A big Bark inclusion

[bobw]

John gives a very nice description of a repair!  I would definitely take it into consideration, but if you are looking for an epoxy I would go with acraglas, not saying it’s the best but it’s easy, comes in a regular thinner formula or gel and the kit comes with brown and black dye.  The bad….been hard to get the last couple years.  FWI, I re-rifle barrels by lining them and use acraglass to glue the liner in, believe me, what is left in the cup when it starts setting up gets very hot.
Bob

[rsells]

I had a slightly smaller cavity show up in the comb transition to the wrist area of a rifle and cleaned up the sides of the cavity to insure to get some solid wood, found a piece of wood I had slabbed off the blank when doing the profile that best fit the grain around the cavity, stained both areas, and glued it in place using Brownell's liquid accuraglass (stain added to the adhesive to best match the area around the edges of the parts).  I got a good fit between the parts before gluing them in place, and the repair was nearly invisible when the rifle was finished.  I kept the customer up to date on the issue and showed him the stock during the process.  He was pleased with the finished rifle, and it has been in service for eight years now with no issues.
                                                                                                          Roger Sells

[Craig Wilcox]

MM, you've been asking for epoxy suggestions - I use Pro-Bed 2,000 for repairs OR bedding.  Good strong stuff.
It is a dark red in color, but adding some bone black or similar would make it dark as you wish without affecting strength at all.

Please do let us know how it goes.  Gonna be interesting, fer shure!

[mountainman]

Thanks John for that excellent instructions, never even thought of using scotch tape, what a great idea.
WMRike : About the "Total Boat" epoxy approach: I used it once where I needed a deep fill in some punky wood.  The stuff is runny as all get out and it certainly penetrated.  No doubt about that.  It generated incredible heat however, enough to make the wood smoke for 5-10 minutes, and be too hot to handle.  I think it's good stuff, just a bit scarier than, say Acraglas.  In my old age I'm trying to dial down the drama.
Mountain man : You mean really that hot??

MM, you've been asking for epoxy suggestions - I use Pro-Bed 2,000 for repairs OR bedding.  Good strong stuff.
It is a dark red in color, but adding some bone black or similar would make it dark as you wish without affecting strength at all.

Please do let us know how it goes.  Gonna be interesting, fer shure!

I had a friend of mine that also suggested pro bed 2000, I never used this, is this similar to acraglass?

[Hudnut]

I would want to do a deep repair for structural strength, with a cosmetic inlay at the surface.

[LynnC]

I am soaking up the suggestions and insights on this topic as i uncovered a punky knot in the top of the wrist when I profiled my butt stock to wrist height. Perfect spot for a thumb piece. Terrible place for a knothole. I appreciate everyone's input.

[Eric Krewson]

I would drill out the knot, install a hickory plug to within a 1/4" of the surface and then cut a V mortise and make a triangular patch of properly grain orientated maple to cover the hole.
 
I have done a lot of patching lately on a beat up old TC stock.

Here is a similar V patch (no dowel), I dug out all the cracked wood and cut a V mortise for the patch. This wasn't a one shot deal, I kept working on the angle of the patch, I made at least 6 patches until I had a perfect no gap fit.



End result, doesn't show much. I drilled and installed the hickory dowel after I fixed the crack that started at the lock bolt hole.



This is old oil soaked wood that splintered out when I drilled out the lock bolt hole and installed a hickory dowel.



I dug out the splintered wood and filled the void with superglue and sprinkled sawdust on the wet superglue (it turns into concrete), I had already cut a walnut plug to cover the superglue and pressed it into place while the superglue sawdust mixture was still malleable. Of course my plug was oversized and I cut it down to the barrel inlet contours after everything set up. I matched the stain so it wouldn't show after I took this picture.



I am just a wood hack, there are much better patch fixers here than I will ever be but I thought I would share this for a different slant on fixes.

[Robby]

This seems like one of those 'if you can't rope it out, rope it in' situations. To rope it out I would plug that hole and make a patch, matching as best I could and blend it in, to rope it in I would also fill that hole but near the surface I would cut a cross section of something like dogwood, fit it to the role and with a bit of artful trickery make it look like a knot that belonged there.
Robby

[LynnC]

In my rotten knot situation I will be drilling and tightly plugging then a fitted patch on top....or maybe a silver thumb piece. It is a fowling gun after all. Fits right in.

