Barrel pin hole fix

[kswan]

So, when I was drilling my barrel pin holes, my drill walked a bit and I had an extra hole. I plugged it with the same wood but after staining,
 it came out darker. Wonder what the best fix is for this.

Thanks

[wormey]

Sounds like you plugged the hole with the end grain up and out.  Suggest you cut a small square hole, tapered top to bottom, fill with an appropriately sized (a little oversized) piece of the same wood with the grain running in the same direction.  Stain and glue with ca glue, file off the excess, sand, more color and finish.  Do it right and the repair should be nearly invisable.  Good luck.  Wormey

[Jerry]

Excellent sounding repair advice Wormey. Jerry

[smart dog]

Hi Kswan,
Here is how I do it and I have had to it quite a few times.  Take a small gouge and make a shallow cut across the hole in the direction of the grain.  The cut should look like a little oval in the wood. Then with the same gouge, cut out a similar oval chip from a matching piece of wood, cutting with the grain.  Superglue is best to glue the ovel chip into the oval cut on the stock. Don't worry about edges of the chip sticking up a little, just get it in place with the grain running in the same direction as the stock. Let dry, and sand flush.  The incorrect hole will be gone.  Here is an example 


My drill caught the top edge of the ramrod pipe tab and deflected upward creating a bad mistake.  Look above the pin for the forward ramrod pipe to see a faint oval fix.

dave

[kswan]

Thanks very much for the advice.

[BrianS]

Thank you very  much for telling us where to look. I kept staring and staring... didn't see it.  Still don't see it.

[RedRiverII]

Just above the smaller pin,  I assume.  It's the only oval I see in the stock plus the grain isn't true.

[smart dog]

Hi Redriver,
Yes, that is the spot. 

dave

[James Wilson Everett]

Guys,

This has happened to me, too!  One way to cover the hole is to design a forestock molding where a long incised groove is directly in line with the hole.  If you are able to do this, the bad hole will not be visible.

Jim

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

That's pretty good advice Jim.  But I like to run my moulding lines right through the pin holes.  In fact I use the pins in the holes to align a straight edge so I can make my first cut right along that plane.  Then I deepen the cut, and remove the wood along the top edge to create the ridge, and use a gouge to cut the concave moulding along the length of the forestock.

[Bob Gerard]

Barrel pin holes are for me the scariest part of all. Glad to see ways to fix mistakes. Good discussion.

[kswan]

Barrel pin holes are for me the scariest part of all. Glad to see ways to fix mistakes. Good discussion.

I find them the hardest part also. I've always had good luck with a drilling jig that uses the barrel flats to maintain its position while drilling. This time I'm building a smooth bore. So, with the round barrel I've tried this C clamp looking jig which doesn't work well at all with smaller bits.

[Eric Krewson]

One reason I make my rifles dark is to hide all the toothpick pin hole repairs. I can do two perfectly and repeat the same process on the next one and come out in outer space. My current gun build looks like swiss cheese, I had a really bad day and should have quit and come back later. I will have to give the oval patch a try on the one on the bench now.