Opinions on fixing a crack in the stock

[scottmc]

I'm nearing the end of my build and it happened...the side of the stock cracked as seen in the picture.

This piece of walnut warped to the right early in my build.  Somehow, it came back and wasnt a problem until today when I was staining the wood and holding over heat.  It warped back to the right again and while I tried to strong arm the barrel back into the stock, it cracked.  Dummy me.

So what are your ideas on how to fix it?  The wood on this Tennessee rifle is very thin on the sides.  It's my best creation to date but also biggest pain with the wood.  The crack is right in an area of high figure  and appears to be right in the middle of a knot.  Most of the stock is plain, straight grain walnut but front area is very figured.  Fire away and I wont be offended at whatever comments you might have about my stupidity🙄

[mikeyfirelock]

Any chance you have some small pieces of this stock left over from initial shaping suitable for patching ( if that’s an option.)  I’d wonder also if this would be a candidate for steaming and bending to close it up ?    Just random thoughts.

[scottmc]

I do have some left over and I'm envisioning a patch after cutting away the cracked area. 

[Stophel]

There was stress there and when it popped, that stress was relieved.  Try to bend it back and get that crack to close back up, and you'll just put the stress back into the wood.  Cut and fit a little strip of wood to fit, and glue it in place.  Too bad that blank wasn't cut out the other way around, with the straight grain in front and the curl in the back!

The more important lesson is stop staining walnut!  So much time, money, and effort throughout history has been spent to make virtually every wood in the world LOOK LIKE WALNUT... and then when you have walnut, that ain't good enough....   

[Ky-Flinter]

I think Chris is on the money about the stress.  It may just be the lighting, but it looks like there is a little more barrel flat showing at the far right and far left edges of the picture.  Could it be that the barrel channel inletting in the vicinity of the crack was a little too deep and when the stock and barrel were pushed together, it over-stressed the stock at that point, cracking it?  If this is the case, you could get things lined back up, which would close the crack some, then glass-bed the barrel channel and glue in a patch as needed.

-Ron

[Waksupi]

Cut a sliver of wood to fit close, and glue it in with an epoxy, with BLACK dye added. Acrylic paint works fine. It will disappear when the rifle is finished if done right.

[varsity07840]

There was stress there and when it popped, that stress was relieved.  Try to bend it back and get that crack to close back up, and you'll just put the stress back into the wood.  Cut and fit a little strip of wood to fit, and glue it in place.  Too bad that blank wasn't cut out the other way around, with the straight grain in front and the curl in the back!

The more important lesson is stop staining walnut!  So much time, money, and effort throughout history has been spent to make virtually every wood in the world LOOK LIKE WALNUT... and then when you have walnut, that ain't good enough....   

I agree 100%. I was in the architectural woodwork business for 40 years and never did a walnut job that was stained. That's not to say that I didn't have to talk an architect or two out of some horrible stained finish. I've seen walnut stocked rifles that have walnut stain. Ugh!

[scottmc]

I believe Chris is dead on about the stress and I will be cutting the section out and making a patch.  I had a nice conversation with a gentleman and fine builder from the great state of Alabama yesterday and he gave me some good ideas on how to attempt the fix so I will give it a go.  Thanks Bama!

As far as the walnut staining goes, I probably should have left it plain.  I was striving for that dark, almost blackish color you on some originals but plain walnut in it's natural state is beautiful, too.

Thanks for the insights fellas!

[Marcruger]

I am not sure I'd agree about not staining walnut. 

I have seen some pieces of walnut that are a bland tannish-grey color when finished with no stain.  I have seen some English walnut with a greenish hue.  I have seen some built guns with unstained walnut that really look.....unfinished.

What I am saying is that it depends upon the piece of wood.  If you have a gorgeous piece of black walnut, no stain needed. 

All of that said, if you stain walnut, just like any other wood, you need the RIGHT stain.  That is where scraps comes in handy.   :-) 

Just my 2 cents worth.  God Bless,   Marc

[Gaeckle]

I wonder if you have enough 'meat' to make a repair from the inside.....take a small piece of brass or steel and inlet that into the inside  (where the barrel will be) and use acraglass to secure the brass/steel plate while clamping the crack closed. You could smear the barrel with a release agent and use the barrel as a brace until it all cures. I'm thinking it would be an interior repair that bridges the crack. Make the plate somewhat long so it has more to hold onto and support. If the crack doesn't fully close up, put some stained acraglass into it.

I did this with an old original that I'm restoring that had the fore stock broken in half, the fracture is still evident, but the two pieces are now joined together.

Just a thought

[scottmc]

Thanks for the advice on the plate.  Never thought of that way but then again, was wanting to get away from the stress of that area.  I cut out the section today and dit a plug out of scrap.  I still need to super glue it in but the hard part is done.  Not perfect along every seam but pretty darn close.

[Eric Krewson]

I had to fix a wonky precarve to get the lock in the right place I spent the better of a day test fitting an doing light filing to get this fit, I think it will be time well spent with an almost invisible glue line on the finished gun.



The start;

[bama]

Scott, it's hard to tell from a picture but it appears that the grain in the patch may be running opposite of the grain in the stock. To make a good patch the grain needs to match as close as you can for both strength and appearance. If the grain is running opposite the patch will stick out like a sore thumb. The contact surfaces need to match as close as you can possibly get them to make a strong joint.

[scottmc]

Jim, I may have goofed.  The grain is running longitudinal but I used a piece that had "some" figure to kind of blend in with everything going on around it.  They are actually wider sweeping circles from a knot on a scrap piece from this stock.  The fit is better than I thought originally and the wedge that u recommended has allowed me to force the stock back straight from that area forward.  I'll hope for the best and clean it today and see what I have.

[bama]

If the grain is longitudinal it should be fine, it was hard to tell from the photo. I hope all goes well with the glue up and finish. I will excited to see if it works well for you.

[scottmc]

Shaped, stained and barrel in with no issues so far🤞.  I'm in the process of burnishing down the grain with an antler and then will seal with laurel mountain forge permalyn sealer.




upload photos

[Eric Krewson]

I have a rifle that the builder used finishing nails for pins but left the heads left on. I had to remove the trigger guard to get to the trigger to repair it, removing the nail/pin chipped out a place in the stock. I cut a tight fitting patch, glued it in, and used a sharpie to extend the color of the patch into the surrounding wood, figure and all. I followed up with several coats of tru oil over the patched area. Blurring the patch line made the patch all but invisible.

[Davemuzz]

Your fix looks great. Congrats !!

[scottmc]

Thanks for the compliment!  I just hope it holds over time.  The forestock in front of the repair still looks like an old man with arthritic fingers but not as bad as before.  This gun has provided a lot of firsts including poured nosecap, over the comb tang and this repair.   If nothing else, it was an educational piece👨‍🎓 I will post pictures when stock is complete.

[bama]

Great job on the patch Scott, it should pretty much disappear after you get through finishing the stock. Congratulations! 

[scottmc]

Jim, I'm indebted to you for explaining to me what to do.  Thanks again for your help!

[Tim Crosby]

 Looks good. One thought I had was a patch of Copper or Brass applied after the stock was shaped and finished.

 Tim C.

[shortbarrel]

You did a good job on the patch, from your other photos you seem to be a good stocker. Every body that has  stocked 10 or more rifles has probably had something like this happen to then..Forget the patch and finish the rifle. Be there a few times myself.

[scottmc]

Thanks shortbarrel!  I try and am my worst critic so that pushes me to do better each time.  My teacher is an 80 year old marine and pushes for perfection so I try and do the same.  Ain't there yet but still trying.  This is number 7 for me, I think.