[Hungry Horse]

 I own a late 19th century muzzleloading rifle that I literally had for years before I discovered it had a plug in the butt stock. It hung on the wall, and eventually the finish cracked around the plug. It probably spent the majority of its life in a closet, not high up on the wall where I put it so the heat could get to it. If it weren’t for the crack in the finish I would have never notice the plug. This stock is black walnut, with a dark finish.

 Hungry Horse

[Hudnut]

I was restoring a stock that had been badly abused.  Someone wanted more weight, and had hollowed out the forend and poured in lead or solder.  He'd drilled a hole right through.  I carefully inlayed a piece with a knot.  You see the knot, but not the eye shaped inlay.  I think that stock has a total of 7 repairs, but they don't stand out and the stock presents well.

[Jim Filipski]

Because we are modern people we gravitate to modern ways of making repairs. But we are not building modern guns!
I agree with Rich Pierce! A wood plug would be the best if you want it gone ( well somewhat) Do you still have any scraps from your stock? If you do you can pick a suitable piece. If you do decide to use epoxy as the glue tone it a bit darker than you anticipate your final stock color will be. It is easier to disguise an edge or perimeter of darker "Glue" than lighter "glue"!

[LynnC]

Would staining the raw edges of both the hole and the fitted inlay be the best course of action as to not leave a bright glue line?  Im my case im working with cherry and plan to darken it with lye water. Your thoughts appreciated.

[Jim Filipski]

Would staining the raw edges of both the hole and the fitted inlay be the best course of action as to not leave a bright glue line?  Im my case im working with cherry and plan to darken it with lye water. Your thoughts appreciated.

Unfortunately the glue line always shows....Unless you tint the glue to a tone similar to your final stain!

[LynnC]

Thanks for the glue line info Jim

[Jim Filipski]

You can also fool the eye, by cutting a few random nicks in the glue line to match the grain of the stock! Little things like this prevent the eye going to a repaired area unless really looking for it!
Jim

[Craig Wilcox]

That Pro-Bond is very strong, rather thick.  Being an epoxy, it would probably take an alcohol base stain easily.  And as others have said, make it darker than the stain on the wood around it.

Alcohol is used as a clean-up for epoxies.

[Waksupi]

I've always cut wood plugs for repairs like that. More than one cut plug can be incorporated. The better the fit, the stronger the repair.
I can tell you from experience, use black dye in any epoxy you use. On a finished gun it will disappear better than any other color.
Another good cheap clean up for epoxy is plain old white vinegar. We always had a gallon in the shop when bedding modern rifles.

[jmf]

Ive epoxied many holes in flooring and beams while building houses. I preferred using dark black 2 part epoxy that comes in special caulk gun style cartridges. Its meant for setting anchors in concrete. Ive never had it fall out, even in some pretty big holes, some 2-3” across.  Nobody ever thought the epoxy repairs looked out of place, and if any had ever fallen out I sure would have found out.

[Bob Roller]

I seldom work with wood but I think a plug after making sure something wasn't living in the hole .
Bob Roller

[DavidC]

Have you considered the potential for this problem to be solved by a liberal application of Mike Brook's custom MB Weld ^{TM *}?


_{it's just JB weld with sharpie marker to change the name}

[Mike Brooks]

Have you considered the potential for this problem to be solved by a liberal application of Mike Brook's custom MB Weld ^{TM *}?


_{it's just JB weld with sharpie marker to change the name}

I wouldn't listen to anything that idiot Brooks says when it comes to patching wood, he's a complete moron.

[Mike Lyons]

Have you considered the potential for this problem to be solved by a liberal application of Mike Brook's custom MB Weld ^{TM *}?


_{it's just JB weld with sharpie marker to change the name}

I wouldn't listen to anything that idiot Brooks says when it comes to patching wood, he's a complete moron.

That’s pretty mild compared to the Lehigh you did with a gazillion patches. 

[Mike Brooks]

Almost forgot about the wormy Lehigh.

[Frozen Run]

when it comes to patching wood

Was this done entirely with the patching method you taught us in class, or are there other methods involved here as well? I can't see all of your repairs in this picture, having the before picture right next to it, and I can't see any of them on the finished rifle. Thank you.