How to repair minor wood damage (walnut)

[CyrusP]

Hello.  How should I repair this small oops from my ramrod ferrule cross pin installation?  I’d like to fill it and redo if possible.  Thank you in advance.

[smylee grouch]

Most here have probably done that  and just whittled out a walnut peg and glued it in with epoxy or Tite Bond. Let it cure good and dress it down flush.

[Bob McBride]

Yep. Tite Bond III and a tight peg.

[smylee grouch]

The divot off to the side of the hole can be filled in the same way.

[CyrusP]

Thank you all.  Home Depot here I come.

[Dale Halterman]

If you can, orient the grain it the patch the same as in the fore arm. It will be less noticeable. I always save scraps of stock wood as I shape it to use for just such things like these. Not that I have ever needed one, of course.

Dale H

[eggwelder]

A peg will show darker even with a clear finish due to the end grain of it absorbing more of the finish. If that does not bother you then that’s fine.
 A more suitable patch to hide it almost completely would be to use a furniture makers trick called a graving patch. More involved than a peg, but if done well, you might forget where that patch was before you are even finished the rifle.

[eggwelder]

There are more knowledgeable than me on this forum who may provide superior advice, but a graving patch has always worked for me to hide a mistake, blemish whatnot.

[smallpatch]

Definitely use a piece with proper grain orientation and it will go away.
You may well have continuing issues with this piece of wood. Looks very splintery, pithy, open grain.  Looks very soft.
Be so careful when drilling and inletting.

[John Shaw]

 I have spent a goodly amount of time correcting mistakes like the one shown. A patch is probably the best bet. If it were a barrel pin it would be a good place for an escutcheon but I don't think I've seen one on a ramrod pipe.. A peg will function but will be visible forever.

JS

[Jim Kibler]

Definitely use a piece with proper grain orientation and it will go away.
You may well have continuing issues with this piece of weed. Looks very splintery, pithy, open grain.  Looks very soft.
Be so careful when drilling and inletting.

Come on smallpatch   You got a picture about the size of his thumbnail to judge the wood from.  Not too reasonable in my view.  This is of course on of our kits.  While not every piece of walnut is premium, we do take a lot of care to pice out stuff that is suitable for stock wood.  Under magnification like the picture shows, most walnut will have at least some open grain as shown.  He shows his stock in another thread.  Check it out.  The damage Cyrus encourtered was from the pin making a new hole due to some misalignment when drilling the ramrod pipe pin holes.  Not the fault of the wood.

[smallpatch]

Ok Jim,
I apologize.  I looked at the other post, and actually that's a really pretty stock.  Very nice!

I have to admit, I've only built a couple of walnut guns, and don't really care that much to work with it, so I'm a little prejudiced.  I know it's traditional, just not my choice.
Love ya man!