticking to them. You will do that dispite your most careful efforts not to.

If you have some real yawner gaps,,take a sharp carving knife and shave some slivers of matching wood off of a handy piece and have them ready when you glue everything up.

Once the parts and epoxy are all in place and bolted & clamped down where you want it, then take the thin pieces and push them into the gaps that are now just filled with your epoxy.

The slivers will be encased in the glue as they are pushed in, the glue displaced at the same time. No real effort is made to match grain and such.
The end result will be a surface that is more wood than gleaming epoxy when all is done and cured.
It will match much better with the surrounding stock wood than just a puddle of brown epoxy.
The slivers added don't have to go down deep into the gap as they are really only for 'show'. But you can force quite a bit of the thin wood into those gaps to seal them up that way and elliminate the glassed-in-look to the stock.

Leave the stack of slivers you drive into a gap a bit proud of the surrounding stock so when cured, you have some material to take down to even it out. That'll insure you'll be back down to the wood in those slivers and not a coating of the epoxy over the top of them if driven in a bit too far.

[rjpalmer]

There once was an excellent filler material called Micro Bed. I had several tubes of it many tears ago purchased from Brownells. It was an excellent product. Alas, I think it is no longer made. It came in a tube like toothpaste. It was a thick, dark brown rather sticky paste. I would sure like to purchase another tube of it if it were still available.

[Pete G.]

Depends on how bad it is. If it is structurally unsound use the bedding compound that Brownells sells. If purely cosmetic the colored wax furniture fillers work well and are available in several colors at any hardware or home improvement store in the paint section. Be aware that they are wax which is a release agent for bedding compound, so if you decide on that the other option is out.