Ebony nose cap

[sdilts]

I'm going to put an ebony nose cap on a halfstock that I'm working on. Anyone have any tips on how to attach this thing?

[LRB]

   I've done a couple of antler tips with a steel dowel on each side, epoxied. The caps were installed over sized, then contoured to the stock.

[Captchee]

 i cant say i have ever doweled an ebony nose cap. atleast not that i can recall and i bet i have done near 100 through the years  if i include modern guns .
as LBR stated . i  put them on as a slightly over sized block .   Ebony is rather oily so  you need a good glue .
 clamp it and le it dry .  then come back and cut out your  barrel channel . once thats done ,shape it down.
go slow on the shaping . depending on the type of ebony you use , it  can chip and crack very easily  while shaping . but once  you get  it smoothed out  its pretty durable. 

[Kevin Houlihan]

  I've done the same thing but with black horn.  This is being discussed in the "16 Bore pistol build" topic.  I've used 2 small nails 1/2 in the stock and 1/2 in the nose cap and epoxied.  I eventually sold the pistol so I don't know how this holds up long term.
Kevin

[Acer Saccharum]

While this is horn, the method would suit ebony as well. There is extremely good contact between cap and stock, and much less likely to fail at the joint. Most jaeger horn caps I've seen were done in this manner, where you see wood carry all the way thru the cap to the end of the stock.





A piece of pine is glued in with a separating paper layer. This is to support the feather edges of the stock while rasping down to prepare for the cap. Once the cap is glued in place, and set, the pine gets chipped out, paper scraped away. Then you can shape your cap to suit.

[rsells]

What type of glue are you guys using to attach the ebony nose caps?
                                                                                        Roger Sells

[Acer Saccharum]

The one in the pic above is HORN, and I used accraglas. Hide glue may have been a better choice, tho the acraglas has given no problems.

[galamb]

In boat building we deal sometimes with very oily/tough to bond woods - ebony (the wood), teak, white oak etc.

Epoxy will bond well if you sand to 80 grit (leaves something for the epoxy to bite into even if it won't penetrate) and wipe with a solvent almost immediately before bonding (mineral spirits works well).

Well not what I would consider a structural bond, it is certainly more than strong enough to keep the dis-similar materials together.

[sdilts]

Thanks guys. That's some good info.

Steve

[frogwalking]

O glued quite a lot of teak using epoxy but first cleaning the surface oil off the teak with acetone, and as someone said, roughing it up to get a good bite for the glue. 

[bob in the woods]

I use and glue ebony all the time. Clean surface and titebond glue works for me.

[kutter]

I've never used it on a M/L forend but have put plenty of forend & grip cap replacement inlays in modern guns like Fox & Winchester. A very close fit, wash the ebony off with acetone and I've always attached them with SuperGlue. Never had one returned for falling out.
If a close wood to wood fit isn't possible, then I use epoxy like acraglass or acragel.
SuperGlue isn't very strong in a gap filling role.
A free hanging forend tip I'd reinforce w/a dowel.

I'm guessing there's different types of ebony just as there are rosewood and other hard to glue wood. Some are more oily than others but if you get a good fit and the surface free of oil, most any decent modern adhesive will work.

[LRB]

  Here are a couple of pics of a bone nose cap I dowelled in place. I was PMed and asked to show them. Yeah, I know the barrel is rusted, but only on the outside. This is a customized T-C New England or Pennsylvania Hunter I did for my oldest son. He is too big for me to take a belt to anymore, but it looks like he sure needs it.

 

[wmrike]

While on ebony, what do you use as a finish?  When I have tried oils (tung, permalyn), they tend to wipe right off.

[LRB]

  A finish on ebony is not really necessary. Just get it sanded down smooth and wax it.