1898 Krag Rifle Stock Repair

[mgregg85]

My repairs so far... https://m.imgur.com/gallery/Wy6s8uC

Backstory here, I got this rifle in a trade with a friend who had inherited it in this condition. Someone had sawed off a chunk of the stock, crammed a wedge of wood into the split portion, filled the split with wood putty, painted it brown and attached a 1903a3 buttplate with drywall screws.

I went into this trade thinking the stock would be a total loss but it’s in good shape with nice cartouches, all except for that last 8 inches of butt stock. So I sanded, pinned and glued the stock back together. My goal is to repair this stock as best I can in and have it at least outwardly look period correct. I want to do no damage to the rest of the stock that is in good condition.

Now I’m waiting on the block of walnut I ordered to glue/pin to the stock to bring it back to it’s original length. And for Numrich to open back up and mail me the repro buttplate screws and sling screws.

If anyone has a source for the log wood stain they used on these rifle stocks I’d really love to hear about it. From what I’ve read I believe the stocks were stained with logwood stain and then dipped in raw linseed oil and left to dry. My current plan once I get the walnut block attached is to shape it to fit the correct 1898 rifle buttplate and then use raw linseed oil on the new wood and the old wood where I was forced to sand it. I’m hoping that my hot garage will help dry the raw linseed oil faster.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Those pics just want to make me cry.
You say that you glued and pinned the stock. What type of glue ad pins did you use?

I see where many people decided to use raw linseed oil (ROL) because that is what they heard was used back in the day. But if you use RLO, it will take a very long time to cure. What people don’t know is that back in the day, a dryer was added to the RLO to make it dry faster, such as mineral spirits or some other type of paint thinner.
Save yourself some headaches ad just use BLO. You will be able to apply a coat every 24 hours and apply wax after 48 hours.
Now for your stain, you may need to mix or apply in layers to get the color you want.
Chestnut Ridge Military stock stain will get you very close to the dark reddish brown color you need.

Check out this post for help with your repairs and matching the color of the stock.
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/how-would-you-fix-these-cracks-krag-1898-stock.863740/

 

[mgregg85]

Those pics just want to make me cry.
You say that you glued and pinned the stock. What type of glue ad pins did you use?

I see where many people decided to use raw linseed oil (ROL) because that is what they heard was used back in the day. But if you use RLO, it will take a very long time to cure. What people don’t know is that back in the day, a dryer was added to the RLO to make it dry faster, such as mineral spirits or some other type of paint thinner.
Save yourself some headaches ad just use BLO. You will be able to apply a coat every 24 hours and apply wax after 48 hours.
Now for your stain, you may need to mix or apply in layers to get the color you want.
Chestnut Ridge Military stock stain will get you very close to the dark reddish brown color you need.

Check out this post for help with your repairs and matching the color of the stock.
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/how-would-you-fix-these-cracks-krag-1898-stock.863740/

I used brownell’s acraglas gel and brass stock repair pins. From what I’ve read threaded brass pins were used in arsenal repairs so I was hoping this would at least kinda look period correct though I doubt they would’ve bothered trying to save this stock if they had replacements available back in those days.

Thanks for the tips on refinishing, I’ll take a look.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

I used brownell’s acraglas gel and brass stock repair pins. From what I’ve read threaded brass pins were used in arsenal repairs so I was hoping this would at least kinda look period correct though I doubt they would’ve bothered trying to save this stock if they had replacements available back in those days.

Thanks for the tips on refinishing, I’ll take a look.

I was worried when you said glue, fearing that you had used some type of wood glue. You did good going with Acraglas.
Here’s a tip if you have a gap that will show and you want it to blend in when you fix the area. Make your own wood putty with Acraglas and sanding dust. Just remember that the sanding dust will get darker when it gets wet from the Acraglas, and it will dry the wet color.
So this is what you do:
Use about 250 grit paper to sand different pieces of wood.
Sand each piece over a sheet of paper to collect the dust.
Put each type of dust into a small cup.
You will need a few different colors of dust. It doesn’t matter what type of wood you use.
When you want to match your dust to a stock. Dip the tip of your finger in denatured alcohol and touch oe color of the dust that you made. The wet color will be the color that it will dry to. Put the wet dust next to the area you will be making your repair to see if it matches.
Sometimes you will end up with colors that are too light or dark. This is easy to fix by blending your dust to match your color. If you dust needs to be a little darker, add a little dark dust to your light color dust. If your dust is too dark, add a little lighter dust to it.
Once you have your color right, there are two ways to apply it. For small areas like cracks that won’t close completely, once you apply the Acraglas and clamp it up, you can put the dry dust on top of the Acraglas and pat it in. Make sure that it’s just a little higher then the surface.
The second way is to mix the dust with the Acraglas. Be sure to have enough dust to make a paste, not to thick, not to thin. Use it to fill the area, leaving a little extra on top, and let it dry.
Once the Acraglas has cured, just dress up the area will a file.

Here’s some pics of a Turkish Mauser handguard I just finished this morning.