Gluing in wood to fill gaps

[Heidinnprudr]

Somewhat disappointed, however, it is a parts kit. The only fix I can think of is gluing in thin strips of wood on both side of the barrel channel and inletting the back down. Can’t see shortening the stock and barrel six inches.
Other thoughts before I cut some strips and glue?
Thanks

[rich pierce]

You could inlet a half-round piece of wood then inlet it. It might glue in better but it would be more work to inlet.

[Wood Hick]

Might be risky but maybe you could steam it and clamp. Maybe work it a little thinner first.

[Jim Kibler]

Is there a gap or is the barrel sunk below centerline?  If there is a gap and the wood is sufficiently thin, you can clamp it against the barrel and then heat the stock and barrel with a heat gun.  Heat it pretty hot, but not enough to scorch the wood.  Allow to cool while clamped.

[DBoone]

The wood strips are an option, for sure, and done correctly they could be very hard to find in the finished gun.  I would carefully cut and fit pieces of the same wood for each side, then wax that area of the barrel, re-install the barrel, carefully clamp (or re-pin) the barrel in the stock and apply a good quality wood glue to the pieces on the "woodward side" of each and press them into place and using tape or spring clamps to hold them allow them adequate time to throughly dry.  Both pieces should be a little taller so they could easily be finished down to the top level of the stock.  Careful  staining could produce an unnoticeable fix of more than adequate strength.  This is a typical adventure often encountered in restoration work.
Another fix would be to cut the rib almost all the way through from the muzzle to about 2" below the gap area.  Then dampen the barrel channel til the wood will easily flex and clamp over nite.  When dry the wood should be tight to the barrel and all that's left to do is repair/fill/fix the split in the rib.  This could also be unnoticeable if correctly done.

[WonkyEye]

I like the idea of strips, do you have a hand plane?  If you can find a similar color of walnut, and arrange it with similar grain orientation I think you could make an near invisible repair.  A 1/4 thick board should be easy enough for you to dial in a hand plane to take a fat shaving of exact thickness.  Just go easy with the glue, I have  used up to 1/4 water mixed with titebond 2 or 3 to make it spread thinner.  You want no real gap and all wood.  Id just shove it in with the barrel in place and put some painters tape to hold it until dry.  After it's dry trim close but leave a bit extra wood.  If you have gaps, rub a bit of glue into them, force it down into the gaps, then wipe the glue off the  surface with a damp rag and use a bit of 180 - 240 grit sandpaper.  The dust and glue will fill any gaps and make them almost invisible.  When it's all cured, sand smooth and finish with a scraper.

[James Wilson Everett]

Guys,

Another solution is to make a saw cut directly under the barrel for the length of the gap, parallel to the bore.  This cut will be right in the center of the ramrod groove.  Next put grease/wax on the barrel and mix some epoxy.  I like to use epoxy with dark brown dye mixed in.  Assemble the barrel in the stock, put the epoxy into the saw cut kerf and clamp the stock to the barrel. The gaps along the barrel will disappear, note that the width of the saw cut kerf must be at least wide enough to match the gaps.  When the epoxy sets, no gap remains.  The epoxy glue line will be underneath the ramrod, it will not be noticeable.

Jim

[Heidinnprudr]

Thanks gentlemen,

Will give steaming and the saw kerf ideas time to rattle around the in the empty space between the ears while I get the barrel set down in the channel.

[Eric Krewson]

I got a pre-carve from the P place, they lost my barrel in the process and shipped the stock back to me without the barrel in place. The unsupported forend doglegged down about 2" between the P place and when I picked it up at my door.

Being an osage bow maker I had bent thousands of pieces of bow wood to correct anomalies.

I heated the barrel with a propane torch to the point that I could only hold my finger on it for a couple of seconds, put the barrel in the stock and heated the forend with my heat gun and slowly bent it back up as it got flexible from the heat. When I had the forend back in place I zip tied it tightly in place and wrapped a towel around the forend and barrel to hole the heat in longer.

When everything cooled, I had a perfectly straight forend.

Your gap looks like and easy fix to me, heat the barrel, heat the wood and clamp. Keep your heat gun moving, never stop it or it will scorch the wood. If you don't have a heat gun you can get one at Harbor Freight for less than $10 if they are on sale.

I splice a lot of bow wood, sometimes I have a senior moment and cut a terrible splice with huge gaps in the mating surfaces of the splice. I heat the splice cuts and clamp them together without glue and let everything cool off. The wood cuts conform to each other and the end result is a perfectly fitting splice.

[Heidinnprudr]

Thanks Eric, Will give your method consideration. Hopefully I will finish getting the barrel set down in the next hour. I received a Dewalt cordless heat gun for Christmas last year, the wife thought the heat gun I’ve had for many years look ragged.

[Eric Kettenburg]

(1) when the wood is that thick on either side of the channel it may move when worked down.

(2) I would not glue.  I would work the wood down to the approximate height wanted along sides, leave a little extra

(3) thin the sides down not completely to finish but almost

(4) remove barrel, get it all pretty wet and use clamps along side to squeeze it in a bit and then hit ***Gently*** with heat gun.  Repeat a couple of times.  Move clamps slightly each time; the cheap Lowes plastic spring loaded squeeze clamps (look like jumper cable ends) with 1" wide plastic jaws and moderate tension work really well for this

(5) let air dry without clamps for a good day or two, then reinstall barrel and see where you are.  Repeat if neccessary.  It WILL move, that's totally fixable.

[Heidinnprudr]

Will give the water, heat and clamps a try. Thanks all,
First pre-carve I have attempted other than the single shot stocks that I duplicate and fit myself.

[Steeltrap]

FWIW, I’d opt for the “path of least possible destruction” and concur with the steam it method. If that doesn’t work, then on to other options.

[EC121]

For clamps on the stocks I use silicone model airplane fuel line, surgical tubing, or inner tube strips.  Those work better than mechanical clamps on irregular surfaces.

[Jim Kibler]

You can use water, but I’ve found straight heat from a heat gun to work fine and be less difficult.  It can’t get much easier than what I described previously.

[Dphariss]

You can use water, but I’ve found straight heat from a heat gun to work fine and be less difficult.  It can’t get much easier than what I described previously.

Agree with the dry heat.

[Dphariss]

For clamps on the stocks I use silicone model airplane fuel line, surgical tubing, or inner tube strips.  Those work better than mechanical clamps on irregular surfaces.

Always have a few feet of surgical tubing in a drawer. It can put on a LOT of pressure if numerous wraps are done. This can be good and this can be bad. Depending. But it will work wonderfully when nothing else will.

[Scota4570]

I had a precarve with a very sloppy barrel channel.  I soaked it with hot tap water.  I then installed the barrel.  I then wrapped the whole length with surgical tuning.  I let it sit for a week.  The whole length closed up tight.  IT has stayed tight for 10 years so far.

I have never glued in a splinter and had it work out well.  That would be around lock mortices and tangs mostly.  It is either ugly or does not stay.  I would not use this method during a build.  I'd start over with a new stock.  Maybe I have been doing wrong. 

I have milled off large chinks of wood and replaced them with new wood.  Around a busted out tang mortice is an application.
 When I use matching wood and orient the grain the same.  The repair is nearly invisible. 

[Eric Krewson]

I have found shims work in some places and look awful in others, I shimmed a lock inlet to make an L&R RPL lock fit a TC mortis, it looked awful.

On my next lock mortis fix I glued in a large piece of wood that I could clamp to the existing mortis tightly with almost no glue line and re-inletted the lock to be a good fit to the inlet. This worked much better than shims, I would have to point this out to someone for them to notice it.