Defect in the wood. What to do?

[okawbow]

Hi All,

I'm building a percussion halfstock rifle to represent an old family rifle that my father had, and traded away 50 years ago. I have a couple of pictures of the rifle to go by.

my problem is this; while working the stock down to finished size, I came upon a bark inclusion. I can't see any good way to cover it up, without changing the look of the rifle. The finish will be darker than the picture of the original, as the new owner "re-finished" the gun years ago.

What was done on original rifles when they ran into a defect in the wood? Just leave it?

image by okawbow, on Flickr

Here is the original. notice the slight "perch belly".
photo by okawbow, on Flickr

[thimble rig]

If you built this from a blank and have some wood left over you might be able to match the grain and then patch it.

[Marcruger]

Defect or "character".  If you are using an antique finish, it might look cool to leave it.  Filling it with something black might look okay too. 

How about adding a patchbox that covers the hole? 

Best wishes,   Marc

[Stophel]

Carefully clean the loose stuff out, Fit a little patch WELL to go in place, glue it in, smooth it off, and go.   

[okawbow]

I guess a patch would be look more like the original than covering it up with a cap box or patch box.

There is a black "shell" surrounding the cavity and bark. Might not look too out of place to fill the inside of the black area and stain the filler piece dark?

[L. Akers]

Had this happen to me once.  A patch would be my first choice but you could mix some epoxy glue with some black dye (leather dye works) and fill the inclusion with it.

[Jerry V Lape]

Inlet a patch.  I have seen several European guns with such patches, usually an ellipse shape. 

[T*O*F]

Screw the patch.  Fill it with acraglas dyed black.

[rsells]

I done a repair to an original a couple years ago and had to replace a piece of wood about the same size as what you are looking at.  I went through some original broken stocks and found apiece of wood that had similar grain.  I made a patch and inlet it like I would a metal part and glued it in with acuraglass.  The only way you could tell there was a repair was to hold it in bright light and it was still nearly invisible.  Just work slow to inlet the patch, run some practice runs with the acuraglass/stain combo to get it as close as possible to the original color, and go with the flow.  Good luck.
                                                                                          Roger Sells

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I'm with Dave (TOF) on this one.  Don't even bother to remove the loose stuff...mix up some AcraGlas (Brownell's) with some black dye, drip it into the cavity until you have a puddle above the stock's surface, and cover it while wet with a piece of clear packing tape.  The tape will hold it so it doesn't run, and keep a nice bulb of the expoxy above the surface of the stock.  When it has cured, remove the tape and sand it flush.  It'll look great.

[EC121]

I just had that happen to me, and it was right on the edge of the belly.  I mixed some stained sawdust in slow setting epoxy to make a paste and put it in the hole.  With what was left of the knot still there it looked natural and has some nice figure radiating from the knot.

[okawbow]

I dug out the loose bark and left a hole about 1/2" deep. Because the wood around the hole is stained; I plan on in letting a similar looking piece of wood to look like a solid stained area. I have lots of wood left from the plank, and some of it has knots and stain.

Thanks!

[Hungry Horse]

I own an old half stocked squirrel rifle that has a patch in the butt much like yours. I owned the gun quite literally for years before I noticed it. The gun has much of its original varnish, and had it not been for the finish cracking around the round patch, I would probably never have noticed it. Round patches are less noticible if done right. I think the square edges of a square patch tend to draw the eye more.

   Hungry Horse

[Jim Kibler]

The only thing to beware of filling with epoxy is that the degree if shine or amount of reflection from the epoxy can be considerably different than the wood surface.  For small defects this is not a problem.

[okawbow]

I filled the cavity with maple wood glued in with Titebond 2. It fit well with no gaps, and should blend in with a little creative staining.

image by okawbow, on Flickr

[Mike Brooks]

That will be fine.

[T*O*F]

Historically speaking, those types of inclusions were filled with a compound consisting of pine resin and powdered charcoal.  Charcoal was crushed to the consistency of flour and stirred into hot resin.  This was used to fill the hole and when cool, became a solid plug which was filed smooth and finished as normal. 

A resin glue was also made in the same manner but containing less charcoal.

[Stophel]

Yay! You did good!

[Mark Elliott]

I like the pine tar and charcoal solution.  I will have to try and remember that.   I happen to have both on hand. 

[thimble rig]

Good job on the repair

[davec2]

Shelac stix..Apply with a hot knife / soldering iron.  Fill the void with whatever color or color mix you want.  Sand / finish as you normally would.

http://www.constantines.com/shellacsticks.aspx

Many other places to get these.